SPOTLIGHT ON

Artist: Sharm Murugiah

Occupation: Award-winning illustrator and graphic designer. His CV includes 20th Century Fox, Disney, Scribbler and Leon.

For more info: sharmmurugiah.com

WHAT INSPIRES ME

As a kid, I’d watch films like Terminator and A Nightmare on Elm Street and redraw the imagery. I later studied architecture at university, but my first love – pop art – called me back. I particularly love designing movie posters, so working on projects like Star Wars has been a dream come true. I look to pop artists, such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, who created beautiful art out of the mundane.

FINDING BALANCE

For me, this comes with freedom. I think artists work best when direction is given and then they are left to explore. My work suffers when I don’t have the room to breathe. Having a healthy body and mind plays an important part in my life, so I run whenever I can. I really enjoy listening to film podcasts – whether it’s Bret Easton Ellis interviewing Quentin Tarantino or Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo waxing lyrical about new films, I find it helps me be more productive!

A FORM OF EXPRESSION

Art is a shared experience. When a young Star Wars fan buys one of my drawings at Comic Con, I feel I’m sharing my love of design and reaching them in a good way. I’m a quiet, soft person, so it’s one of the only ways I express myself. When I design and draw, a new representation of who I am comes out. We need art to show ourselves that in this brief life we were real.