Geoff McFetridge interview
Geoff McFetridge is all manner of things to all manner of people. He’s an artist, an animator, a graphic designer of Hollywood proportions who cavorts with Coppola and Jonze. To hipsters, he’s biblical: to mega-brands, a ticket to cool. The kind of pigeonhole-defying character who can call himself an “all-round visual auteur” and get away with it because, well, that’s kind of what he is.
He’s also the guy who’s taken our two beloved magazines and united them in a papery hug, thanks to the double-cover illustration he created exclusively for Little White Lies and HUCK.
To celebrate the release of The Where The Wild Things Are Issue of Little White Lies (and because we’re too damn excited to sit on this until HUCK #018 drops in December with a tribute to Spike Jonze), here's an insight into what happened when we caught up with Geoff and proceeded to geek out over never-before-seen roughs that show the genesis of his ideas.
When did you first realise this creative path was the career for you?
I remember really clearly when I knew what I wanted to do - I think I have always had almost like tunnel vision. Whatever I’m doing, I assume it’s what I’m going to be doing and I just do it and don’t pay attention to the consequences. I always liked to draw - I thought I was gonna be an architect, because that was the only thing I knew about people who were allowed to draw. So I thought, ‘Oh architects get to draw I’ll be an architect’. I didn’t know you were allowed to be an ‘artist’. No-one’s dad was an artist, so I never knew there was such a thing. I knew people had to have jobs - I assumed I had to have a job. I never assumed I could just be an artist up until a few years ago. When I was in high school I realised there was something called graphic design and I thought, ‘Well obviously that’s way better than being an architect, I wanna be a graphic designer’ which was being a commercial artist, really.
Do you think the fact that you chose to call yourself a ‘graphic designer’ as opposed to an ‘artist’ says something about your personality? Were you drawn to the structure and stability associated with graphic design over the freewheelin’ life of a struggling artist?
I think so. You can talk about these things in a complicated way but really it comes down to something as simple as: I always felt like I needed a job - and that steered me towards graphic design. And I wanted to be successful. So my models were looking at, like, skateboard brands are successful, or bands are successful. I never had a model for ‘being’ an artist. I viewed what I was doing as art, but I thought, ‘I should just call it graphic design, that’s the trick!’ And I learned that early on. If I said was a graphic designer, it meant I could do whatever I wanted and still make money and be successful - whatever that is. Originally I thought I was drawn to graphic design because I liked to see my stuff being reproduced - I liked seeing lots of stuff I'd made everywhere. I don’t know where that comes from. Maybe it’s the generation I’m a part of - we were sold a lot of stuff, so we wanna make a lot of stuff. But also, that’s a tangible feeling of you being successful. It’s just good to feel like what you did was worthwhile.
Talking of worthwhile, we’re beyond stoked with the covers you produced for our two mags, HUCK and Little White Lies. Are you happy with the end result?
That cover was funny. It was one of these instances when I stopped and thought, ‘You know what? I’ve just gotta do something that I would want to see’. Rob [Art Director] had approved the original design, which I had done thinking, ‘Oh this is probably what they would like’. It was kind of a crowd-pleaser. But it was totally different to what I would have wanted to see. Then I thought, ‘I’m just gonna do what I want and I hope they like it’. And you did! Sometimes people are like, ‘Oh no we really wanted you to do that other one,’ because sometimes there’s one that’s really complex and people think, ‘I wanna really get something out of you,’ and prefer it if you’ve spent 100 hours making something complicated.
Read the full story in HUCK #018, the Spike Jonze tribute issue, out December 12.
Pre-order your limited-edition screenprint of both covers signed and numbered by Geoff McFetridge via the HUCK shop.
Buy The Where The Wild Things Are Issue via the Little White Lies shop now.
Big thanks to Yong-Ki at Solitary Arts for popping over to Geoff's studio to get some snaps of his work in progress. You're a good man!
Subscribe to HUCK for six issues (save 20%!)
Only £18 (UK) / £30 (EU) / £50 (Rest of the World).
Comments (3)
Please note: Your comment may be held in moderation for approval by an administrator to prevent spamming. This usually doesn't take long, please be patient.