John L. Wilkinson is an illustrator and designer based in London. His work explores themes of folklore and mythology in a faux woodcut style, while often incorporating decorative elements and typography.
John’s education and career path has been a bit of a winding one. He went to film school at Westminster University and after graduating worked in the art department of various films and TV shows as a graphics assistant. This role involved making graphic props such as menus, posters, and signage, and is where he cemented his love for typography, decorative and ornamental design.
From here, John taught himself the software After Effects and went into the world of motion graphics and animation, working on TV shows including Luther and Black Mirror and as a freelancer for various commercial studios across London.
Throughout this, he had been exploring his own design and personal work, creating small animations, and experimenting with computer generated imagery and typography. Things clicked into place for John when he rediscovered illustration and drawing via experimentation with linocut.
Today, his work is mainly digital, but he strives to create a convincing faux woodcut style informed by the traditional printmaking process.
John draws inspiration from a wide range of sources; from medieval woodcut and old printed ephemera, to tattoo flash sheets. His most important source of inspiration, however, is folklore and mythology, which have become the key themes of his work. As a child, with two writer parents, John grew up surrounded by books and was a huge fan of fairy tales from a young age. “Revisiting this early passion felt like finding the missing piece of the puzzle for my creative voice,” says the illustrator.
Currently, John has various ongoing client projects and a larger passion project that he intends to launch on kickstarter later in the year (watch this space!). He also has an ongoing t-shirt campaign on Print Social with 50% of the profit going to charity (pre-orders close on the 19th of May 21).
Last year, John also launched Fantasy Folk; an artist-centric Instagram account and community celebrating contemporary fantasy-themed illustration.
www.johnlwilkinson.com
@johnlwilkinson
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