Arist Interview - Doaly

Like so many of our artists, regardless of their medium, the regular therapeutic exercise of drawing is typically the root of all things. “Almost every day I’m drawing in some form, whether sketches of an idea or finessing a final illustration. There are days that I’ll set aside for admin (the mountain of emails never seems to get smaller) but I do like to draw as much as possible. Before it became a job it was a calming hobby and to some degree it's still that.”

Like the vast majority of us, Doaly’s working environment became compressed by the pandemic. "During the end of covid I set up a new studio space that was outside of my house, this was a must as I wanted that separation between home and work which had been so lacking. I now have a set-up that has room for two desks, one digital, one traditional, a few book shelves and even a space to sit back and flick through all those art books. It’s a great space but if I were to be anywhere else it’d probably be Japan and namely Tokyo. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting and fell in love with the city and its people. It feels like such a creative place where I could find new levels to my work and push it further.”

Growing up, he was surrounded by family or friends who loved to pick up a pencil and draw, but he’s the only one who turned it into a career. "I think partly my love of cinema comes from my father who would rejoice in bringing home the latest release to watch together as a family. My brother works in TV production and we’d talk about cinematography and the story telling of how films are cut and edited and sometimes I’d help with storyboarding his shorts when we were both at university. There's definitely creativity in my family, it’s the outputs that differ.”

"I remember at primary school I had a new form teacher who was also the art teacher, Mrs Smith. She very much championed my work and would give it pride of place on the wall. For a shy kid this gave me a lot of confidence in drawing, that she had spotted in me a tendency to study harder at the more traditional subjects and found it something to celebrate."

Over the years Doaly’s been involved in countless projects but a recent favourite has been his Loki season 2 poster, “It was a chance to really go crazy with my work and push what was possible in composition and colour and see how far I could take it. Thankfully the client was on board, no change requests, which is always wonderful. As a piece its there for me as an indicator of how far I can push a piece beyond more traditional styles and colour theory. But there are always new challenges out there and ambitions evolve the more work you do. Today I think it would be to have my art on objects more, so bottles, clothing, toys... I like the tactile nature of things and I see this as the next step in my work."

Another specific ambition comes from his love of music. "I’d love to create artwork for [Californian industrial rock band] Linkin Park. It was one of those bands that wasn’t passed on to me via family or friends but someone I found myself and that resonated with me. I’ve grown up with album after album as they’ve evolved and been lucky enough to watch them play live. I’d love to work with them in some form.”

So there you go Linkin Park, if you’re out there, we look forward to hearing from you!

Be inspired with more work from Doaly here.

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