The Arts & Culture Journal

This week on Fallyrag we have another relatively late bloomer. Richard Baker didn’t study art at school until A Level but this doesn’t appear to have affected a beautiful collection of illustrations.

Richard’s prints are a fantastic record of the normalities and irregularities of every day life. His characters draw on a psychedelic colour palette and his selection of high contrast colours makes these works that are impossible to ignore.

So are there any themes intertwined in these images?

“There is no underlying theme through my work as it is so varied, although I do try to introduce a sense of fun and interaction with people. I want people to reflect the intrigue in looking at my art that I have in making it.”

And the fun exposed here crosses not just in the aesthetic, but also the creation of these works. Perhaps the most endearing quality to Richard and his art is how he encompasses raw, traditional methods whilst simultaneously embracing programmes more in keeping with the digital age.

“For a while I worked a lot with photography and Photoshop to create artwork. The tools that I use the most would be my graphics tablet and my trusty scanner! I have always been a strong believer in incorporating organic methods such as hand drawn sketches, water colour and textures scanned into the machine rather than pure digital means. This way you can carry your own personality into your creation, I also love to add an ephemeral process to my pictures by passing the printed outcome through the photocopier and then scanning this back through Photoshop.”

The content of Richard’s illustrations clearly shows his influences: friends. Their clothes, personalities and eccentricities are all wonderfully captured in textured