Q&A with Sam Osborne

My name is Sam and I am an Illustrator and designer from a small town just outside Oxford in the UK. I'm a self-confessed brightly-coloured designer nerd and have worked for myself for 3 years now, having previously worked as a graphic designer for about 9 years. I now split my time between commissioned illustration work, licensing my designs and patterns, designing and selling my own product range and doing a little bit of graphic design work. There's never a dull day in my studio!

© Sam Osborne

Software / hardware

All my ideas start life as pen or pencil drawings and notes in my sketchbook but I'm a digital girl at heart so these are quickly transferred into my 21" iMac (with second screen - my most favourite thing ever) where the designs are firmed up, coloured and finished in Illustrator with some help from Photoshop and InDesign if the project calls for it. I also use a Wacom tablet, an Inkling and an apple trackpad as I've don't really get on with a mouse for design and illustration work!

Ideal work environment

Somewhere warm, light and colourful not far from my house (ideally in my back garden - that's about all the commuting I can cope with!) but as long as I've got my books, my computer, a radio, a kettle and something to look at out of the window I'm pretty happy really.

Work inspiration

Honestly, absolutely everywhere - TV, books, other people, the crazy world inside my own head - anything can trigger a little train of thought or research that becomes my next creative obsession. I love gathering information, knowledge, finding out new things and I see a lot of what I do as a way of translating that info a language everyone can understand.

Creatives you admire most

There are so many that listing them all would take forever but the first that come to mind are Jacqueline Groag, Charlie Harper, Alan Fletcher, Lucienne Day and Bridget Riley. I love Matisse and Miro for their use of colour and the current work of Noma Bar, Owen Davey and Ben Newman.