BIOGRAPHY:
[B.1965, Sheffield] Craig Davison has enjoyed drawing for as long as he can remember and art was his favourite subject at school. In the late 80’s he worked as a cartoonist, working on pre-school comics, the style of which has helped inspire his instantly recognisable fine art pieces. Craig Davison began his artistic career at a computer games company as an animator and games designer, where he began sculpting reference figures for 3D animation. In 2007 he entered a contest
held by Washington Green. Craig finished in the top three. That was it, the life of an artist beckoned! Craig takes inspiration from many artists. Amongst them are: the comic book artist Mike Mignola; the simplistic still characters of Yoshitomo Nara; the energy of Goya and the superb illustrations of N.C. Wyeth. Craig also cites his childhood as the biggest source of inspiration for his work. He tries to capture the endless summer holidays spent out on his bike with friends, rescuing Mexican villages from bandits!
INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:
My children were huge fans of Sonic; I remember plenty of discussions about who would be Sonic and who would be Tails. I was very happy to be involved in this collaboration and excited at all the possibilities that Sonic’s world offers. I began my career in art as a cartoonist, and then worked in computer game animation in the early nineties, so this project suited me down to the ground. It was great to combine my cartooning background with oil painting. I used images of the first few Sonic
games as a starting point, as I wanted the ideas to come directly from the games, not from any previous illustrations. My ideas soon began to flow readily - if anything I had to limit the number of sketches I produced. The most challenging aspect was to make sure that I did Sonic justice. When I worked in videogames, Sonic was the benchmark of a great game; the main reason being that he was a well- designed, quirky character. That’s why, in my opinion, 25 years later the pioneering blue hedgehog is still so popular.
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