Blog

Hello. Welcome to my blog. This is where I post new projects and talk a little bit about my experiences with clients. If you are interested in any kind of commission please head over to the contact page.

Working with Disney

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I have been working with Disney for around 2 years now and it has been a fantastic experience. I wanted to write a bit about it and share the art I produced with the Disney team. I was emailed by a Disney Art Director after they spotted my work in a gallery show. I went to the Disney HQ and had a ball wandering around and discussing a few projects with ridiculously creative individuals.I was commissioned to work on three sets of art based on the Disney Villains, The Muppets and Winnie The Pooh.

The Villains were something I loved working on because I am a huge fan of Disney baddies! Redrawing these classic characters was humbling and exciting all at once. The final art was created using Illustrator and because I did so many sketches I decided to present those too. Recreating Winnie The Pooh was a challenge. A challenge I was up for, having read the stories a lot as a child. Staying true to the likeness of the characters but spinning a new style was the biggest challenge. I think I achieved what I set out to and kept true to that cute little bear. Finally, I was asked to work on The Muppets and that made me smile a massive smile. I had a blast working with Hensen’s original characters and adding my own style and twists. A perfect match for my style and I am very proud of the results.

This opportunity was huge for me and while it was humbling it also pushed me creatively to learn a great deal. The people at Disney were inspiring and very encouraging with an openness to creative ideas. I have other things in the pipeline with Disney and I relish every job they commission to me.  I’ll let you know what comes next….

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Imperial College London x wotto

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Imperial College London commissioned me to design their official 2015 Imperial Festival T-shirt. I mixed scientific events and fun nerdy icons in one large t-shirt doodle. The people at ICL were great to work with and gave me a very thorough brief. The tee was a big hit at the festival, selling out on day two.

Small character details were also used to make buttons for visitors. It’s always nice to work with an educational establishment but Imperial College London is highly respected worldwide so it was a real honor to work with them.

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Skelanimals x wotto

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Design By Humans and Skelanimals teamed up a few months ago and hosted a Skelanimals tshirts design contest. Skelanimals offered up eight of their cute dead animal characters for designers to rework for a T-shirts. I choose Diego the bat character. I applied a hand drawn Day of the Dead style using lines and icons from the Mexican Art style.

I won first place with my ‘Diego The Dead’ design. I also had a second design selected to be featured in this exclusive collection ‘Jack a Doodle’. This design features the Skelanimals bunny ‘Jack’ redrawn using my signature doodle style. Although I think Diego is a stronger design I also enjoyed working on Jack so I am glad he made it into the tshirt collection. Skelanimals was a cool brand contest to collaborate on that alligned well with my style.

About the brand : Skelanimals are adorable animals who have met an untimely end, mostly due to their own reckless and ill-advised behavior. Edgy but lovable, playful and irreverent, dark but not morbid–Skelanimals are so fun and adventurous that you just might forget they are no longer living.

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Diego The Dead – Available here

Jack a Doodle – Available here

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Obsessive Doodling

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For a long long time I have doodled. So much so it has kind of become an obsession. Every surface seems appropriate for a doodle-fest. I always want to doodle all over freeway bridges, walls, containers, etc etc. I doodle a lot in sketchbooks, nothing new there, artists everywhere do that. More recently I have enjoyed doodling on three dimensional surfaces. Coffee cups, gift packages and consumer product boxes have all fell foul to my doodling ways.

I don’t imagine they will come to much but I thought that way back in the early 2000’s when I designed a ‘doodle style tee’ which has gone on to be one of my most requested styles of work. So who knows where this doodle madness will go? One thing is for sure, I like it. It has a cathartic effect on me and I have noticed I concentrate much better when doodling. During a meeting I seem to take more in, on a phone call I seem to listen better and when I am done covering a surface I feel pleased with the results. Doodling is part of my routine. It’s here to stay and even if it doesn’t result in more clients I like it very much.
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Moment Watches x wotto

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Moment Watches are based in Korea and they invited me to make a watch face as part of their 52 watches line. One watch per week for one year, designed by a guest artist. My watch was a doodle faced watch with black, grey and red art. I have always tried to work with countries outside of the country I reside in because the wider spread your art the more people are likely to see it. Also what works in one country design wise might not work in another so there in itself is a new challenge.

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My design has gone over well and the company in general is seeing some nice growth. My payment is a percentage of sales which at first was a risk, especially considering these guys were a start up when I was asked along for the ride. However a year-ish on and this is one of those jobs that just keep on giving. Risks are sometimes worth taking, working for smaller brands in far away places can sometimes pay off. I also saw some success with the Korean suit suit manufacturer Aqus a few years ago.
The long and short of it is never look past an opportunity, some will fail but others will be worth risking your time on.  That being said make sure you have paperwork signed before handing over any art. I always ask to see a website, even if the company is just starting out. I always want to see where my art will be featured and a website will tell you a lot about the company. Where they are in terms of launching, style and whether they look legit. It’s a very good starting point. If a company can’t get a website up and running it’s likely they won’t host your work well.
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Formamentees x wotto

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Formamentees approached me last year for some designs for their new brand. I sold them a set of designs that they went on to feature. More recently I discovered they have started making all over printed versions of their tees. Two of my designs have been made available in this huge printed style and they look really cool.

It’s always nice to see companies take your art and produce new and exciting products. I really like how they printed the ‘Dreamer’ design off the sleeve, looks very cool.  The only down side to these kind of things is that the companies rarely tell you it’s happening. Annoying, considering you can blog and talk about their new product.

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Where to Buy wotto Stuff 2015

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Hello. Many people ask me “Where can I buy your stuff?” and my response is usually “What items are you looking for?” followed by a back and forth that usually involves me searching for links and pasting them somewhere for that person to find. So in light of that I decided to make a blog post that shows all of the online places you can pick up some wotto. Let’s get this party started:

Threadless

I have an artists store at Threadless that has a range of tees including three exclusives that can only be found there. They also pay amazing residuals to artists which makes them of the few places that truly supports the artists they feature financially.

Design By Humans

I have my own store at Design By Humans, selling T-shirts, hoodies, tanks, sweaters, phone cases and art prints. They print using oversized DTG and the quality is the best I have seen for digital printing. Their art prints are top quality also. I know this because I used to be their Creative Director and I helped build the artists collective.

 Society 6

I also have a storefront here and these guys sell a lot of items. Tees,  hoodies,  tanks, tote bags, baby and kids clothes, wall art, phone cases, pillows, rugs, shower curtains and other home goods. They too have great prints and that is where they started in the business. Their apparel is also DTG and not oversized. I have bought a few tees from here and I wasn’t blown away by the standard. Many of their other goods are very nicely printed though.

Curioos

I have some art prints here and their products are high quality. They do a range of printed wall art that includes canvas, acrylic and aluminum prints. Very nice product and they also do some cool collaboration with other brands (Wacom, Gilt, Fubiz). If you want a piece of my art on a cool surface these guys will deliver.

 Shirt.woot!

I have had some success with woot! over the years and now they make past winners available as print on demand DTG. I have received samples and the prints are industry standard and on the smaller side. One of my all time most popular tees is featured here: ‘You Are What You Eat’.

Teepublic

I have a T-shirt store here and it is relatively new. They print using DTG but I have not seen one of their tees. I will be getting a sample as soon as possible but if anyone bought a tee there I’d love to hear some feedback. They have regular sales making their tees just $14.

 Inprnt

I have had a store here for many years. They are a really good team and really appreciate art. They sell high end, well-printed wall art.  I have several of their prints in my home and the quality is excellent, their customer service is spot on too.

Dynomighty

I have a wallet store here and I love this product. Well made and sustainable. If you need a new wallet get one here.

 Atelier81

If you need a greetings card and you want one with wotto art, these guys will get you all kitted out. They sell single cards and batches. I have had a sample of each card and they look great. Only downside is that they are based in Europe so they take a little while to get over the pond.

 Wrappz

I have several designs here at Wrappz. They make cases and skins for all devices and also make prints for the home. I have received many samples from them and the quality of their products is good.

Nuvango

These guys make huge all over sublimation printed goods that are pretty wild. They cut and sew many items and the price reflects that. Definitely a unique set of products. If anyone gets one of these I’d love to see pictures.

Urban Fidelity

If you are into music and want some custom speakers then this is the place for you. These things are beautiful, custom made and look striking in a room. Boom, boom, boom shake the room!

 

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Curioos/GILT x wotto

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Gilt provides instant insider access to today’s top designer labels, at up to 70% off retail. Members only shopping for fancy goods. My art was recently featured their. This was via a partnership with Curioos who have featured my work for a few years now. This high end retail site is very well known and I was very excited to be featured there. These kind of partnerships are financially nice but also exposure your work to many new people, sometimes a completely new audience. That is especially nice because sometimes you hit the boundary of how many people you can reach on your own. 

All good artists know that marketing yourself is very important to your success, so if someone else helps out then it’s a win/win. I have never been amazing at self marketing but I try to keep people informed as to what I am up to. I do know that working for exposure alone is wrong and should be avoided. However, if partners who work with you already push your work further out to gain more exposure AND revenue then that is all good.

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