Q: When and where do you get your best ideas?
 A: Ideas can come from everywhere. I really love living in Leeds because there are so many points of inspiration. My Norwood Part 1 and 2 screen print series were inspired by my experience of living in Leeds as a student, with the duality of feeling a little lonely and isolated, but also knowing you’re part of a wider community. One day I was walking home in the early evening, and the windows were bright yellow against the blue of the sky- kind of reminded me of a doll house, and suddenly everything felt very surreal. Those screen prints kind of encapsulated how I was feeling at the time. To summarise, I think I get my best ideas randomly.

Q: What is important to you?  
A: I think it's important to be aware of your audience. I always try to install a sense of humour or charm into my work, as that's what I always tend to enjoy as a viewer. As an illustrator or general creative there’s that responsibility to be aware of what you are actually insinuating and in turn, communicating to the world. I think mainly, it's important to be open to change in your work and recognise if something you’ve made is not having the intended effect.

Q: How do you get started? 
A: If I have a specific project in brief, I usually tackle this by iterating loads of sketches around the theme until I stumble upon something I’m really into. I do this a lot with characters, and try to bring the best of the last drawing into the next. I’m still a student at this point, and I think I'd like to have that mentality for a long time. Still figuring things out!

Q: What makes you happy?
A: The little things, like inexpensive charity shop yarn.

Q: If you could travel back one year (pre Covid), what would you tell yourself?
A: You’re doing really well, and you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. To be honest, I’d probably say that to myself now haha, I’m a bit of a perfectionist. I was so stressed about having a specific ‘style’ that I put myself down whenever I’d lean towards another approach to making. Pre-covid I was DJing for salsa society, doing uni work, going to rehearsals for musical theatre, doing gigs, panicking and just running myself ragged. I wasn’t really giving myself that time to sit down and just make. I was always working digitally on the go, like on a train or in a spare moment at a rehearsal. It's an ongoing process of course, but i'm learning that it's okay to slow down a bit, take a moment, and enjoy the journey.

Q: What music do you listen to when making? 
A: Honestly it really varies. At the moment I’m really enjoying Bungalow Pop Vol.1 by Matt Grocott (of which I made the Album Art for last summer, cheeky plug), a generic Spotify 70s playlist, Sinnohvation by insaneintherainmusic, and Creme de la Creme by T-Square. The last two are both instrumental albums, which I’ve found a real love for recently.