“I just want to keep drawing” Thomas Hedger´s talks about his vibrant creations

The UK-based illustrator Thomas Hedger speaks to Kluid Magazine about his lifestyle, artwork, and creative approach.

Can you tell us a little about yourself? What’s your profession, background, studies…

I’m from London and studied at Central Saint Martins. My practice involves using a curated colour palette, punchy lines and considered negative space to create images; I aim to cover a wide range of subjects, from everyday scenarios to architecture and imagined places. I like the technical accuracy of line structure; the use of space and the placement of an image on a page has always played a part in how I present my work.

Where do you find your inspiration?

I’d say subject wise, it’s mainly from observing life around me and combining this with imagined situations or places. I like commenting on the overlooked or the unseen and finding ways in which art can be used to give form to voices in the world around us. Style wise, I think childhood influences have been a strong inspiration, like the clashy, bright colours of 90s TV, toys, music and fashion. I’ve always had a strong interest in music and film – as soon as you listen or watch anything that you really engage with that inspires you to try to do something with your own work.

Regarding the illustration world, where do you see yourself in few years?

I just want to keep drawing, producing work and developing my practice to see where things go. Things change so quickly, which makes it difficult to know but I’m really interested in how drawing can interplay in different forms, which is something I’m hoping will continue to stretch and expand my work in new ways.

What’s art to you?

It’s something you want to engage with again and again, something aesthetically moving that makes you feel.

What advice would you give to a beginner artist?

I think at first, as cheesy as it sounds, you have to enjoy what you’re doing; if you’re enjoying it you’ll want to keep going and push your work. If you have a bubbling urge to create something that’s the best first step – beyond this I think it helps to learn to critique your own work, so that you can continue to react and develop. If you have the opportunity to access facilities, like a print studio at university, make the most of them as those resources can be very hard to come by.