Suffolk Magazine 2009

SUFFOLK people

The colourful and striking imageson these pages come from theimagination of 46-year-oldFelixstowe illustrator CliveFeatherstone.

He explains: “After I left school I had noidea what I wanted to do. I loved art but allthe careers advisers at school thought beinga designer was ‘pie in the sky’ and shippingwas a much safer bet. After three yearsworking as a shipping clerk and alwaysdreaming of doing something else, I finallyenrolled at Suffolk College in the early 80sto study graphic design and haven’t lookedback since.

“It all really took off when a friendbought me a graphic tablet one Christmasafter watching me messing around doing aU2 illustration just with a computer mouse.My technique varies – sometimes I’ll scandrawings I’ve done in my sketchbook, andthen play around with them on screen.Other times I’ll do the whole thing on layoutpaper and then scan the finished piece.

“I’ve been a graphic designer now forover 25 years and employed in a widevariety of creative roles. I have produced

52 Suffolk June 2009

DRAWINGinspiration

everything from ads for ‘newand revolutionary ways ofcastrating cattle’, toillustrations for west endshows! At present I am aweb designer in London, a rolewhich also involves a lot ofphotography.

“I have commuted from Suffolk toLondon for the last 18 years. I think itgets harder the longer you do it,though it could just be the trainservice! I would never give up livingin this part of the world though. Ilove the buzz of working inLondon, but returning tochilled-out Suffolk at the end ofthe day is the perfect antidote.

“A lot of my illustratingfocuses on music. I love bothart and music in equalmeasure, so really it’s a perfectmarriage for me. I always try tocapture the electricity of oldschool celebrity rather than theinjection-moulded stars of today.These days we seem to embrace

people being famousjust for being famous. Way

back, when Top of the Pops wasnail bitingly exciting, every

household in the land cheered orbooed in unison as their favouriteacts moved up or down the charts. I’m

a real fan of everyone I caricature.These illustrations are a way of

acknowledging their talent.“Music has been my

other main passion overthe years, and I have had

varying success with it,but songwriting has

brought most success. “I also enjoy doing cards for

people, i.e. invites, birthdays andretirement cards. They’re always great

fun to do and it’s always nice getting apositive response.”

■ To find out more about Clive’s workemail him at

clivefeatherstone@gmail.comOr to hear some of his music visitwww.myspace.com/clivefeatherstone.

As a schoolboy, CliveFeatherstone (below)never dreamed he couldmake a living doing thehobby he loved –drawing, but 25 years on,thanks to his range ofquirky and colourfulportraits, the Suffolk artistis doing better than ever

Just a few of Clive’scelebrity and non-celebrity portraits. Farleft; Marc Bolan. Thispage clockwise fromtop left; Bill Nighy, TomWaits, Clive’s son Josh,Suffolk resident BillWyman, Iggy Pop andClive’s other son Oliver.

Suffolk June 2009 53

Pho

togr

aph:

MA

TTH

EW

SA

YWE

LL