Meet the Illustrator: Chris Saunders

Describe your illustration style in ten words or less.  Storytelling; using imagination, detail and atmosphere combined with exaggerated physics.

What items are an essential part of your creative space?  My most essential workspace items are my computer, drawing tablet, diary and something to sketch with.

Do you have a favourite artistic medium?  I’m fascinated with the progression of computer generated imagery and the idea of simulation eventually becoming indistinguishable from reality.

Name three artists whose work inspires you.
Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton and Bruce Lee.

Which artistic period would you most like to visit and why?  I would like to experience art created in our distant future. It’s would be interesting to experience potential art-forms that we can’t yet comprehend.

Who or what inspired you to become an illustrator?  It’s probably the result of wide variety of factors such as; people, the natural world, video games, comic books, film, literature, music – anything and everything to be honest.

Can you describe your creative work space?  I mostly work from a home studio. It’s a little chaotic at the moment as we moved house this year and I haven’t decorated yet - I’m surrounded by cardboard boxes.

What is your favourite part of the illustration process?  Taking the fragments of an idea that occupy my subconscious and formulating them into a state of resolution, creatively solving a problem.

What advice would you give to an aspiring illustrator?  Always go with your gut feeling - you are probably right - if you’re not, then be humble and learn from it. Keep moving forward, if only incrementally.

Chris Saunders is an illustrator and author from the North-East UK.  He studied Illustration at The University of Northampton, receiving a First Class BA Honours Degree.  Previously, Chris attained an Art and Design Foundation Studies National Diploma with Distinction. 

You can follow Chris on instagram or check out his blog or agency for more information.