Since graduating from Nottingham Trent University with a 1st Class Honours in Graphic Design in 2010, he has been featured in various publications from i-D as one of the “Top 10 Illustrators To Keep One Eye Open For” to The Creative Review and Design Week. But even more than the accolades, what stands out with the enterprising newcomer is the selection of his merchandise available in London and on his website. The combination of geometric patterns and retro photography make for appealing prints, postcards and even stickers and by allowing his audience to own a piece of his handiwork in a variety of formats, his personal work is supported and its future promising. “I think that my personal and editorial work will probably branch off into two tangents and through that I will be able to define where my work is going. I’m still at the stage where my style is developing though, so it is exciting to see where it goes. People aren’t stupid: if you continue producing the same type of work they’ll just get bored of you.” And how does he describe his said style at the moment? “My work has a playful element but I still like it to feel sophisticated with the black and white imagery.” It’s contemporary youth culture combined with a childhood obsession for the circus, brought together through an education in Fine Art – and it’s the combination of the handmade with the digital that allows his fantasy to become a visual reality. I like things not to be perfect and those imperfections are often the most beautiful things.

“I’m interested in the luxury of colour. The colour palette I use is pastel and subtle. I like things not to be perfect and those imperfections are often the most beautiful things. It feels more special that way, one of a kind.’” Simon Cook, aka Stone and Spear, knows his work, knows his talent and knows what makes him stand out. For any illustrator trying to make it, these points can be the difference between a deal-maker and a deal-breaker, and Cook speaks about his work with articulate confidence – he knows that part and parcel of being an artist in the modern world is also having to be a PR machine. “It’s good to read about other illustrators and their work – it’s really important to take advantage of these tools and not enough people do. Even while I was at university I took a self-negotiated route, and self-promotion was one of the projects that I built into that. I wanted to get myself out there and no one’s going to do it for you so you have to do it yourself.” After all what’s the point in all the hard work is no one gets to see it?

http://www.stoneandspear.com/