ORIGINALITY:

"Readily available for us to absorb, extrapolate and borrow, everything from historical documents right up to celebrity musings from a few seconds ago is ours for the taking."

I have been busy sculpting another illustrated article for Another Escape, now in its fourth issue! Following my thoughts on inspiration for the last issue, this time I have chosen to tackle the subject of originality; namely whether it really is, as is so often proclaimed: dead. You'll be pleased to hear the conclusion I draw is largely a positive one, centred around the notion that the individual can be empowered by embracing what is around them in the right way, rather than drowning in existing content, or perhaps trying to shy away from its influences altogether.

Despite AE 4 not set for release until next year (in a bigger and better format) I thought I would reward those who follow what I get up to with a preview of the illustrations headed for it, along with snippets of accompanying text. I appreciate AE letting me regularly write and draw for them; a great opportunity as I think all too often an illustrators' voice can be underestimated, put to one side in favour of visualizing the voices of others.

"Instead of drowning in a cornucopia of ‘stuff’, I think it is important to accept that yes, we are bombarded by existing concepts, but we are the filter through which it all passes."

"How we process that which is around us is distinctive; even with identical starting matter people can create completely unique interpretations."

Thanks for looking and listening as always; can't wait to see these scrawls in print!