Welcome to the Will Sweeney-verse
Will Sweeney is a commercial artist based in the UK. With a big reach and an enormous imagination, his illustrations adorn album sleeves, shirts for big fashion brands, toys in Japan, and almost any other sort of wearable or product one could imagine.
Recently, we asked Sweeney to describe a bit of the machinations that go into creating his twisted narratives, ghoulish characters, and phantasmagoric landscapes. Read on to get his perspective on color, inspiration, and so much more!
Hi-Fructose (HF): Your work touches on so many different kinds of media—multiples, fashion, album art, toys, comics. If you could only concentrate on one kind of work moving forward, what would it be?
Will Sweeney (WS): I’m always interested in creating comics. It’s quite challenging to write stories and realize them that way. As long as I’m drawing, I’m happy. I need a means to express and explore things and my style tends to vary. It’s a tricky question; but comics, I think, cover everything for me.
HF: What medium first attracted your attention?
WS: Drawing has always fascinated me. It’s a retreat for me. And comics were an influence from a very early age. The first inspiration to draw was probably being around my dad’s studio. He’s predominantly a printmaker—very established in the UK. Stylistically, I think we have quite a lot in common. We both love detail and large crowd scenes. There’s a lot of humor in his work, which I’m influenced by, I think. But he’s less fantastical than me. He’s definitely not inspired by psychedelia and science-fiction. We’re a bit different, but there are some undercurrents from him, influencing me for sure.
HF: What were the first bits of sci-fi and psychedelia that you were drawn to?
WS: The main one was 2000 A.D. with Judge Dredd and those other famous characters. I was really into that whole universe. A lot of amazing storylines,
amazing artists. I was into American comics, but to a lesser extent. 2000 A.D. had that British sensibility and humor, and a strong punk aesthetic. That stayed with me.
As long as I’m drawing, I’m happy. I need a means to express and explore things and my style tends to vary.”
HF: Is there a project you’ve been chasing that hasn’t quite materialized yet?
WS: The nice thing about being a freelance commercial artist is that you never quite know what’s around the corner. There’s hundreds of bands and musicians that I’d love to do record sleeves for. I’m super interested in video games and artwork for video games. That would be a dream job, to design the world and characters.
HF: What would your dream video game be like?
WS: That puts me on the spot! [Laughs] I’m not entirely sure. I like immersive worlds, environments, or narratives more broadly. Video games have that immersion. I’m not so much into multiplayer, like with Fortnight. I love Dark Souls and other labyrinths with solo missions that require you to explore and uncover. I’d love to design that. A first-person story with a lot of weirdness.
HF: I’ve read that music and writing can have an impact on your work.
WS: There’s an atmosphere. It’s difficult to elaborate on because it’s so abstract to talk about. I might listen to something that adds a certain vibe I’m looking for while sketching or rendering. I listen to a lot of audiobooks and stories. It puts me in a relaxed state and I can sit for long periods and work on details.
HF: Do you differentiate the work you do for hire and your personal work?
WS: To some extent. But what I do commercially, now, is not a million miles away from my personal work. People usually come to me for an aesthetic and most clients are receptive to me bringing ideas to a project.
I always tell clients that it works better if I have a bit of creative freedom. I describe myself as a graphic artist and think it sets up the right expectations. There’s still drafts and compromise, which comes with working with other people. But I always bring ideas to the table and feel very free.
Color’s very instinctive, intuitive, personal. The flavor of the project will dictate the color palette instantaneously.”
HF: We’re really struck by your use of color to create this aura of fantasy that politely clashes with the grittier elements of your worlds. How has your use of color evolved over your career?
WS: When I first started working digitally, there was a reductive process of throwing in a lot of colors and manipulating them in Photoshop. It was liberating, but also overwhelming. Someone made a point to me about restricting a bit and trying a limited palette and it really helped. Especially with comics and narrative works, limiting helped. I’ve learned to decide on a palette early on. Color’s very instinctive, intuitive, personal. The flavor of the project will dictate the color palette instantaneously. So the color palette is the first thing that usually comes to mind.
HF: Are there any forthcoming projects that you’re excited about?
WS: I’ve got a book coming out with Mania, who are based in the south of France. It’s called Grok, and it’s a bit of a retrospective of my personal work that isn’t often featured. It’s going off to print soon and should be out later this year. I’m also designing a lamp with a fashion label based in Toyko called Undercover. It’ll be a mushroom character with this stroboscopic lighting effect and a dial on its chest in the shape of a spider to control the strobe.*
This article originally appeared in Hi-Fructose Issue 55., which is sold out. Get our latest issue in print here.
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