In 1986 I came across a book titled Posters: A Concise History by John Barnicoat. This book changed my life and for the next few years, I analysed every page. Originally published in 1972, it's still in print today. As the title suggests, it chronicles poster design from the 1800s right up to the early 70s (it may have been revised since). There are full-colour reproductions of posters from the 1960s psychedelic era, the Bauhaus movement and war propaganda posters. 

To some, poster design might fall under the category of Graphic Design but everything here pre-dates the desktop publishing era and are created by hand.

Artists

I don't pay too much attention these days to other artists but during my teenage years, I absorbed everything. The first time I saw a Salvador Dali painting it blew my mind, I never knew painting like this existed. I went looking for similar artists and discovered Rene Magritte and H.R. Giger.

Another early influence was Edward Burra. Again in 1986, I discovered a postcard of John Deth (Hommage to Conrad Aiken). My tiny mind was blown. Check out everything by this artist, he's massively underrated.

Although my work looks nothing like Giger, he was a big influence. His work on famous album covers made me pay more attention to artists such as Abdul Mati Klarwein who painted many covers for Miles Davis such as Bitches Brew. The 1970s was a great decade for album covers, especially the Prog rock scene.

Graphic Design

There's a lot of symmetry in my work. I often start a piece by drawing a line down the centre, working on the left hand side, and then tracing it to create a mirror image down the right. My school art teacher told me to never use a ruler but I disagree and it may be my love of posters and graphic design that influenced this. The Bauhaus Movement, The Psychedelic 60s, Milton Glaser, Hipgnosos, Central Station Design, Paul Rand, Saul Bass, and one of my favourite current record labels who design the covers for their albums in-house, Rocket Recordings.