L-R: "Rainbow by the Greyhound" & a selection of illustrations from Thomas' Masters project "World2"

How and where do you usually find the inspiration for your ideas?

Words, paintings, and daydreaming. I like writing down reminders, unusual pairings of phrases that sound poetic, or harsh mechanical critical terms that are rich with symbology. Writing it down is a process of trying to understand, then I piece it back together through people and places. Just personal experiences, or interpretations. I’m trying to tell a story that I have found interesting. I keep notes, I email myself snippets of abstract thought, I write down strange words I’ve never read before and I look at paintings. I know that sounds super arty-farty… I love the work of Milton Avery, Tal R, Rothko, Konrad Klapheck, Ikko Tanaka…  it’s endless. What I enjoy about looking, is it gives me the confidence to not reside, their uses of colour and structures inspire me. I don’t want to conform to rules that I put on myself, because I want to be better. Most of my work is normally a super focus on one idea or word. Then I try to reduce everything into one container, if I can squeeze a whole mood into a scene I’m happy.

“Rainbow by the greyhound” started with just rainbow. I was thinking about how light refracts through a prism. Like sometimes when you're sat at home if the light is just right, it’s contemplative, and you run your hand through the rays. It’s not an exclusive feeling. I watch cats playing with light and shadow as they bounce off the walls. That was the mood I was trying to evoke. I did originally draw a cat, but it had too much movement, greyhounds have a certain statuesque elegance in my mind and the calmness was what I wanted.

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Are there any recurring themes or feelings that you want to come through in your work?

Maybe, my personal work often explores rainy day emotions, mundane, boredom, loneliness but (hopefully) not in a bleak way. More of a happy being alone sort of way. Being able to embrace nature, be part of something else or find satisfaction in that curiosity. I like taking things out of context, from petrol stations to people, it gives me a chance to focus and appreciate something. I’m normally only interested in a certain detail or movement, an arch of the back, or a line that connects everything. I get easily distracted and want to move on to the next idea, so keeping things simple works, if I get my idea out then that's good. 

Most of my earlier work was character based, I was working with a limited set of rules: colours, line stroke, flat perspective. Everything had to link up, but even then my work wasn’t consistent. My characters just had to be expressive, if I can distort them then you can’t scrutinise the body. They were often androgynous, equal, I didn’t want gender to distort it. They can be shapeless as long as they’re still readable. Since then I’ve been expanding on what I want to draw and slowly widening the rules that I adhere to. I dip into past themes, but there's a certain curiosity that leads me down other avenues.

Two examples of Thomas' earlier illustration work.

What does your usual process for creating work look like?

I have different processes, client work means a lot of thinking, waiting on an idea, scribbling down in vagueness to be refined. With a lot of repetition, I sketch out the same thing over and over again to see if it is a good idea or not. Then I try to boil everything into a few drafts. I don’t work from a sketch though. I like to just get going in Illustrator, where my workspace is like a sketchbook, that way I can drag things about and copy-paste the bits that are working. Nothing gets wasted, I often go back to old artboards to find drawings that didn’t make the cut to see if they’re re-workable elsewhere.

Personal work is a bit different, it’s a lot more reading and trying to define an idea. But I still like to get stuck in with digital first. I don’t know what I’m going to draw but that’s the fun of it, I like to see where it takes me. Drawing on paper is completely different from on-screen, some things just don’t translate that well. All the limitations help direct the drawing, if something is working then I can stick with it, if not just move it out the way for later. 

Saying that though, I’ve mixed things up this year. I’m an avid drawer but my physical work rarely creeps into the light. I’ve been conscious of the link between screen and paper, there's a lot more emphasis on hand drawing first and scanning those in before incorporating them into my digital work. I want to be less rigid, and maybe this will help explain it – I draw with a mouse, not a tablet or Wacom, and sometimes drawing ruffled clothes, splashes of water and windswept grass just needs to be a fluid expression. It gives time for more contemplation too, actually considering how something should look and I’ve come to enjoy this more methodical process.

A selection of Thomas' sketches.

You often work with really unique or limited colour palettes. Can you tell us how you go about selecting the colours in your work?

I do and I’m glad it comes through. I have two main palettes that I work from and one in progress. One is a super vibrant RGB delight that all my punchy colours come from, then I have a much larger muddier sort of palette with khakis and saturated tones, both palettes were meant to be as complimentary as possible so no matter the combination they still work. I try not to stray from them but it’s so hard, I discover a new colour or a new combination or sometimes happy accidents occur from layer filters, and these palettes just grow. The one in progress is just a selection of nice new colours that I don’t know what to do with… yet. All my colours I think are slightly off, never full black or white or red that stops it from being too harsh. But the key for me is not maxing out, the less I use the happier I am, I want the drawings to be bold but harmonious.

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L-R: Screenshot of the colour-picking software Thomas uses & Thomas in his home studio.

Your work switches between quite literal depictions, to more conceptual and abstract pieces – but all very much feel like your work. How do you retain that feel?

Maybe it's everything above, my interests are varied. Like my work I go through moods and phases, I get excited by an idea and it obsesses through my process for weeks until I satisfy that urge and want to explore something else. I’m not sure, it could be my filter for the world. It’s nice to think we all interpret everything around us differently, so no matter the story I’m still the one telling it. I do a lot of sitting on work, not sure if it is ready yet, if it's too different, or I’ll wonder why and might try to realign it with my practice. 

Voice or style as an Artist is either depicting the same narrative, intrinsic to who you are, or conforming to the same set of rules, colour, line, etc. I’ve just been slowly tweaking both in the hope that nobody notices. I didn’t want to get stuck in a rut or to be bored of what I do. I want to expand and give myself the freedom to create and I’m not afraid if my work is slightly different.

A selecion of Thomas' work.

Links

About Thomas Hedger

Thomas mixes strong line work, geometric and fluid shapes, and bold colour to create punchy illustrations and 3D installations. He takes inspiration in particular from nature and architecture, exploring isometric dimensions and ambient spaces.

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