Patrick Thomas was born in Liverpool in 1965. He studied BA Graphic Design at Central St. Martin’s in London and studied an MA at the Royal College of Art, finishing in 1987. After leaving the RCA, he set up a studio called Big Orange, in collaboration with other graduates from the RCA, such as Paul Davis, Andrew Pavitt, and Laurence Zeegan, who runs the Brighton studio, Jason Fodd, Marion Duchamp and Dan Williams, who is based in Glasgow.
In the late 1980’s, Patrick decided that he no longer wanted to live in England, as he sought warmer climates. At this time, Barcelona was in the media as they hosted the 1992 Olympics and in 1991, Patrick moved to Barcelona. He arrived at the Ramblas, and worked freelance from a hotel room, until, three months in, he got a job designing the evolution of the Olympic mascot.
In 1997, after six to seven years of working freelance, Patrick met Angela, a fellow designer, and set up Studio La Vista, a very small studio in which they have three full-time staff.
In 2005, Patrick set up Studio Imprint, for his editorial work and created the “Black and White Book”.
In 2006, Patrick became a member of AIGI and at this time, he began screen-printing.
His favourite colour is red and is uncomfortable with the word “illustrator”. As a child, he enjoyed stamp collecting.
As a child, Patrick enjoyed visiting the Walker Art Museum in Liverpool, and loves the life-size painting of Henry the 8th.
When Patrick was in his early teens, the punk era began, though he was too young to be involved in this culture. Through his brother, he was able to listen to this kind of music and the album covers, such as God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, designed by Jamie Reid, and Peter Blake’s design for the Beatles’ St. Peppers sleeve. Other influences include William Hogarth, an important English engraver, and El Lissitsky and Alexander Rodchenko. He has also looked at the work of Juan Brossa, for his use of type and visual games.
A lot of Patrick’s work is of the supplement cover of a Spanish newspaper. It is a financial supplement called Dinero, and when the newspaper relaunched, he also helped to redesign its format. The brief he gets for the supplement is given to him on a Thursday evening, and then handed on a Friday morning. He tries to make his images very punchy and very direct and he loves using clichés in his work. His work is often a play on imagery, such as creating a flag made up from smaller, separate images. He also occasionally uses typographic solutions. He also uses a lot of American imagery such as the American flag and a dollar symbol, in relation to the subject matter of the supplement being finance. All of the imagery that he has created for Dinero over the years is contained within a book called “Black and White”. The book contains a quote of Patrick’s, “A good idea should work in black and white”. He also creates editorials as well as covers for Dinero.
Patrick creates quite a lot of work for the New York Times Sunday book review supplement. Another influence to him is the illustrator Cristof Niemen. Patrick loves to use clip-art, as he likes using images that everyone can use but makes it their own. In one of his pieces entitled “The Foxes and Hound”, he uses images by Thomas Buick, a wood engraver. Another influence is Alan Fletcher and the man who designed the German typeface Futura, Paul Renner.
Inkwork is another side business that Patrick has set up that creates purely typographic postcards, which are available to buy all over Barcelona. So far they have printed over 600,000 postcards, and they contain messages such as “Made In Barcelona” and “Fish and Chips”.
I did like the work of Patrick Thomas but I almost wonder if he is a fraud at what he does, as he so often uses images and logos that were created by somebody else. It makes me question my own work and the references I use within my images and how much of the work is actually my own. But, as always, I think it is fantastic to see an illustrator become successful at what they do. I particularly liked the Inkwork project, as, due to my interest in typography, I find it intriguing when purely typographic work is a success. Overall, I found the visit to his studio interesting, as I was able to see an illustrator in his working environment.
See work at: www.patrickthomas.com
In the late 1980’s, Patrick decided that he no longer wanted to live in England, as he sought warmer climates. At this time, Barcelona was in the media as they hosted the 1992 Olympics and in 1991, Patrick moved to Barcelona. He arrived at the Ramblas, and worked freelance from a hotel room, until, three months in, he got a job designing the evolution of the Olympic mascot.
In 1997, after six to seven years of working freelance, Patrick met Angela, a fellow designer, and set up Studio La Vista, a very small studio in which they have three full-time staff.
In 2005, Patrick set up Studio Imprint, for his editorial work and created the “Black and White Book”.
In 2006, Patrick became a member of AIGI and at this time, he began screen-printing.
His favourite colour is red and is uncomfortable with the word “illustrator”. As a child, he enjoyed stamp collecting.
As a child, Patrick enjoyed visiting the Walker Art Museum in Liverpool, and loves the life-size painting of Henry the 8th.
When Patrick was in his early teens, the punk era began, though he was too young to be involved in this culture. Through his brother, he was able to listen to this kind of music and the album covers, such as God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, designed by Jamie Reid, and Peter Blake’s design for the Beatles’ St. Peppers sleeve. Other influences include William Hogarth, an important English engraver, and El Lissitsky and Alexander Rodchenko. He has also looked at the work of Juan Brossa, for his use of type and visual games.
A lot of Patrick’s work is of the supplement cover of a Spanish newspaper. It is a financial supplement called Dinero, and when the newspaper relaunched, he also helped to redesign its format. The brief he gets for the supplement is given to him on a Thursday evening, and then handed on a Friday morning. He tries to make his images very punchy and very direct and he loves using clichés in his work. His work is often a play on imagery, such as creating a flag made up from smaller, separate images. He also occasionally uses typographic solutions. He also uses a lot of American imagery such as the American flag and a dollar symbol, in relation to the subject matter of the supplement being finance. All of the imagery that he has created for Dinero over the years is contained within a book called “Black and White”. The book contains a quote of Patrick’s, “A good idea should work in black and white”. He also creates editorials as well as covers for Dinero.
Patrick creates quite a lot of work for the New York Times Sunday book review supplement. Another influence to him is the illustrator Cristof Niemen. Patrick loves to use clip-art, as he likes using images that everyone can use but makes it their own. In one of his pieces entitled “The Foxes and Hound”, he uses images by Thomas Buick, a wood engraver. Another influence is Alan Fletcher and the man who designed the German typeface Futura, Paul Renner.
Inkwork is another side business that Patrick has set up that creates purely typographic postcards, which are available to buy all over Barcelona. So far they have printed over 600,000 postcards, and they contain messages such as “Made In Barcelona” and “Fish and Chips”.
I did like the work of Patrick Thomas but I almost wonder if he is a fraud at what he does, as he so often uses images and logos that were created by somebody else. It makes me question my own work and the references I use within my images and how much of the work is actually my own. But, as always, I think it is fantastic to see an illustrator become successful at what they do. I particularly liked the Inkwork project, as, due to my interest in typography, I find it intriguing when purely typographic work is a success. Overall, I found the visit to his studio interesting, as I was able to see an illustrator in his working environment.
See work at: www.patrickthomas.com
No comments:
Post a Comment