Drawings by illustrator Kyle Platts when he was 12 years old at school

It’s funny how much of this interview with Kyle Platts resonated with me, as I’m sure it will with you. When you’re a kid violence is so cool – any excuse to watch the last scene of Braveheart or go to The London Dungeon is leapt upon with an enthusiasm you probably don’t experience as much now you’re older. As part of our Back to School month we wanted to ask some of our favourite illustrators to share with us some drawings they made when they were at school. I knew we’d get some gold, but I never expected anything this good. Here’s Kyle Platts on how his drawing has evolved over the years, and why he was so obsessed with blood and guts.

These drawings are very violent – were you a violent kid?

Violent things fascinated me, I wanted to see violent films and create violent images but I wasn’t a violent kid. I was mild-mannered and a bit shy really, I never got into any fights or anything. I did used to shoot animals with my air rifle, but pretty soon I developed compassion for animals and started to feel bad about it. I still feel bad about it, especially the squirrels. After the cease-fire on the animal kingdom I turned my gun on eggs. I used to place them in toy cars and create a Kennedy-style motorcade. I almost had the gun taken away by the police after shooting out some windows of the factory across the road from my house.

What kind of things were you into?

I liked being outside a lot. I made skate videos with my friends, I used to make dens in the woods and I had this knackered old motorbike that was way too big for me, I fell on my head a few times. Of course my favourite way to amuse myself was drawing. My friend Jack and I created this cast of characters for a comic series we were sure would one day be a TV show. We were obsessed with The Blues Brothers and the central characters in our stories were based on them, but they were called The Sperm Brothers and their guns shot out deadly cum bullets. Unfortunately the sketchbook with the full cast of characters is lost now, but I can still remember a lot of them. The boss of the two protagonists was a giant dick with a cowboy costume on, and he was driven around in a limo with a swimming pool in the back of course.

Did any particular books or cartoons inspire you?

I have a very clear recollection of watching TV late at night in 1997 and watching the very first episode of South Park that aired on British television. As I watched that anal probe come out of Eric Cartman’s arse, and as I watched Kenny die for the first time, I knew my life had changed forever. From that point on all I wanted to do was emulate South Park and one day make a cartoon of my own. 

Did people used to tell you that you were really great at drawing?

Yeah they did actually. But I think they were talking shit a lot of the time because all kid drawings look rubbish. All adults have to tell kids their drawings look good; you can’t tell a child their drawing is mediocre. However I’m glad I got that encouragement because I really felt like I was the best at drawing, it gave me confidence in myself. If I ever have a kid I will definitely tell them their drawings are amazing, even if they are total shit.

Did you have any great teachers at school?

Nah not really. Even my art teachers were aged so they weren’t advocates of the doodling that I was obsessed with. One maths teacher kept me behind after class and asked me if everything was alright at home, she had seen a drawing I made in her lesson that depicted a giant tank running over hundreds of people. In primary school I had one teacher who was inspiring, he was encouraging creativity and when he held assembly he would play Pulp records as we filed in. It’s a shame he wasn’t a secondary school teacher.

It seemed you were really into history – was that your fave subject?

History was something to look forward to because more than any other subject it required illustrations. I would often accompany a history exercise with illustrations unprompted, and the teacher would leave messages in red pen such as “very nice, but not necessary." History was also pretty fun because it’s a subject rich in violence, so unlike in maths, science and geography I had a semi-legitimate reason to draw battles, assassinations and executions.

Looking back at these, do you see similarities in your current work?

There are a few things that haven’t changed, I still love drawing big crowd scenes, and I still enjoy a bit of the ultra violence. But of course a lot has changed over the years; back then I was drawing completely not giving a shit about style or contemporary references. Now I am always thinking about how to develop motifs, reference popular culture, be funny and at the same time have a style that isn’t too similar to anyone else’s. I still enjoy drawing just as much as when I was a kid, if not more so now.

Which is your favourite of these old drawings and why?

In one of the history books there is a bit were I’m explaining how people were once so frightened of a comet in the sky that they “tended to kill themselves." I drew some examples of different ways in which people killed themselves, all of which I completely speculated. There is one method of suicide that I invented that is totally ridiculous. The process involves jumping off a cliff but with a huge rock tied to you, so that if you somehow survived the fall you would be crushed by the rock.

Back to School
Throughout the month of October we’ll be celebrating the well-known autumnal feeling of Back to School. The content this month will be focusing on fresh starts, education, learning tools and the state of art school in the world today – delivered to you via fantastic in-depth interviews, features and conversations with talented, relevant, creative people.