Graphic Design Illustration Solo artist Studio

Sam Ailey

posted by Anna March 26, 2018

Sam is a London-based designer and half of Studio Pizza. He likes to work in simple, yet energetic styles that incorporate bright colours, wobbly lines and plenty of humour. Sam is a graphic designer as well as an illustrator and believes that both practices tend to influence each other quite a bit.

In recent years he has been simplifying his work and teaching himself to embrace imperfection more, basically to have more fun! The comic books and high-fructose 90s cartoons he grew up with are probably what got him into drawing to be begin with, and are still present in his style.

Sam is currently going through a bit of a Posca phase. He cant’ get enough of those punchy colours . They tend to help to get an idea quickly onto paper and give nice results. Sam finds that the illustrations that were very quick to produce tend to be his favourites, or at least feel closest to what was in his head.

Graphic design is the side of things that gives him more opportunities to work collaboratively – He’s teamed up with a pal of his on a few projects as studio.pizza. For Sam, keeping a collaborative element to his practice is really important to keep cogs turning, illustration on its own can sometimes be a little bit of a one-man show. Design on the other side enables him to stay in the habit of giving and receiving honest feedback, bouncing off ideas and having different and different perspectives.