Viva Brighton Issue #69 November 2018

DESIGN
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disintegrates while I’m drawing, because
it’s so soft,” he says, “so when you blow
the image up you can see all the grainy
bits. Then I just bump up the contrast
in Photoshop and it comes out like
that.” The unique look has earned him
commissions of all sorts…
“I’ve done a lot of editorial illustration
work,” he says; some of his past clients
have included Smith Journal and Culture
Trip. “Sometimes you get sent an article
that’s quite dry and you have to think
of a way to boost it up, but this one”
– an illustration of a pig curled up on
a toothbrush – “was for a Canadian
magazine called Cottage Life. The article
was about bacon-flavoured products and
how things had got out of hand and this
guy had been given bacon-flavoured
toothpaste for his birthday. That was an
amazing article.”
Earlier in the year, Ryan was
commissioned by local menswear store
Peggs & son and clothing brand Folk to
come up with an illustration for a new
t-shirt collection. “I always see these
surfers standing on the seafront, but
there’s no waves in Brighton, so that’s
what I imagine they’re daydreaming
about…” His illustration Gnarly,
featuring a would-be surfer with a minime
surfing through his flowing hair, was
sold by P&s with profits going to the
local charity Amaze.
Check out more of Ryan’s work at
ryangillett.com and on Instagram (@
ryanpetergillett) or go along and say “hi”
to him at BIF on the 3rd & 4th, where
there will be workshops, screenings and
talks across the weekend. Tickets are
£5 (per day, £7 for the weekend) and
available via Eventbrite.
Rebecca Cunningham
brightonillustrationfair.co.uk
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