Artist Interview: Tom Bagshaw
Out of left field and causing a stir in the gallery we now have a couple of amazing pieces from Bath based “digital artist” Tom Bagshaw. They’re limited edition prints (of just 50 worldwide) from his Yokai Dreams series.
We managed to grab 5 minuted with Tom for a quick Q&A session in which he reveals that he’s self taught! Wowza.
When did you first realise you wanted to be an artist and when did you realise you WERE an artist?
Hazy memories of being 4 or 5 and spending an awful lot of time drawing, I don’t know if I will ever get to the point where I ‘call’ myself an ‘artist’, but I knew that its what I wanted to do, pretty much to the exclusion of all else when I was 8 or 9 and got given my first airbrush.
Tell us about your training. Was there anyone in particular that was an influence on your work and career.
Im self taught, my father was a commercial artist at one point and I would occasionally turn to him if I felt I had a specific problem. Other than that I had one art teacher at school who was a big influence in terms of encouraging me to do the work I wanted, after leaving school I went on to college at 16 to study graphic design (which was the only way I could do a course with an element of illustration at that point) but very quickly found it wasn’t for me. I discovered digital art about 8 years ago and taught myself photoshop, painter etc everything I know now.
What are your inspirations – Art & artists and the wider world?
I have always been drawn to anything visual, design, fine art, illustration, architecture, photography, film, tv so I have a lot of inspiration from a variety of sources. In terms of art- im particularly influenced by figurative based work, certainly portraits and have a fondness for realism over abstracts.
Take us through the process – Where do you start?
Basic stories, ideas for a narrative- sometimes the story isn’t evident but I need to be able to conjure a story to spark my imagination enough to capture a scene. Doesn’t always work though. Then it’s a series of basic thumbnail sketches to play with composition and primary elements. Once ive picked the strongest or what im happiest with- it’s a matter of refining everything to a working drawing and then through to painting. Everything is done digitally with the possible exception of the thumbnail stage.
What’s the biggest challenge you face when producing your art?
My own critical nature and knowing when to stop.
If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?
Probably better off financially but likely not as happy!
Do artists suffer from “writers block”? How do you overcome it?
A creative block is a real problem and I think everyone does different things to overcome it. Personally I find its best to get away from the computer for awhile, completely take a break from it all and come back with a clear head.
What advice, specific to your style of art, would you give to an aspiring artist?
Dont worry about investing all your money in the latest software and hardware, just buy what you can afford at the time but make sure you buy a Wacom tablet- it’s the one thing that will be totally invaluable to being a digital artist.
What does the future hold for you? What art can we expect to see?
Most of its under wraps at the moment but a few group shows on the horizon, a small continuation of my Yokai body of work and hopefully some time to get back into traditional media.
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Both Kuchisake-Onna and Hito-Dama from Tom’s Yokai Dreams series are available at the gallery at the moment. Framed and double mounted with mount embelishment for the “quite frankly you’re mad” price of £295.
tl;dr Uber-talented digital artist shaking up Kings Langley with the dark arts.
