Kyle Platts
10 Questions With Kyle Platts
On the 30th October we launch our 'World Series' initiative where we collaborate with artists and designers to explore the concept of a SKEWED world. The first of these is with Illustrator, artist, animator, skateboarder and all round good egg Kyle Platts. We thought you guys might like a window into Kyle's mind - so we decided to shoot him ten questions.
DK
Name… A/S/L…
KP
Kyle Platts, 33, male, Peckham
DK
What inspired your illustration for Skewed?
KP
Well, I’ve always been into drawing trippy wippy little characters that just don’t look quite right, so creating this ‘Skewed’ world was a good bit of fun. I took inspiration from the horror manga Uzumaki by Junji Ito. In his story mysterious spirals appear in a small town, driving people to insanity. So I decided that the spiral is what possesses these characters in the shirt graphic.
DK
Do you have a defined process? How do you like to work?
KP
I work from a home studio where I listen to music and drink too many coffees plus teas throughout the day. The music has to be ambient, techno or instrumental as I can’t really concentrate on two things at once, lyrics will get in the way. For me composition is key, so I create the framework of an image, considering where the eye is going to land. Once I’ve got that sorted I just have fun with the details, often referring to my sketchbooks for characters or motifs.
DK
When did you move to London?
KP
I moved here in 2008 to study illustration at Camberwell College of Arts.
DK
Your work has a certain kinda humour to it. Where does your humour come from?
KP
It’s hard to say, I’m definitely not funny in real life, I wish I was. Maybe that’s why I put humour in my work. I always felt like humour was the best way to connect with people and share ideas, so I think it’s got a very practical purpose in the design world.
DK
Did you have illustration heroes growing up?
KP
I didn’t really know what illustration was until I was older, but growing up I was obsessed with the puerile animations that were for ‘older kids’, South Park, Bevis and Butthead and Ren & Stimpy, pretty typical really but that’s the truth. I still love that stuff, it’s probably what steered me towards animation too.
DK
Was there a distinct moment when you found your style?
KP
These things shift and evolve over years, you could see a very slow development if you looked through 12 years worth of my sketchbooks. But I can actually remember one or two moments when I just drew a face a certain way and thought, cool, that’s how everything should look now.
DK
What was growing up in Sheffield like?
KP
When you’re growing up you just accept your surroundings, so I didn’t think much of it, but having been away for so long I appreciate now what a great place it is. Sheffield is a city surrounded by countryside, so that gave me a balanced experience growing up. Then when I got older there was a really good free party/ rave scene, totally different to any parties I’ve been to in London.
DK
Skate art. Yay or nay? Skateboarding comes with a lot of baggage.
KP
The existence of illustration, or ‘graphic art’ only really came to my attention because of skate art, so artists like Jim Phillips, Sean Cliver and Marc Mckee were a big inspiration, as well as artists closer to home like Fos. But I’m not really interested in having a ‘skartist’ identity, designing a board is super exciting but I wouldn’t want to be limited to that kind of work.
DK
What next for Kyle Platts? Will Earth Pain ever reunite?
KP
Haha (genuine chuckles), there was talk of making another Earth Pain, but then Covid happened, and we are all so busy I think it would end up taking two years to make. Also, there are people making way better skate videos in London that aren’t filmed on a 10pixel camera. I’m really loving the Blokes videos by Ed Hubert and friends.
What’s next for me is being hunched over a drawing tablet animating day and night. I’ve been moving into animation direction the past few years, and animating is a never ending learning process, so that’s going to keep me occupied for a while I reckon.
