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What did you do after leaving college? I got a job in publishing. The design was very prescribed and the staff were either horsy debutantes or secret alcoholics. I pretty much hated it but at least it taught me how to use computers, what it’s like to have a 9 to 5 job and I earned enough money to get on my own feet. After 3 years I couldn’t stand it any longer and left to ‘go freelance’, except I didn’t have any clients. So I did my own thing but stopped earning money. In desperation I went on a Teaching English as a Foreign Language course at great expense, which I failed. Just as I was thinking I would have to swallow my pride and go back to publishing the job at Spitting Image turned up. Tell us a bit about Spitting Image and what your job was there. Spitting Image was a TV series started in 1984 which ran for 12 years. It was political and social satire performed by viciously caricatured latex puppet heads. When it started it was the most expensive light entertainment half hour ever on British TV, due to the production costs of making the heads. I came in right at the end of the programme’s existence through a friend who worked there. I started as an apprentice head-builder. Working there made me see that just because I had studied graphic design didn’t mean I had to stick to it for ever. It was a hilarious and panicky place to work with almost immediate deadlines. The worst job was trying to drill vertically into bespoke shiny acrylic eyeballs. It was very easy to get the hole off centre, in which case your politician or famous footballer would acquire an obvious squint. What was your biggest success/asset during this time? I made quite a good Rolf Harris and a two headed fish. |
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