Tilteed

Ben, you know I couldn’t go for too long with having you back at Tilteed. Tell us: What have you been up to these last couple months?

It's great to be asked back again, thank you very much for having me! Well, as well as working on the usual tee design and poster art etc, I've spent a lot of time recently organizing an art show. The show is running for two months in an arts cafe within a local gallery and features favourite work of mine from the last year or two as well as work from six other artists. We had the launch party last weekend and it was lot of fun! Some great bands played and we had a blast and hopefully we'll have plenty of visitors seeing our artwork over the next two months. I've also been making slow (but steady) progress on a new comic book.
Plus daydreaming, eating pizza and not sleeping- been doing a lot of that too.

Your first print with us was vibrant and full of color, as was your second. What inspired the constrained palette on this piece?

Well, I love bright and saturated colour but I've also always loved a subtler, washed- out palette too and use both in my work at different times, often depending purely on mood. I usually gauge colour instinctually without too much conscious thought. It's a very powerful expression of your feelings if you allow it to flow freely from you. (tip: If everything comes out as black scribbles then you are probably sad. Or only have one colour paint/crayon/pencil. Which would probably make you sad. So it would all work out fine. So then you'd be happy. So you'd reach for the bright yellow and realise it's not there. So you'd feel sad. And so on.
However, sometimes the colour choice is purely chosen to fit the concept of the design. I just figured a ghost is traditionally pale and ghostly white so based it on that. Although, he is super happy and excited so hopefully this is a bright and positive tee in some ways despite the sombre tones. The pale tree part is like a grainy but sweet memory of his glorious, sun-filled halcyon days- branches waving gently in the summer breeze, photosynthesizing his little leaves off. Before he tragically became a corpsestump TM

We’re to the point where a simple interview just doesn’t do you justice, Ben. So here’s something off the wall: What color crayon would you likely get caught coloring all over your bedroom walls, if you were five years old again?

That's very kind of you to say so.

I'd say Gentle Sea Breeze No.4 off-white: the exact same as the walls. That way I DIDN'T get caught Although you couldn't even see the drawings so the joke was on me. Apart from that one time I accidentally used bright lime green. And my mum said that I'd better think about what I'd done and how I'd made the Dulux dog cry. And I said 'Mum, dogs can't cry!' and she said 'Of course they can! He painted the walls with his paint and he's very sad you messed them up!' And then I googled it and she backed down. But google wasn't around then so the joke was on me again. Although this was all last week. When I was five...? I can't remember.

You’re becoming a regular here, and hopefully, that’s a good thing. What’s the most fun about being printed at Tilteed?

Well, it makes me very happy and honoured to thought of as a regular! I'd say the whole Tilteed process from start to finish is fun- from creating the design, to the joy of having it picked, to the excitement of the moment you see it go up for sale, to seeing what the tee fans will make of it... I guess the very best and most fun moment is seeing the tee itself in front of you, printed beautifully and being worn by someone and thinking, 'Yep that's the finished product and it was all worth it for this moment.' That's a good feeling:)

What artists do you hope to see at Tilteed now that 2.0 is finally here?

The answer to this could go on forever because there just seems to be so much awesome work out there at the moment.

It was great in recent months to see two of my faves Ratkiss and Aphte have Titleed tees printed. More from them now that 2.0 is here would be great! I'd also love to see more by Mitchloidoit, Escu and Isaboa- all of who's work I'm a big fan of. In recent months my favourite new artist/designer is bloodykirka. Her style is just so beautiful and colour-filled and fresh. I'd love to see her work printed here!

Last I checked, you had pages for fans to see more of your work. They’re still available, right?

Yep! Thanks for asking!:

www.benfoot.co.uk
http://www.flickr.com/photos/benfoot/sets/72157622612886501/

Have anything memorable you wish to pass on to the Tee Nerds?

Hmmm something memorable... I thought of something earlier but I've forgotten what it was... please rest assured it was definitely very memorable.

I guess just be awesome to each other and wear good art on your tee! Plus stay off the energy drinks, they're worse for you than crack.