Super star illustrator and king of character design, Phil Corbett is a Brighton-based creative who has made quite a name for himself over the years, although you'll never hear him boast about it too much.
A humble character, and one who has an endless dose of optimism and energy, Phil has exhibited his work across the globe and has a client list that includes the likes of Disney, Sony, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, AussieBum and Nintendo.
A creative director at heart, he's experienced as an illustrator, artworker, comic artist, game designer, IP consultant, writer for children's television and graphic designer, toy creator, app expert and published author. Put simply, he's dabbled in many disciplines. He's designed computer games, textiles, animated projects, advertising campaigns, editorial illustration, comics, art toys and even a four foot cake.
Which is why we're honoured to have Phil as this week's #CBChampion. But before we launch into our interview with Phil, listen up! He's currently exhibiting a solo show called Out From Under A Rock at Brighton Rocks in Brighton's Kemp Town, so make sure you pop along and check out his work in the flesh. Now Phil, it's over to you...
First of all, how did you get into illustration?
My illustration is pretty niche – I normally design characters. My grasp on perspective is scant and I can’t draw anything realistically. My childhood obsessions were cartoons and toys. If I was watching a cartoon about toys it was win-win. I love stories told through any medium. Comics, cartoons, games and in some cases, even books. Actually I’ve always been a massive reader. My last hour awake is usually with a book. I went to university with the intention to animate but the camera broke early on and as they were phasing out the course it was never repaired. So I wrote and storyboarded ideas for animations and then drifted into illustration. But only in a limited way, designing characters that could be in cartoons and games.
After graduating I worked for a games company and got paid to do that, designing the Playstation/N64 triumph that was Rat Attack! Other than the occasional blip designing fetish festivals or television sets I’ve done that ever since.
Tell us about a typical working day
I normally get up around 7am-ish and do an hour's run along the Brighton seafront. No, that never happens. Occasionally if I’m feeling hyper I try and do an early morning gym and swim so I can feel smug about ticking that off before ten but normally I just potter around my tiny garden with a coffee and a mini Battenberg to see how much the slugs have eaten during the night.
If I’m doing agency work where I need to be in at a studio at a certain time it's good to have a couple of hours beforehand doing my own stuff. If I’m working at home all bets are off. I don’t have a schedule at all. I’m a terrible procrastinator and I’ll always find odd jobs to do, websites to check and certain points in video games to get past before work. Once those psychological checkpoints are satisfied I can crack on.
When I’m in the groove, I can go for hours, although the thoughts of coffee and snacks are never far from my mind. I normally work on my various crackpot schemes all day, punctuating them only with calls and emails about getting someone to pay and publish them. It’s by no means a perfect system but it seems to work for me.
Cat Dating
Scary Tails
What has surprised or disappointed you about the industry you work in? What would you like to see change, if anything?
The bulk of my work is for games companies. I hate to use the term 'app' as I feel it belittles this noble art. When I started out in the Playstation & N64 days this was like working in showbiz. We all had big plans for games for the sake of gaming. Games were stylish fusions of design and music with each one’s launch heralded with an excessive launch party in a stupendous venue. I’ll never forget the Digimon launch in an East End boxing club.
Today, there are just a handful of big budget console games and millions of ‘me too’ apps that are driven by market research and algorithms that analyse too much unnecessary ‘user experience’. Ha ha! This makes me sound like a grumpy old bugger – I kind of am, though!
But it’s not all bad. There are some amazing indie games out there that are still flying the flag and living that pre-millennial dream making the more left field games and games that aren’t really games just wandering around environments experiencing sights and sounds.
I had a great time working with Total Monkery on MagNets. That game is out on Steam already (which means nothing to me as I have a rule about not playing games on my work computer) and will hit the consoles later this year (where I will be allowed to play it).
Dandy Lion
Snow Tomorrow
What tools, apps and software can you not survive without?
I only really need a paint programme that has a 'fill' option. Most of my work is hand drawn, inked, scanned and coloured. If it needs to be physically big or mathematically small I’ll use vectors. I love brush pens as they give a lovely line quality (hides a lot of mistakes) and it’s a nice fluid medium to work in. I prefer ink to paint in the real world as I like flat colour, which is why I’m such a fan of the fill tool when I’m working digitally.
What's your work setup like?
If I’m working at home in the summer months I like to draw on the garden table but other than that my lounge is also my workspace. I have a desk in the corner with inspiring treasures on my shelves but I like to work on the floor. I think it’s better for my posture as I’m constantly moving around.
What's your top secret for productivity?
Jealousy. Is that a healthy thing to say? Often when I’m faffing around online and I come across something someone’s done I get a quick visit from the green-eyed monster and think things like: How did they get that gig? I could do that? Why aren’t I doing that? Why are they doing so well? Come on, we all do it! Am I confusing jealousy with envy? I know they’re subtly different. Let’s just call it inspiration for ease. Anyway, this often motivates me. This, and the desire to make money for holidays.
Any interesting projects you've just launched or currently working on?
I’m currently collecting up loads of my little ink drawings for my first solo show for a couple of years ‘From Under a Rock’ which opens on Thursday. I’ve drawn a lot of weird birds and broken kittens for this one – a surprising amount of pictures of baked goods are in there too. Swing round Brighton Rocks Bar on Thursday night if you’re local and say hello.
Once that's done I’m working on my kid’s book series – Squire McIntyre’s Travelling Mythical Petting Zoo. I need a few titles to make me more attractive to a publisher. I’m also working on a couple of animated show projects which is roller-coasting my emotions where it’s all on one minute and all quiet the next – such is the life I’ve chosen.
Squire McIntyre
Squire McIntyre
Kittens
Any projects you're especially proud of? Please explain why
At the moment, I’m most proud of my writing. I love being in the Elizabethan world of Squire McIntyre and it’s so rich in my brain that I constantly need to get it out through writing and drawing. I’d like to just do that full time if I could. I’ve learnt so much from writing this and dealing with literary agents – now if I could just find one to take me on.
I should explain. Squire McIntyre and his family operate a travelling petting zoo that tours England in 1575. The USP of this zoo is that all the animals are mythical beasts: Dragons, cockatrices, mandrakes and such.
I’ve enjoyed the learning curve of an unfamiliar medium and the career environment of literary publishing. So different to the world of gaming. It’s a delight for me to write and illustrate the stories and I really think you should check it out.
What's currently on your music playlist?
My music taste is all over the shop. Praise be for Spotify. Clicking on it now, it says I most recently played the original soundtrack to Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. Don’t judge me! It’s my favourite Disney, so stylish and I love the blend of Tchaikovsky and '50s big screen music.
Other that that, Anamanaguchi and other gamey inspired electronic music is always good to work too.
What are you currently reading?
Horns by Joe Hill – I saw the film on Netflix and I’m hoping the book addresses some of the things the film glossed over. The film is pretty good though.
What was the last movie you saw at the cinema and what did you think?
Big Hero Six – loved it. Looked amazing, the story and characters were great, it was just a fantastic cinema experience. That said, I’d be interested to read some of the original comic stories. It’s not on the Marvel Unlimited App which seems odd as after Guardians of the Galaxy they were all over it.
Grumpy
Grumpy
Who's work do you admire and why?
There are so many. Most of them I have no idea of who they are, just random reproductions on Tumblr. Of my friends can I just flag up Darko Đorđević who shares my passion for Gem & the Holograms and Monster High. Although he did one better and illustrates for Mattel these days. His style is amazing and the way he draws his female characters is fantastic.
Also Rob Biddulph is storming it with his children's picture book ‘Blown Away’. He’s pretty good too, but don’t tell him I said that. The background detail in his illustrations is above and beyond the call of duty.
What's the best piece of advice you've ever had?
It’s not really advice but when I heard back from an interview with a leading toy company that I was “quirky and uncommercial”, I took it as a compliment. But if they ever put a rabbit in the top hat in a piece in a child’s version of a popular property trading board game, that was my idea – although it was a really hard interview to navigate as they asked for ideas but then said I couldn’t say them in case it got messy legally. My rabbit idea came up then.
Who's the best person or brand you've worked with to date?
AussieBum without a doubt. So relaxed, I could do what I wanted, they never asked for changes and were a pleasure to deal with. I designed a couple of ranges of underwear fabric for them and all those male models made the perfect canvas to showcase my work.
I loved drawing Korky the Cat in the last days of the Dandy. That comic was going for 75 years and I'd always known about it. It was an honour to work with such a venerable character - the oldest continuously published comic character in the world until the comic closed down a couple of years back. This job was the only one my parents really understood too, which was nice.
AussieBum
Spider Kitten
What do you do to unwind and relax?
Being with friends. I work so much on my own that being with people is a pleasure that most people take for granted. I’ve recently started playing Dungeons & Dragons for the first time with a group of chums which is great fun. If you haven’t tried, I really recommend it.
Also just being in Brighton is amazing. I love it here and there’s so much to see and do. I’ve been mesmerised by the starling murmurations over the pier at twilight – I can’t think of a better relaxing spectacle than that. It even beats whale watching in my eyes.
What do you love most about your profession?
It’s just nice to draw. Everyone can get onboard with that. But more than that, I like story telling. Comics, story boarding, character designs, game back-stories and pictures that hint at a narrative – I love all that. Plus I like drawing kittens.
What's on your daily reading list for inspiration? Apart from Creative Boom...
I always check on Bulbapedia for all my Pokemon news, Nerdist is good for pop culture updates and then I just follow most of the click bate that pops up on my FaceBook feed – like we all try not to do.
Where are you next going on holiday?
Glad you asked. I’m off to Florida next week. A week in Miami and the Keys and then a few days in Orlando with my brother and his kids in Disney World.
Zombert
ZomBunnies
If you could sum up why others should get into illustration - what would you say?
Drawing is fun. Why wouldn’t you not want to do this? Probably not the best career to get into if you love the minutiae of office life. I really like the fact that what I do makes people happy – and occasionally uncomfortable – but mainly happy.
Finally, tell us something about yourself that might surprise people.
I have 100 cans of A&W root beer in my kitchen, which I panic bought as it can’t be imported into Europe anymore because of its sodium benzoate content which seems to be ubiquitous in American sodas. I'm thinking of opening a speakeasy for this delicious contraband. Knock on my door with the secret knock if you want some..!
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