Joshua Marshall

David Hockney has to be up there for me. I’ve always admired his work from a youngish age. All his work inspires me, his very early pencil work all the way through to his later digital images. He’s probably my all time favourite, what a career!

Josh Marshall decodes his work with Patrick Morgan

When did you first get into drawing? I’ve been drawing as long as I can remember, I used to enter lots of football kit design competitions from magazines, pretty much magazine competitions is where I started out. A very early memory was actually wining a Thundercats colouring competition, the prize was ‘a life time supply’ of refresher bars. Which apparently is about 50 bars, much to my mother’s delight.

Why did you choose to make fashion part of your inspiration? If I’m honest, I never really started out in fashion illustration, I started out storyboarding for advertising, I’ve ‘storyboarded’ for years and there’s definitely an overlap in the industry. My illustration agency also decided to specify their target audience towards fashion, which I was more than happy to adapt too. My style leans towards portraiture and narrative which I’ve got from storyboarding, I always try and incorporate those elements into my current work. I love the freedom of fashion illustration,

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JOSHUA MARSHALL

New ‘School’ Kool Interview

Opposite page: Hermes New York fashion Week 2021

everyone’s styles are so varied it’s great! The lack of conventional rules really pushes my work on.

What is your particular working day as a creative? You realise quickly you have to keep a strict routine, which I love because I’m a creature of habit! I’m an early riser so It definitely starts with a coffee and taking the morning in slowly, I like to warm up sketching before everyone wakes up, it feels like free time before the working day starts. Then 9am I knuckle down answer a few emails, if I have a project I’ll start straight away and probably won’t break until 5ish. I’ll just be drawing all day, I have to really try hard to do anything else. I’d quite happily exist in my own little world drawing all day. It’s possibly not the best advice but it keeps my productivity high. I do workout and eat occasionally.

What tools do you use when creating your images? It depends really, when I started off at uni, everything was painted, hand drawn etc, I didn’t even own a computer at the time. Now I steer towards photoshop with a Wacom tablet, I’ve really got into procreate on the iPad this past year, it just works so well. Everything’s always evolving, technology is getting more and more realistic. I love the freedom of the iPad. Saying that I did buy a load of water colours paints the other week, it’s always nice to feel like you made something with raw materials! It doesn’t feel like cheating as much. That’s just my hang ups. Though I’ve always thought illustration is about the final image it doesn’t really matter about the materials or the journey. It’s a cliche but I think the idea is always stronger than whatever programme or materials you used to get to the final image. Who and what has influenced you over the years as an artist? Straight away I think of Mac Conner, he’s an old school storyboard artist, one of the ‘madmen’ era guys. His characters and compositions, his use of colour is in my opinion unbeatable. Everything he puts down is so perfectly positioned it draws the eye to the narrative. Even the use of negative space is integral to the story he captures. I remember going to see an exhibition of his work at the house of illustration in London, I wanted to of had those ideas!

David Hockney has to be up there for me. I’ve always admired his work from a youngish age. All his work inspires me, his very early pencil work all the way through to his later digital images. He’s probably my all time favourite, what a career!

Richard Diebenkorn is another I remember going to an exhibition and been blown away by the compositions and use of texture. I really think you need to see those paintings up close to admire the thought process.

They are the big ones, but looking through Instagram and seeing some of the work produced on there, even by people who have just started, there’s a lot of talented artists out there! It can sometimes be overwhelming.

‘You gain so much from other professionals and learn what’s expected from you, meeting people in the industry is how I got my first breaks in illustration. I guess I got into illustration the long way around but got ‘there’ in the end. Just don’t let go of your end goal even if you’re taking the scenic route.’

J.Marshall

What advice do you have for younger artists looking to be part of this industry? Have a day job! I’m joking but seriously it’s not easy ‘breaking through’ I wouldn’t be so sure there’s even such a thing. I remember leaving university after studying illustration for 4 years thinking it would be straightforward. It wasn’t. I’ve worked a lot of different jobs to even get to where I am now. I was a painter and decorator for 3 years before getting into storyboarding and illustration. I do value working hard to get to where I am now as looking back I can see the progression. I was always focused on becoming an illustrator even when I was armed with a roller and a tin of magnolia emulsion. I started in the creative industry as a storyboarding agent, working closely with a large group of storyboarding artists. It was an incredible way to learn and grow within the industry. You gain so much from other professionals and learn what’s expected from you, meeting people

Opposite page: Hermes New York fashion Week 2021

in the industry is how I got my first breaks in illustration. I guess I got into illustration the long way around but got ‘there’ in the end. Just don’t let go of your end goal even if you’re taking the scenic route.

What are you drawing today? Music are you listening to? Books that you are reading? Favourite artist/designer at the moment? I’ve just completed a big project so I’ve been working on a few personal projects. A free day is never free! I find working from home can be quite solitary so I tend to listen to a lot of podcasts and audiobooks when I’m working, my favourite podcasts are; Stuff You Should Know, Darknet diaries, Serial Podcast and Ear Hustle. I love a good book (audiobook) some recent favourites include; American Dirt, Where the crawdads sing, The Dutch house, The Shining, Cannery row and Desert Solitaire.

Favourite artist at the moment, an artist I’ve only just been introduced to... Isao Yajima, the character an expression in the line work pulls you in, the line perfectly describes the feel of the fabric he depicts and the movement of the clothing over the body. I love discovering new artists without sounding too pretentious it’s like finding a new friend that you can learn from. Studying the line carefully can help advance your own work.