Josh Scurville
What’s good Josh, How’re things going? Could you tell me a bit about yourself? where you're from, your background and how old you are?
Yo yo, I’m born and raised West London since ’96, turned 24 back in June. My mum’s french and my dads an Acton boy of Anglo Indian ethnicity. I Just started a masters at Camberwell in printmaking, where I also graduated from a BA in illustration last year. Things are cool right now, just balancing my life between freelancing and uni work.
I recently came across your work on Instagram and was struck by your vibrant Colour choices and Funky Illustrations of people and animals, Can you tell me how you first got into Illustration? And the steps you took to evolve your practise?
It sounds so cliche, but I’ve been drawing since I was mad young. When I got to 18 I was like yeah I’m going to pursue this. I actually always wanted to go into marine biology but I wasn’t cut out for the science part of it. After sixth form, I went and did a foundation at Camberwell where I also stayed on for a BA. It was here where I properly started developing my style. I started exploring new avenues and working in different ways etc etc, all that bait stuff. I learnt bare about the design world which I think steered me in the right creative direction. Before I used to draw mad technical. I used to be bare into renaissance drawings. At Camberwell I completely switched up the way I worked.
What kind of projects have you worked on recently? What was the most challenging? The most rewarding?
To be fair none of my recent projects have been that challenging as such. I think when companies or people approach an illustrator it’s because they like their style of work. So when I get sent briefs it’s just them asking me to draw a certain something or get my take on something. It’s quite a trustful process. In short they’re just like ‘yeah do your thing and get it back to us by these dates’. I feel like I’ve been quite lucky with the people I’ve worked for so far tho, they’ve all been mad chilled. I’m definitely bound to do work for some fucking difficult clients in the future haha. I always find it rewarding seeing your work exist on things that aren’t paper or a screen, and exist in places where you haven’t put it, if that makes sense.
Recently I did a front cover illustration for the Belgian newspaper and the front and back cover designs for this magazine in Hong Kong. When you put out work yourself, you kind of know your demographic and who’s going to be seeing it and interacting with it. So it’s mad satisfying knowing your work is out there living in the world. I’m currently working on this project for this german company, where they want to use one of my drawings for an interactive AR experience. I don't really know how to explain but I’m bare excited to see how that comes out. The project I’m excited for the most however, I don’t want to say too much just in case it jinxes something. But I’m doing some work with a clothing brand and it should be hopefully dropping mid December.
Has the subject matter in your work been taken from a set of real life situations? For example, your project Utila is based on your trip to Honduras? Can you explain the culture, it’s inhabitants and how this led you to create a body of work based around the Island?
Yeah I guess so. I draw stuff I’m into or environments/places I’ve been. That’s why my work is based on animals and music culture. My work never really has that much depth to it. I got into reportage drawing a few years ago after doing a project about it. It’s basically drawing with a journalistic approach. It’s like drawing on location with the intention of capturing an observed subject. In Honduras last year, I was pretty much diving in the day and hitting up the local food spots and bars at night. I was meeting so many different characters, it was mad. Utila is a tiny island, from my experiences, I’ve noticed island life around the world seems pretty similar. It’s mad chilled, the main differences are the food, music and language. Out there, I had a little sketch book I took with me. I was drawing things I was seeing throughout the day. Or, because I was taking bare photos, I would go back to the photos to use as references for sketches. When I got back to London, the sketches I liked most, I carried on working on them to develop them further. Eventually I got these drawings Riso printed to make a little zine.
What are some of your Artistic Influences? And how does that play into your visual language?
I’ve got a lot creative influences that vary. I’m bare into old cuban film posters, 70s/80s Japanese graphic design, Hip Hop flyers from the 80s and 90s and Japanese woodblock prints. Even music videos from the 90s and early 2000s and old Vibe magazine covers play a big part in creative inspiration. To name a few people from the top of my head who inspire and influence my work are people like Niklaus Troxler, Ewen Spencer, Mari Johnsen, Guarab Thakali and Nicolas Burrows.
I’m drawn to artists and Designers who work with a lot of colour and vibrancy. With a lot of my influences I want to emulate what I see, but do it how I would do. If that makes any sense. I find it’s a nice way to start work which then leads me into creating something new. It’s the same when I make beats. If I’m having a creative block, I’ll try and make a beat similar to something else. That’ll kind of kick start me and I end up going somewhere else with it. It’s less about the subject matter for me and more about visuals that inspire me. But some artists like Guarab Thakali and Niklaus Troxler do both, so they play a big role in my creative influences.
You mention that alot of your inspiration comes from culture and music. What You listening to currently and what gets you in your element ?
Like I was saying earlier I like to make work about what I’m into. I’m heavily into RnB, Hip Hop and Rare groove stuff. My favourite producers are Devante Swing and the Neptunes. But for slow jams, Devante Swing’s production style is untouchable. The whole Swing Mob lot are up there in my top influences. These were genres I was brought up on as well as lovers rock, funk, jazz, latin jazz and soulful house. They’ve always stuck with me. I think I was quite lucky to have parents who were into the music they were into. Obviously as I got older around 13/14 I started exploring the genres more, the history of it and everything to do with it. Music plays a big part in my work.
I like to document the history of genres and the environments of where they’ll be played and heard. I think my first animation reflects this quite well. I wanted to make something that has the same energy as an early 2000s music video. The opening scene to Belly, directed by Hype Williams, inspires me bare. The whole film is like one long music video. But yeah with music, the aesthetics, music videos, record covers, posters, photoshoots, night life and clubs, all the elements to do with music and the genres I like influence my work a lot. Right now I’m loving where the RnB scene is at. It’s got bare different lanes to it and I feel like it’s found itself again. Some artists I’m currently listening to are like Che Ecru, Brent Faiyaz/ Sonder, Ojerime, Devin Morrison, Qendresa, JMSN and PND. I’m a nostalgic guy so I’m always bumping my 70s-2000s playlists.
On the other hand your Vimeo is loaded with a variety of animations. From Stop Motion to Dancing Figures. Do you see yourself creating more animation based work or is your heart still set on printing techniques?
Yeah I do, I was actually going to go to LCC to do a MA in animation there but last minute I chose Printmaking instead. Animations are cool but it’s just mad time consuming, you need to properly dedicate yourself to it. I think with the way I animate, because I still hand draw each frame, it can get tedious quite quickly. I love the outcome but the passion for the process isn’t there for me, and printing I’m all there for it. With my illustrations now they're mainly existing on screens so printing things are more tactile, therefore I’m able to see my work exist in the real world.
Right now I’m enjoying learning and exploring the world of printmaking. Back to the animations I need a lot of free time to work on them. Saying that tho, I started working on a new animation based on an 80’s B Boy, pop locking to some electro hip hop beats. I switched up the style a little with this one, so it involves more colours and a minimal backdrop type thing. But because it involves more colour, it’s taking mad long to do. Who knows when I’ll finish this one.
To end, what are your plans for the future and are you looking to put any work up for sale?
For the foreseeable future I’m focusing mainly on this masters and producing big bodies of work. But my goal is to make it big into the design world. Maybe even get into art direction. I don’t want to be limited to just illustration. I want illustration to play a part in what I do but not be the only thing I do. Oh yeah, I’m getting some scarves made from my designs and I’ve also got a couple projects lined up with my boys too, so I’m excited to see how they go and what they lead into. As for selling my work, yeah I’ll be selling some prints again soon, just need to build up a new series of prints first. I actually struggle with selling work because I get quite attached to my art. Imagine a family has to get rid of a dog, they're going to want to give it to a loving home. That’s what I’m like with my work, I don’t just want to sell it to someone who’s going to forget about it and tuck it away somewhere never to be seen again. Unless it’s for the right price haha, then yeah they can buy whatever.
Interview by Jai Toor