Tom Gauld | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1976 (age 48–49) |
| Education | Edinburgh College of Art Royal College of Art |
| Known for | Illustration,cartoonist |
| Notable work | Goliath (2012) Mooncop (2016) Baking with Kafka (2017) |
| Website | http://www.tomgauld.com/ |
Tom Gauld (born 1976) is a Scottishcartoonist andillustrator. His style reflects his self-professed fondness of "deadpan comedy, flat dialogue, things happening offstage and impressive characters".[2] Others note that his work "combines pathos with the farcical"[3] and exhibits "a casual reduction of visual keys into a more rudimentary drawing style".[4]
Gauld is best known for his comic booksGoliath andMooncop as well as his collections of one-page cartoons. He has also authored a number of smaller-scale books such asGuardians of the Kingdom,Robots, Monsters etc.,Hunter and Painter and his cartoonMove to the City, which ran weekly inLondon'sTime Out in 2001–2002.
Gauld studied illustration atEdinburgh College of Art, where he first started to draw comics "seriously",[3] and theRoyal College of Art. At the Royal College of Art, he worked with friendSimone Lia.[3] Together they self-published the comicsFirst andSecond under their Cabanon Press,[5] which they started in 2001.[6] (The two volumes were subsequently published together byBloomsbury Publishing in 2003, asBoth.)
As part of commercial projects, Gauld has done some animation work; in an interview, he commented that "Comics are a lot of work but animation ... was too much."[2]
His books are now published byDrawn & Quarterly and he regularly produces cartoons and illustrations forThe New Yorker (including cover art),[7][8]The New York Times,The Guardian andNew Scientist.[3]
In a 2011 interview, Gauld listed his "Cartooning heroes":William Heath Robinson,Gary Larson,Roz Chast,Richard McGuire,Ben Katchor,Daniel Clowes,Chris Ware and Jochen Gerner.[3]
Gauld grew up in the countryside in northernScotland,[8] and has said that he had always wanted to be involved with something creative related to drawing.[2] He now lives in London with his wife, artist Jo Taylor, and his children.[9]
While his full-length bookGoliath is based on the eponymousbiblical figure, Gauld is not religious.[2]
