Angela Kirkwood

Who’s someone in your field that you admire or someone you really looked up to when starting?

I found all these old, experimental animators on YouTube, including Mary Ellen Bute, who did really crazy abstract animations along with piano scores. They’re from the 40s so I think they’re all etched on film. Priit Pärn is an Estonian illustrator who did loads of wacky cartoons in the 80s. Someone more contemporary would be Bráulio Amado, his perspective and point of view are really unique. His willingness to experiment is so playful, and I think that’s something that I admire and that I hope to do in my work as well.
 

What’s your favourite calendar moment of the year and why?

Birthdays. Not my birthday, but other people’s birthdays – it’s so fun to celebrate other people and make people happy.
 

Do you always give people illustrations?

Yeah, all the time, especially when I’ve left present-buying too late! Just print off a wee illustration.
 

Can you talk us through the process of creating the hero Selfridges Celebrates image?

So, the brief was to create something that feels totally joyful and that encompasses all of these moments throughout the year: birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Halloween. Trying to create one image that encapsulates all of that.
To start with, I got my wee mind map out and was thinking, “What does celebration mean?” I initially started sketching out jolly, fun, crazy characters. On the Selfridges Celebrates hero image, they’re all on top of each other, so it was really a jigsaw of trying to figure out how I could compose them all together.
Then I pull together a sketch of the different characters and try to make sure they all have the right expressions or that they’re all looking in the right places. The next step is going through colours and selecting colour palettes that reflect that feeling of joy and excitement. I like to work with really bright colours, composing them all in a way that feels celebratory. So yeah, it’s sort of like putting a big jigsaw puzzle together, and trying to capture the energy because that’s, I guess, what celebration is all about. How can you put the feeling of joy into one image?

You’ve also created some animations for us. Can you tell us why you like working with animation?

What I love about animation is that there are no limits. With film, you’ve got the boundaries of real life – like gravity and the world – but with animation, none of that has to exist. People can fly up into the air if you want them to.

How do you know when something’s done?

It’s never done! I think that’s the thing that every creative gets stuck with because you can always add more. I think for me, the best thing to do is just take some time away, so take the night off and look at it in the morning with fresh eyes. You can see as a new person and say, “Wow, that was a terrible idea!” Or sometimes it can be a brilliant idea! But I think time tells all.
 

For you, what are the most important factors when it comes to your work?

Fun. I need to be having fun, and I hope that my work inspires fun and joy. It all goes back to that thing about feeling good to make good work. I think that not planning things too much is important. Sometimes, if a deadline’s too tight, that can also shrivel you up a little bit.
 

How do you want people to feel when they encounter your work?

I want people to feel happy and maybe surprised as well. I love when I create an animation and there’s a little unexpected ending. I just want to imbue a sense of joy in the viewer.