When is a line, not a line? When it’s a bird, perhaps. Or a musical instrument, a lightbulb, or… practically anything if local illustrator Andy Goodman’s got anything to with it. We speak to him about his bold, simple-yet-profound graphic style, designing Oxford Street billboards for IKEA and how his work is lighting up the minds of the region’s school children.
The whimsical world of editorial loves exploring language. Wordplay, puns and idioms intertwine and form mischievous architecture that helps subject matter truly come alive and easier to digest. Someone who knows this more than anyone is local illustrator (and previous The Bristol Magazine front cover artist) Andy Goodman, whose background in editorial design (laying out pages for the likes of The Observer, Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller, House & Garden, Elle Decoration and The Independent) no doubt planted the seeds that sprouted his now-iconic bright, bold style that visualises puns and wordplay – such things as ‘me, myself and I’, ‘he’s got the bends’, and a cat’s ‘nine lives’ – through simple lines, negative space, impactful graphics and vibrant shapes.
Inspiration comes from everyday language: what I hear on the street, conversations, things I overhear
“A lot of my work is visual puns, so the original good idea is central to what I do, “Andy explains. “Inspiration comes from everyday language: what I hear on the street, conversations, things I overhear. It’s just focusing on everyday language, and I write a lot of words and phrases down.
“I try to put two disparate things together if I can, opposites, or images and words that might jar and not necessarily make sense at first, but eventually the two things come together to make something unusual.
“So, it’s two straightforward or everyday things that combine, and then some oddity or unusual third thing arises from the collaboration of those two things.”
With ideas cropping up “anywhere and everywhere”, we can assume it’s difficult for Andy to ever actually switch off, and the puns might mount up over time… but he has a solution. “At the beginning of the year, I wipe the slate clean and start to make lists and notes of anything that inspires me – from books, television, conversations I hear, or things my kids might say. It’s just keeping my ears open, really.”
Whatever the weather
When any word or phrase could potentially create an illustration, where do you look first? For Andy, his eyes were on the skies at first.
“I was always interested in the weather, to be honest,” he recalls. “The first phrase I drew, which I still go back to, was, ‘I see you brought the weather with you’. I’d have figures holding a sun, clouds or a lightning bolt… all of those elements of the weather.”
These days, Andy now oscillates between three styles of illustration: “the bold, geometric style, which dates back about 12 years; bold line work; and then in a more jumpy, wiggly line style, as well.”
Even though his style stands out, for Andy, “the idea is the central thing. I’m looking for that ‘eureka!’ moment that jumps out at me, and hopefully to other people as well. That’s a wonderful moment. If you ask most designers or illustrators, when that happens it’s a real joyous feeling. Sometimes the ideas can be a bit abstract, but that’s the flow I have. I might see sense in something one day and not the next. My brain is wired differently.”
One thing that’s generally consistent in Andy’s illustrations is his sense of humour. “I will probably always veer towards something fun. That’s naturally the way I think. I’m probably not one for dark or black humour, even though I’d love to bring that into my work. Generally, though, it comes out more light-hearted.”
For instance, he once took a square and turned it into a ‘polar square’, where the square becomes a polar bear’s head. Or instead of measuring in inches, he measures in finches, making birds out of a tape measure. “It’s a simple substitution of a word, but the image becomes quite abstract while still being instantly recognisable.”
What’s the big IKEA?
…See what we did there? Okay, it might not be the best pun, but it’s fitting when you consider that Andy’s largest commission to date was a series of huge billboards for IKEA on Oxford Street in the capital. As well as tight turnarounds for regular editorial high-calibre clients including the Irish Independent (which he was hopping back to after chatting to The Bristol Magazine), in recent years he collaborated on a large-scale project with creative agency Mother London.
“The opening had been delayed, so we came up with ideas around that,” Andy remembers. The billboards read: ‘Merry Christmas Oxford Street. Sorry, you’ll have to unwrap us next year’, along with Andy’s illustrations of gnomes, decorations and – of course – the IKEA pencil. The result was simple and straightforward, with a mischievous shine, reflective of the synergy between the Scandi global homeware retailer and Andy’s approaches to work.
“I’d love to do more of that kind of work, so hopefully there’ll be more opportunities. I’m at a point now where I’m very keen to keep going and come up with new things that might reflect anything – perhaps even the state of the nation, although I don’t really cover politics that much.”
Back to school
When Andy’s not working on commissions, or searching for his next ‘eureka!’ moment, you’ll find him in the classroom working as a teacher and teaching assistant, alternating between four schools in the region – he’d not long returned from a day at a Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) setting in Radstock before speaking to us. It’s a fairly new string to his bow, having started at the beginning of the year, but it’s encouraged him to marry the two parts of his life: igniting the imaginations of children with storytelling and making art.
“I took some of my books into school in March for World Book Day, as I did some simplified children’s books some time ago [under Italian publisher Edizioni Corraini]. I encouraged the kids to do their own books, which they were very good at; there was a kind of brutal honesty to their work.”
Engaging any children at school can be a challenge, Andy acknowledges, especially if the class is SEND. But, he noticed that the children he worked on the books with experienced a lasting impact. “I’d love to be able to create some kind of vehicle where I can go in and be a practitioner artist and illustrator, and inspire young minds with storytelling, wordplay and visual puns – things that make them laugh or engage them.”
If Andy’s bold, geometric, often-humorous and visually striking approach to capturing the world around him in illustrations can’t creatively influence the next generation of thinkers, we’re not sure what can.
Find more of Andy’s work online at website: making pictures.com/artists/ andy-goodman. Buy prints of his work on Etsy from ‘The Fivebargate Store’, and follow Andy on Instagram @fivebargate_design_studio
