@sodowling

Instagram: @sodowling Website: www.sodowling.com  

1. What's your story? Where are you from?

Waddup, my name is Shane Dowling and I’m an illustrator from London.

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

Without sounding too serious, I think my work is quite meditative and subversive. I guess they’re vignettes of modern life, often mundane with a certain stillness. I am interested in people interacting with their environments and with technology specifically. If I had to describe it in 3 words, it’d be people doin’ stuff.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

I tend to stick with Photoshop. I couldn’t be without the freedom it offers in terms of risk-free experimentation, as you’re always an undo button away from safety and that allows lots of room for happy accidents to occur. That being said, I do try to work on paper whenever possible as it’s a lot more natural and immediate.

4. What is your artistic process like?

I usually start out sketching on paper before moving into Photoshop. From there I build up solid shapes and then layer details and textures into those shapes until they begin to resemble what I initially sketched. Often times, images are completely different by the end compared to the starting point, but the fun is not knowing where you’ll end up.

5. Who and/or what inspires your work?

Anything to be honest, but I would say everyday situations mainly. Watching films, listening to music/looking at album art, visiting galleries or even from overheard snippets of conversations. I watch a lot of Seinfeld and Peep Show. Film is probably the biggest thing in terms of inspiration, I love David Lynch and PTA. I think all these things add up in terms of what inspires my work.

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

I use art as a way of observing and unpacking the world, thinking laterally and expressing myself.

7. Where did you study?

I Studied at Arts University Bournemouth on the not so sunny south coast of England.

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

If I could stop losing sketchbooks that’d be the dream.

9. What about in ten?

Having my own studio would be nice.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

I just enjoy drawing things, and would do it regardless of whether people see it. I’ve never really thought beyond that.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

Too much black coffee, anxious but faster etc.

12. Favourite book?

Building Stories by Chris Ware.

13. Favourite genre of music?

Does Africa by Toto count as a genre?

14. What are your hobbies?

Doing some beers with friends, watching films and football. Quoting The Simpsons from when it was still good.

15. If you weren't an artist, what would you be?

Something with dogs. Office drone more likely.