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About Guy McKinley:
Where are you from?
Liverpool originally, living and working in Manchester.
What have you done so far?
Lots of live work for various events and friends, private commissions for anyone who asks, few interiors, some character design work and a few higher profile pieces.
What inspires you in general?
Lots of stuff, when I was young it was a lot of the artists within the pages of 2000AD, then later Deadline which honed a certain drawing style. Now its just things I see, ideas I have, other work I stumble upon, music I listen too, people I see. The usual I guess.
What was the inspiration for the currently shown art at the Carhartt store?
Well I have these Robot Girls I developed when I began painting live, before that I was always a strict pen and Ink kind of guy. Anyway, the work for the Carhartt store was basically me launching the Robot Girls ancestors, The Dead Japanese Ghost Girl Warriors. They are three girls that have skills with all kinds of blade. Also like the Robot Girls, they have an affinity with the creatures that surround them. Instead of cars and other means they travel via Wolves, Birds, Monkeys and so on. The story ends with them being reborn in the future, that’s why they are dead, this also allows me to play with the more modern Japanese style. Even though they are dead they have braces on their teeth and killer sneaks on, they keep a keen eye on the way they look. It was a chance for me to go in a different, darker direction, but mix old and new Japanese style. I love drawing them, there is a lot more planned for these lovely dead girls.
What kind of tools do you like to work with?
I paint paper, canvasses, walls, anything really. I work in acrylic with a dash of spray paint, when I do paint. The D.J.G.G.Warriors pieces are part painting, part computer generated, part pencil drawing. So I scanned lots of watercolour washes and ink blots and other marks, I threw the works at them to give them a more interesting textural feel.
What makes your work different?
I probably wouldn’t be the right person to answer that. I work within the traditional illustration field, I am kind of a traditionalist really its all about the drawing first. The rest of my techinique is not too groundbreaking either, but I would like to think that my imagination is what serves me most. I guess that’s the thing that differentiates all artists. Technique can be taught, what we choose to create cannot.
What are you up next to?
Firstly I am painting live over two days at Manchesters Eurocultured event. Then I have a group show with the Dot The Eyes collective in Copenhagen in August. In September I have a solo show in Manchester, another with two friends Dist One and Ruse opening on Halloween. Again in Manchester. Lastly a show with Showchicken in Guernsey in December, It looks to be a good year. Fingers crossed.
The Carhartt Store in Manchester opened on May 2nd and with sound provided by Trus’ Me as well as a live performance by UK hiphop group Broke’n’English our people up north made sure it became a successful kick off.
Guy McKinley’s Website
Guy McKinley on Myspace
Guy Mckinley’s Blog