Published on

Q&A with Gavin Strange

Designer from Bristol, UK | Filmmaking, illustration, painting

Hiya! My name is Gavin Strange and I’m a designer based in beautiful Bristol, UK. I’m a bit of a jack of all trades; by day I work as Senior Designer for the wonderful Aardman Animations (the folks behind Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Pirates and many more) and by night I go under the alias of ‘JamFactory’ where I like to turn my hand to a bit of everything, from filmmaking to illustration to painting to toy design!

I get stoked on everything creative and get inspired by pretty much everything, so I’m always wanting to start something new, try a new style and just get involved in things!

© Gavin Strange

Software / hardware

I’m in love with Adobe’s Creative Cloud, finally having all the apps at my disposal is a godsend, and it means you can just ideally install a program you know nothing about and just give it a shot, get lost and get learning!

I’m just getting into 3D too, it’s an area i’m not very good at but always inspired by, so I’ve been playing a bit with Cinema 4D and now Blender. They’re great fun and it’s a massive learning curve, I love it.

Hardware wise; I love my Mac’s. I use a 27” iMac at work with a 2nd screen for all my programs, I love having loads of screen real estate! At home I use a MacBook Pro attached to another monitor, I like having the ability to be portable. I’m lucky enough to get the chance to do talks, so I need a laptop to transport all the stupid GIFs and presentations filled with nonsense!

Ideal work environment

Somewhere light! I can’t work somewhere that’s dark and gloomy, I love natural light. I also love creative clutter too, I like being surrounded by toys and prints and ‘things’. I think you subconsciously suck in all of that inspiration with the things that surround you! Music plays a big part in my work environment too, wether that’s on headphones or on in the studio, I don’t like working in silence.

© Gavin Strange

Work inspiration

Oh man everywhere! I know that’s super cliched but it’s true, I get so stoked on seeing what other people are doing - wether that’s a particular graphical style or just their work ethic, i get inspired to get on and make stuff!

I just get fired up by seeing people out there doing their thing, from making music to putting on art shows - just that general fire of creativity makes me feel so lucky for being part of that world and inclined to just make stuff.

There’s no better thing in the world!

Creatives you admire most

Oh man, the list is endless, let me try and roll call some particular favourites at the minute; Tom Frost, Ben Newman, KAWS, Spike Jonze, Gareth Edwards, Oliver Jeffers, Velvet Spectrum, MegaMunden, Mister Cartoon, Tom Gauld, Drew Millward, Sawdust Studio - the list goes on!

People out there, doing their thing, making art, making entertainment, making things for people to love - that inspires me!