I’m a huge fan of Travis Price’s work. His work is a satisfying blend of nostalgic textures, strong strokes, and affable character design. He works as a freelance illustrator and also runs a small independent kids label with his wife, Renee. I’m sure you will recognize his work from a number of Vectips Weekly Inspiration posts and hope you are excited to read our little chat. Also, there is more of his great work to check out!

The Chat

Hey Travis, thanks for chatting with Vectips! To start, could you tell us a little about yourself?

I’m a 35 year old illustrator from Australia. I have a young family and live in a rural town called Ballarat. I worked as a designer for about 10 years before becoming a freelance illustrator. As a side project I also run a small independent kids label with my wife (Renee) called Mister Mista. I love character design and tshirts. I also like to skateboard and watch Wes Anderson films.

If you could magically turn into a Illustrator tool, what tool would it be and why?

Ooooh, it would have to be the blend tool. I stumbled across it a while back. The idea of being able to morph into another object is pretty cool!

What’s your favorite Illustrator technique?

I must admit there is a few. I love the blend tool. I also like playing and creating my own brushes…I still have a bit to learn about it but for instance if you need to do a circular chain necklace, create a straight chain then drag it into brushes. You can then add the brush to a circle. It can be a really handy technique and saves time.

Do you use any non-digital tools in your work?

Yeah I like using placed raster textures on some projects so they don’t look as vectory. It’s great as you can re-colour them, add transparency, multiply etc… I’ve used this on the Dead Rappers and watch the Throne illos. It’s something I need to explore more and get out and about capturing more textures to use.
The other thing I should say is I seldom jump straight onto the computer and create an illustration. It all starts as a rough little sketch in my journal.

What are your favorite sources of inspiration?

I always check out Vectips (inspiration section), Blood Sweat & Vector, ffffound, Reelizer, Designspiration, Thunder Chunky. I also follow a few streetwear sites like Fat Kids.

Thanks again for the interview! Any parting words of wisdom?

Make sure you enjoy what you do and if you don’t do something about it!
I’m a big one for self initiated briefs and projects to help build your folio for the type of work you’d like to do.

Learn More About Travis Price

• Portfolio
• Mister Mista

The Dude Abides

Pictoplasma: Missing Link

Zodiac: Black Sheep

Highway

Throne

Mad Hatter

Mister Mista

Raising Hell

Wristmas

Phidias Gold

Rushmore: Blume

Kanye West