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T OA S TTHE ILLSUTRATOR’S INSPIRATIONAL BREAKFAST.

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Joshua Bottomley: Ded Arm Il lustrationPLUS / Mr Bowlegs, Sweaty Eskimo and Yema Yema

Tutorials, showcases, new talent, freelancing tips and a truck load more

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ILLUSTRATION

DED ARM

Ded Arm consists of one man, a passion for digital design and a whole load of ambition. TOAST meets

Joshua Bottomley, an illustrator who sure is making his mark. >>>

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Strolling into a local Yorkshire pub to meet Joshua Bottomley, the man behind Ded Arm Illustration, I find him already sat there with half the beer in his glass gone. The

cosy location is warm and inviting in contrast to the winter temperatures outside, and Josh couldn’t be more relaxed in these surroundings. Welcoming like I’d known him for years, first impressions say he’s chatty, a bit of a lad and extremely easy to interview.

Since starting his degree in Communication Design at Huddersfield University back in 2008, Josh’s work has developed to a point where he’s starting to get noticed. With a few small projects under his belt, he’s currently working for a design studio in Yorkshire, and using his talents to freelance during his sandwich year at University.

“My work ranges from being fun and cute to weird, fucking almost satanic illustrations of people with horns and ab-normalities – they’re almost never anatomically correct anyway.

It depends what I’m doing it for, the fun ones are a lot more commercial because it’s easy to fit them to briefs, and that’s what people want at the moment. When I’m doodling, pretty much 80% of the outcome is based around messed up creatures and monsters.

I’m rather versatile if I do say so myself” he says as we chat about his artistic style.Josh is also involved in a successful University based group of designers and illustrators

who name themselves Crim (Creative Imaging), established by Senior Lecturer Paul Heys.

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As he orders his second beer (he can drink very fast!), Josh tells me how Crim helped his work to develop, allowing him to become even more passionate about illustrative design.

“The stuff I do with Crim is definitely what I enjoy most. My favourite project involved us creating a mural of illustrations on the wall of an alternative bar in Huddersfield called Zepher. The task itself was fun because we had a lot of freedom, but as we were doing it you got to see the reactions of a lot of people – something I don’t really tend to see. It’s always nice to hear someone talking about your work and then say yeah I did that.”

We then moved onto general conversations about art, and one thing I definitely noticed about Joshua Bottomley was his outspoken views. “I disagree that art is design and design is art – they are completely different things. Design work is to fulfil a brief, whereas art is personal exploration”. It appeared that these views are a major thing for him, and he was keen to explain to me his issue with self-proclaimed artists: “The thing I dislike most about the art world is shit

designers producing shit work. Some people think they can watch two Photoshop tutorials and become a digital designer: technically they’re just dicks. I really can’t consider people artists who don’t have an ounce of design in them – people who create shit work without even caring about what they’re doing and not taking their time, no precision. Just designers that are morons basically, you have to be intelligent to be a designer and a lot aren’t!”

Josh’s practice involves sketching out ideas perfectly, before scanning his illustrations onto his Mac and continuing with the Adobe Illustrator programme. Here he creates a final product with clean, bold lines. “I pretty much sit at home in my room and click away with the Illustrator pen tool. It’s quite lonely work but it’s what I love doing and feel content when I’ve done something I really like. Saying that, most of the time I don’t like what I’ve produced, for a brief anyway. If the person or company likes it then that’s all that matters.”

His passion for his work shines through and it wasn’t long before he started unearthing his dream projects: “I would absolutely

“Some people think they can watch two

Photoshop tutorials and become a digital

designer: technically they’re just dicks.”

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love to design a collection for Stussy or Vans. I have customised a few pairs of shoes for people but would love to do it on a professional level, alongside a few t-shirt designs – that’s the dream. Although, everyone would love to work for Pepsi or Coca-Cola they’re two of the biggest brands in the world. Or Nike – my list in endless, to be honest there’s so many opportunities out there!”

Of course, I was intrigued to know about his professional goal, considering his recent success with small projects. “My professional goal is to rule the world – no I’m only joking. In five years time I’d like to have done my Masters degree to enable me to do some university lecturing, and would also like to be working for a studio in London. My ultimate dream is to have my own studio in New York – a city I have completely fallen in love with, and have people working for me. Along-side a bit of lecturing of course!”

I feel like I could interview this guy forever, but the session ends (after five pints and six glasses of wine) on a note that pretty much sums up Joshua Bottomley: “I can’t think of anything worse than being compared to someone else: I want people to be compared to me.”

Visit Josh’s blog @ www.dedarm.blogspot.com and the official Crim website @

www.crimcollective.co.uk , for all the latest on his individual work and other projects.

CRIM WALL MURAL AT ZEPHER BAR, HUDDERSFIELD