Graphic artist and illustrator Marcus Oakley is known for his playful approach to illustration. Since graduating with a degree in Fine Art and Graphic Design he has worked for fashion icon Paul Smith and created his own design and illustration studio working on projects including book illustration, textile design, product design, and packaging.
Based in Scotland, his work is inspired by many things – both retrospective and contemporary. “They include folky, harmonic and melodic music of all kinds; the pastoral and folkloric delights of the countryside and the various eccentric beasts and humans that inhabit it; the joys of cycling; the stimulations of tea; the dizzy geometries of architecture and design – and overall the wonders of making stuff,” he lists in an interview with aye Magazine.
His creative process includes both analog and digital tools. For illustration projects, he usually works with a pen and a computer, while for personal projects he employs whatever’s at his disposal, including cardboard, wood, brushes, ink, hammer, nails, and glue.
“I simply enjoy the physicality of drawing and connecting one line with another and the journey of trying to visualize something that often started in my imagination,” he says. “Thick lines, thin lines, zig-zag, curved, straight, fast, slow, wonky, abstract and pictorial they all have there own special mood and melody.”
The end result is quite delightful.
