Who is Steven Rhodes? Rhodes, according to the statement, is a self-taught artist and graphic artist originally from Australia that we recently caught up with. Shirtstore has an license for his designs, and believes that his illustrations will be to the taste of our customers. We know we love his unique style.
Rhodes works in a variety of styles, including digital illustration and traditional drawing. He often creates drawings reminiscent of old book covers or advertising posters in a vintage style, inspired by horror, sci-fi and book covers from the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s.
If you like what we generally associate with retro or vintage, we think you'll like Rhodes' style.
We had the opportunity to ask Steven Rhodes a few questions.
Your work is clearly influenced by TV/film. What film genres inspire you the most?
Movies and movie poster art are definitely a big influence! It has changed little over the years. I really like science fiction and horror movie posters from the 50s. Even film noir and pulp crime novels have some wonderfully evocative and ridiculous covers.
Lately, I've been much more into wonderfully trashy and hand-painted VHS covers from the late 70s into the 80s, as well as children's book covers from the same era. Even the cheesy opening sequences from 80s sitcoms and Saturday morning shows inspire me a lot.
Everything you do is both humorous and a little daring, but also technically skilled. How have you developed your graphic design skills over the years?
Thanks! I think with a lot of what I do is recreating a very specific genre, so the idea is to represent that style as accurately as possible, but with my own little subversive twist on it. Really, it's all about researching and studying a lot of reference material from that era. Luckily, I happen to love all that stuff, so it never feels like hard work. It can be quite a time consuming process though as you need to have a fairly solid understanding of a genre before you can start reinterpreting it.
People seem to really respond to retro these days - why do you think that? To you, what is it about nostalgia that is so endearing?
I think a big part of it is looking back fondly on your childhood memories and trying to recreate some of that magic. We love looking through our old photo albums and seeing our terrible fashion choices, the screaming kitchen wallpaper, and all the cool toys we used to have that are now collectibles!
I was a kid in the 80s and had Star Wars bedding, the original Transformers, He-Man toys and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirts. It was a golden age of oversized denim jackets and bad haircuts. And more recently, TV shows like Mad Men and Stranger Things have helped popularize different eras and bring them back into the spotlight.
Do you start every work with an idea in mind?
I'm generally not the fastest designer, so if I'm going to spend a lot of time on something, I want it to be a solid idea. A good concept is definitely the starting point and then I consider the best way to illustrate the idea. A concept can be as simple and vague as having a title in mind or I can have the whole design flashing in my brain. If I'm still thinking about it a few days later, I know I'm on to something.
If you want a t-shirt with Steve Rhodes illustrations, you can find our range here. Also available as posters for those who prefer to hang his work on the wall. We are continuously posting new designs based on Rhodes art so stay tuned for news.
