Artist Profile: CODY WILLIAMS, tee designer

THE ARTIST
NAME: Cody Williams
OCCUPATION: Thriving Ink Resident Artist (among other things)
EDUCATION: BA in Illustration at the Academy of Art.
TYPICAL ARTWORK: Cody usually uses Photoshop to paint, but also like to work with watercolor. He often draws on children’s books for inspiration, and has been drawing a lot of Ninja Turtles and Quittich players lately.

CURRENT PROJECT MONSTER TEES - With “Where the Wild Things Are” on the brain, Thriving Ink approached Cody to create a line of monster designs. Cody calls this project as a “huge learning experience,” citing the specificity of single-color and gender/age universality requirements as some of the new challenges he faced. We think he made it look easy.

THE INSPIRATION
Influenced Matt introduced Cody to Keaton Henson artwork with this project in mind. Cody says he took note of Henson’s “really cool inkwork, design, and pattern.” Cody also cites Deli, who he went to school with at the Academy of Art, Maurice Sendak, author and illustrator of Where the Wild Things Are, and John Kricfalusi, a Ren and Stimpy artist, as inspirations.

THE PROCESS
The conception With the assignment to create monster artwork, Cody brainstormed a list of mundane or ordinary activities for his monsters, like eating snacks and taking baths. He wanted his designs to have an element of the unexpected with a sense of humor.
The blueprint Cody had the challenge of making his designs fit a specific space (16” x 20”) on his T-shirt canvas, and making objects that are typically horizontally oriented (like a bathtub) fit that space. Before committing to an entire layout, he created small thumbnails of abstract shapes with no detail to arrange his pieces. He says even through his editing process, his initial instincts usually stuck.
Work space Cody prefers to work alone at his drawing table, with some kind of background noise, like “South Park” or ambient music (“nothing too narrative) to keep him on task.
Tools of the trade Cody used brush and steel pens and ink to create these designs, with very little computer touch-up, which was a departure from his usual work on Photoshop.

WORK
Size matters Since Cody prefers designs that take up a big portion of a T-shirt, he had to size and format his work for the American Apparel blanks that Thriving Ink will print them on.

Finished product His work includes depictions of various monsters eating (as in his the first to be printed “Midnight Snack”), bathing, and serving as a trampoline for people. He will work with Matt to decide what kind of tee blanks to print his designs on. Check back every Tuesday for a new release!