Our sixth collaborative Christmas card is now landing on people’s doormats across the country and beyond. This year we worked with artist Thomas Oldfield to create our ‘chilly’ festive hound. In case you haven’t seen our annual cards before, we have a recurring (and simple) brief, where we ask an artist or illustrator to respond to the phrase: ‘31% Wool, 69% [insert Christmassy word/s]’.
Here I chat with Thomas about the project and his artistic practice.
Julia: What was your creative path to becoming an artist?
Thomas: In all honesty, I’m mostly a self-taught artist. I did art GCSE and A-Level, but I developed a lot of my skills out of my own interest when I was a fair bit younger. I really liked experimenting with new mediums (and evidently still do) to create different styles I might not have considered before, and I like having the freedom to do this alongside my studies. I spent a lot of time at school not paying as much attention to lessons as perhaps I should have whilst drawing instead. This probably didn’t help my maths knowledge, but certainly helped me develop on my creative path!
Julia: How would you describe your style? (I have to ask, why dogs?!)
Thomas: I like to focus on natural imagery and animals in a lot of my work, and how they interact with and relate to ourselves. Why dogs? – because they’re lovely, I suppose. They’re fascinating to draw, anatomically, and very expressive creatures. I did a lot of research and experimentation on the relationship between people and animals shown in art in the last few years, and it’s an area I’m very interested in exploring further in my work.
Julia: Where do you usually create your work?
Thomas: At home, usually! I’m very grateful to live around a few open art spaces, but primarily my work with printing and inks is a very messy clear-up process, so I tend to work alone – usually over quite a large bed of newspaper scraps. Although, a lot of my sketches and initial ideas are developed on the go (if I remember to be carrying a sketchbook and something to draw with, anyhow).
Julia: You collaborated with us on this year’s 31% Wool Christmas card. Using this project as an example, what's your usual process when working with a client, from concepts to final illustration?
Thomas: The process I used for this project is more or less the one I use universally, unless there’s something I can do to better facilitate a client’s needs. For this project, I started by offering 3 different concept ideas under the prompt, so that we could select the one we liked best and develop it.
After it was selected, I provided some provisional sketches and colour variants, and I do this to allow the client to have a greater input on how their pieces turn out. After we’re happy with the colours and the sketch ideas, I can proceed with the linework and the finished piece. I like to check in with a client as much as I can, so that they can give their feedback, especially if it’s being commissioned for a specific reason or a very personalised piece. I find that clients' attitudes to commissions are very variable. Some want to feed back on every step of the process, with a very clear image of their work in mind, whereas others like to leave all the decisions up to me and wait for the finished piece.
Julia: Do you get time for personal projects in addition to client work, and if so how do these inform the development of your artistic style?
Thomas: I run my art shop on the side of client work, so I try to keep myself busy with personal projects to develop new prints, and work in new styles. Recently, I’ve gotten back to clay sculpture – something I focused on a lot when I was studying art at school. I find sculpture informative for my art style as it helps me develop a greater understanding of the three-dimensional forms I’m translating into 2D in my illustrations – as well as great hands-on fun.
Julia: What’s been your favourite commission to date?
Thomas: I got to work on a very special piece this year for a couple, with a new baby, for their dining room – it’s really amazing to think that someone’s going to grow up with that piece I created as part of their childhood home.
Julia: Are there any other recent projects you’d like to tell us about?
Thomas: Now, I’m working on an interesting commission for a tattoo piece – I’m very lucky to have friends who want to commission my work too, and excited to work very closely with them to make sure it’s exactly what they want to be made permanent on their body. They want a tattoo of a hare in a linocut style, however I’m designing it digitally to make it easier to stencil for a tattoo. It’s certainly going to be an exciting new challenge for me to see how to translate a digital piece into the characteristic style of my linocut works by drawing elements from them.
Julia: Apart from our card (of course) what’s the most festive illustration you’ve ever created?
Thomas: My personal artworks don’t tend to be much about holidays or festivities in general, so this is probably my most festive published piece – however, I always make sure to illustrate a Christmas card for my grandmother every year.
Julia: What next for you in 2025?
Thomas: Next year I’m hoping to get back into artists markets, to sell a mixture of my prints and my new small sculpture experiments I want to develop. I’m also looking forward to working more with young people as an art assistant and instructor for introductory lessons to art in my local community.
Thank you to Thomas for the chat (and the lovely artwork). Keep up with Thomas’ work on his Instagram.
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