Meet the Creatives of Bristol: James Leigh
Posted on: 05 Apr 2018In our Meet the Creatives of Bristol series, we scout the city for locals who work in a variety of creative fields. Whether they are at the early stage of their career, or are well-established, they represent the artistic city that Bristol is; vibrant, diverse and inspiring.
This time we caught up with James Leigh, a Graphic Designer.
Tell us about who you are and what you create
My name is James Leigh and I manage the graphic design of all the own-brand apparel and giftware at TruffleShuffle.com. We're an online retailer specialising in licensed goods based on pop culture with a focus on retro and nostalgic goods but also with a selection of our favourite modern properties too. We cover a hugely diverse selection of brands including Labyrinth, Top Gun, Moomins, Yellow Submarine, Coca-Cola, Masters of the Universe, Mr Men and Little Miss, Roald Dahl and many more, and I have designed official products for all of these. The clue to our love of all things retro is in our name, which is a quote taken from the classic 80s film The Goonies!
Tell us about your equipment
All my work is done on Adobe PhotoShop and even after eight years I'm still learning new tricks and techniques to use!
What was your path into this career? Was Bristol’s creative scene an influence? Which artists inspire you?
After working in retail for many years I enrolled in a Photography Degree in my mid-twenties at Filton College; I absolutely loved it but decided to switch to Graphic Design halfway through the course as I felt this was the direction of work I wanted to find in the future. It turned out to be a great decision as I learnt so much and managed to find a creative practice I was really passionate about. After the course ended I applied and was accepted for an internship at TruffleShuffle, and this led to a full-time position. Eight years later and I'm still here!
What things do you love most about your job?
I love the breadth of projects that I get to work on, no two days are ever the same. One day I could be working on My Little Pony and Rainbow Brite, and then the next I could be working on Jurassic Park and Top Gun. Over time I have managed to work on some licenses that were huge favourites of mine while I was growing up, such as Moomins, Yellow Submarine, Roald Dahl, Street Fighter, Nintendo and many more. It's a total pleasure to get the chance to look through the archives and style guides of properties like these and unearth all the classic artwork.
It's also great to have personally been in touch with some of the creators of classic show from the 80s such as Ian Allen, creator of Button Moon, and Peter Maddocks, the man behind cartoons such as Penny Crayon, The Family Ness and Jimbo and the Jet Set. My personal favourite was working with Kevin Gillis who created The Raccoons which was my favourite cartoon as a child and he even sent me a signed animation cel as a thanks for a project I worked on!
What things are the trickiest?
You need to be firing on all cylinders at all times, there's not really any room for creative blocks or down time as scheduling is very tight and products are always required to be created, which can be a little scary! We launch new ranges every week so it's important to keep the new ideas and designs coming.
What does a typical day/week look like for you?
Every week basically involves working towards finishing a small collection of products for the website and I'm involved with everything from the initial planning of what brands to work on, to the design process and through to getting it approved by the official licensor, as well as planning launch dates.
Which other Bristol creatives inspire you?
I've always loved Aardman Animation from a young age with all their great shows and films from Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts and Rex The Runt through to their modern films such as Pirates and Early Man. It's great to see an animation powerhouse like this based in Bristol and I've even started working with them on official merchandise for TruffleShuffle which has been an absolute honour!
Anything else you’d like to share?
I've included imagery of some of the recent work that I'm proud of (taken by our very talented photographer Lee Mullins!) and this shows some of the more recent licenses we've aquired, Moomins and Yellow Submarine. Also included is a shot of some of our best selling baseball shirts which are hugely popular at the moment.
Where can we find you?
You can find my work online at TruffleShuffle It's all the own brand product which is my handiwork and this gets updated weekly. TruffleShuffle also has a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram which is always being updated with fun stuff daily.
My personal Instagram can be found here and you can find me at Linkedin here.
Article by:
Hannah recently graduated with a degree in English with Writing. She is an avid writer, freelancer and creative. She is currently writing her first full-length novel and a collection of poetry. Always out and about in Bristol's music scene, she attends music events on a weekly basis.
