David Setter
Where are you from?
I’m from Mold in Flintshire, I’ve moved away several times, but always find my way back to my hometown. I love our countryside, with the added bonus of easy access to Liverpool, Manchester and Chester.
How long have you been a practicing artist for?
I graduated from Glyndwr University in Wrexham with a BA(hons) in illustration in 2004. I was a welder before I went back to University. I’ve mixed engineering with being a freelance illustrator since then really.
My journey since then has seen me working on visuals for some great clients, working on everything from internal marketing to doodling all over walls! I also create sculptures using metal. I hope to have my own art welding workshop in the future, I like to get my hands dirty.
How has lockdown effected the way you work?
Well, at the beginning of lockdown I felt helpless. All my workshops for kids were cancelled, and my healthy looking work related diary was all of a sudden looking pretty desperate. I wanted to give something back, but didn’t know what to create. That’s when I decided to do something, anything through my artwork to create a positive outcome. This was the beginning of #covidsdiary19 I decided that I’d visually record the day to day events of lockdown, being at home with my wife, two young children and a Labrador! It was a great decision, it provided the discipline to draw everyday and cheer people up through posting everyday on social media. I illustrated on the correct date in my diary everyday for seventy days. It was a really positive experience.
Where do you find the most pleasure in your practice?
If I could wrap that question up in one answer, it would just be that I love a creative challenge, a visual problem to solve.
As I also produce many privately commissioned paintings as well as my illustration work, I just love to see photos of my work hanging in people’s homes. I think this is the ultimate pleasure and job satisfaction of an artist.
What impression do you want your work to make on audiences?
I like my work to have an element of humour running through it. Lots of my character design illustration contains real human emotion delivered in a childlike style.
There’s layers of depth in my work that are not always immediately obvious at first glance. I’ve learnt to curb the self indulgence in my work and open things up to much wider audiences.
I don’t take my work too seriously, and I like to imagine that the audience can relate through my work the way I see the world and have a ‘oh yeah’ moment.
