IGI features
Michael Gillette Interview
Mar, 02, 2006
Originally from Wales but now based in San Francisco, Michael Gillette is an incredible talent who has mastered many diverse illustration styles which he delivers with a trademark quality. Working for some of the world’s biggest clients (Urban Outfitters, Capitol Records, MTV, Greenpeace, Levi’s, etc.) aswell as taking on many a smaller project (including tee designs for Airside, various apparel, limited prints, etc.) Michael’s incredible output mixes media with the aim of producing creations like you’ve never seen before, something that has gained him much fame and notoriety worldwide.
So, did you always want to be an artist? If not, what did you want to be when you grew up? If so, when and how did you know you were going to be one?
I guess I always wanted to be an artist, though i had no idea what that entailed- you really have to be buoyed up by ignorance, and in retrospect arrogance and stupidity! I liked the attention that drawing brought me, and i was very competitive. My mum was an art teacher so that helped. once I discovered music I wanted to be in a band and figured the swiftest route to the front of the queue was to go to art college. i had all these fantastic notions that art colleges were bursting with music and every form of creativity known to man, the truth was a little disappointing. by the time I got to my degree, i was convinced that i was going to be a graphic designer, but that got killed stone dead pretty quickly. i couldn’t believe that we were expected to seriously tackle packaging projects to design things like toilet bowl cleaner… i thought that was the kind of thing that you ended up doing when all hope failed. by my second year i’d dropped out of the band i was in ‘cos i realized that my talent was sadly lacking and i wasn’t going to be in ride or some other baggydelic chancers. so by default i ended up doing illustration. the only illustration i had any regard for at that time was already a couple of decades out of the spotlight, the style du jour was bendy armed cartoons juggling pound signs, probably due a revival, so i didn’t really think of myself in terms of being an illustrator. upon graduating i realized that i’d better knuckle down and at least try and earn a crust, so i flung myself around london with a pretty weird collection of work.
How would you define your style? Why do you think it’s so appealing to people, don’t be shy?
whewff… i dunno.. i’ve always been in the vein of pop art, my initial infatuation was for pictures with type in them, hence the confusion about being a graphic designer. i still feel happiest approaching painting from a design perspective. i can’t bring myself to address the second part, sorry, my keyboard is blushing.
You’re originally from the valleys in Wales but now spend most of your time living in San Francisco. How do you feel location affects a persons creativity, is it important? Is it weird going home?
behave! i’m actually not from the valleys, jeeziz! i’m from swansea, so i was brought up on a peninsula roughly the same size as san francisco so there are some parallels, well, water i guess being the main one. i’ve lived in san francisco for 4 years now, before that i was in london for 13 years…i did my time but don’t remember committing the crime. yeah i think that where you live does have an effect, a huge draw here was the light and the look of the place. i’m really still infatuated with san francisco, sometimes i’ll wander around and my heart will be swelling… coff sniff..i started drawing nature, which i hadn’t touched during my time in london. my work started to get a lot prettier when i got here. i guess it’s got hippyfied around the edges. going back to london freaks me out a bit, it’s obviously a great place and there are many reasons to live there, but for me there are more reasons not to. mumbles, where i grew up is by an large identical to how i left it, eerily comforting.
You’ve worked with everyone from Levi’s, Urban Outfitters, Barney’s New York to The Beastie Boys as well as lots of other collaborations and involvements worldwide. What do you like most about the range of work you do, do you feel it’s important to try establish a varied range of work in order to push yourself in different ways in different situations?
My favourite college experiences were during my foundation course, i loved the variety. Whilst doing my degree it felt like the toys had been taken away and the barriers were up. I always felt more like a designer, but one who liked to design using his own images, everything seemed highly divided, and I didn’t really fit anywhere. When i left, I started doing record sleeves, laying the type myself and doing the illustrations. Then I got the offer to do some videos for elastica. it became partly a question of doing whatever i could to stay afloat (it was 1992- the height of the recession) and partly the challenge of doing different things. I thought that’s the way you should work. I’d have a bash at anything to try and drum up some loot. I’ve always tried to keep things broad. it took me a long time to get anywhere ‘cos my folder looked like i was a dilettante (nowt wrong with that by the way) repetition is a deadly thing, and although it’s pretty much unavoidable in the commercial world I really try to keep things moving, I’m always on a quest to keep myself interested, and in the process, hopefully other people too. When I started doing digital work i purposefully evolved something with the widest scope, so I could take it in as many different directions as possible.
Rather than having a set style or medium to your work the media you use seems to be dictated by a creative intent to answer your brief perfectly. What’s your usual approach and journey through a project from brief to production?
Well that’s a sweet thing if I achieve it. It’s not quite that planned out. My favourite works are ones that are strongly ideas based, where i basically stay out of its way and voice it in the purest form possible. Those are eureka moments of great clarity, they are the thrilling things. Other times i will work in a purely aesthetic mode where it’s more a case of what can I do to make this interesting for me? What does this weird pencil do? What happens if I bung this watercolour in with something less traditional? The playful things are fun. But once it becomes like a shtick it’s going to be ephemeral. It has it’s place, but ideas are golden.
Career highlights so far? Future ambitions? Dream jobs and/or collaborations?
Well my career highlights I don’t really think about, it’s all pretty much keep on keeping on. The highlights are those eureka moments i mentioned before. These are generally not paid gigs ‘cos there is always the compromise of some noggin’ sticking their oar in. the highlights are generally where I’m left alone and then paid! The beastie boys were fun, I got to do it with a close friend. I did a cover for Paul McCartney last year but sadly the whole project was cancelled, it was very exciting to do, the kind of excitement you’d be ideally sitting on a commode during. I did a Nat West animated TV ad, also cancelled but it was a lot of fun and the pay was juicy, it gave me the brass to move here. Last year Levi’s stocked a collection of my shirts with my labels and hang tags, I did them with my wife, it was something different going from initial idea through to the stores being there every step of the way. Future ambitions, well I really, really, really want to do stuff in cinema. Posters, titles, design. Hollywood, yes I would. And I have an idea for an animated series which if I can ever figure out how to do without wearing myself to a nub…
As well as your commercial work you also seem to work on a lot of personal projects including your ‘Little Angels’ series. Would you care to explain the background and inspiration to this range of interesting images as well as any other interesting stuff you got on?
The background is boredom, the great motivator! Trying to do something which really brings the primal glee of making stuff I’m proud of. I’ve been doing some pictures based on a girl in red satin trousers. She’s basically on a journey to figure out what the hell it’s all about. Lord only knows actually what it is all about. It’s nice to be off your own map, that’s where things get interesting, it’s hard to find time finish it, and I don’t know if I’ll get it together cohesively, but it’s enjoyable for me, and that’s the point. I’ve also done 3 pictures of John Lennon recently which are fun.
Heroes…Well I don’t know about heroes, human fallibility will generally scupper that. There are people I respect, Milton Glaser I like for his brevity, philosophy and skill. I got to know roger law (spitting image) during the tail end of my time in Britain and I really admire him too, and his wife for that matter. He’s done so many different things and i get no feeling of smugness or superiority from him. Just a decent chap out for an adventure, an inspiring presence. And of course funny to boot. Villains…I dunno, the usual political ones. Utterly selfish pricks of every stripe I guess. My present bugaboos are freeway tailgaters, c***s!
As the world gets smaller through technology what do you believe Creative people need to do in order to ensure they are noticed? Top 5 tips…
Well, do what you do and do it good. Then everyday figure out how to Show people that you’re doing it better. I’ve never been the greatest self publicist, i really wince at the notion of talking myself up, but I’ve made the effort when needs must. I’ve known some really awe inspiring talents who don’t bother to get their stuff out there. Talent really won’t out, it has to be pushed, with a hot poke
Visit Micheal’s work online at www.michaelgillette.com
Thanks to CANDY for allowing us to reprint this interview.
