Hello, my name is Toby Wadiun and I am a twenty one year old illustraator based in Yorkshire, England. My practice derrives around the use of ink/fineliner and heavy detailing within my work, often including little details/reoccuring easter eggs within my piecing that serve as a hidden object experience for the viewer to find new aspects every time they look at my work. My inspiration surrounding this is based on point and click adventure puzzle games, and how a single location is filled with many interactable objects and hidden combinations for the player to find. I love when something is interactive in such a way that the viewer feels immersed in it.

I am currently a third year illustration student at the University of Huddersfield!

Inspiration for my art comes from absolutley everything and everywhere, but a few things that come to mind are the Where’s Wally books, weird medieval art, 80s puppets (that are a little bit ugly), classic storybook illustration and that certain genre of weird/niche earlier Youtube/Newgrounds animations.

I also absolutley love movies, TV shows and music, and they’re often in the background when I’m working. My favourite movies are No Country for old Men, One Battle after another (I love my slowburn movies!) and my favourite animated media are Tekkonkinkreet (for it’s georgous visuals and creative animation style) and Cow and Chicken (for its fast paced skit format humour, and, for introducing me to my all time favourite cartoon character, The Red Guy, haha.)

Music has a deep involvment in the process and inspirations behind my art, certain pieces haev been thought of whilst I’ve been listening to a song on the way to uni, and many long hours drawing have been accompanied by my favourite music. Artists that I absolutley love include Tom Waits, Gogol Bordello, Will Wood, Christopher Cross, Jamiroquai and Masayoshi Takanaka!