Our final Ace&Tate #ThroughTheEyesOf features Edward Monaghan

Here at It’s Nice That we spend an awful lot of time talking about, thinking about and writing about creatives but ultimately we don’t get too many chances to really see what goes on in their day-to-day working lives…until now. Our new collaboration with super-cool eyewear brand Ace & Tate – who believe in great design and ultimate customer choice – is taking us inside the studios, and inside the minds, of a host of some of our favourite creatives.

Over a six-week period, our #ThroughtheEyesOf project will give us an unparalleled insight into how six creatives see the world and how that impacts the way they create work. All six will be producing a bespoke poster themed loosely around “Graduation," and we’ll be getting up close and personal with their progress over on their Instagram accounts before the final pieces are unveiled at an exhibition later this summer.

Our final feature goes into the studio, and the mind, of the irrepressible illustrator Edward Monaghan…

Could you sum up what you do in a single sentence?

I combine lines and colour together and attempt to balance all constituent parts, to find harmony in each composition.

What do you mainly use Instagram for?

I’ve only acquired it recently but I’m enthused about the potential to share solely visuals with a group of peers, that I hope will expand over time. I normally sketch and complete work in one sitting but my intentions are to start larger projects and complete a journal of progress for each piece, hopefully highlighting subtle personal triumphs in each piece that could be overlooked.

When and where did you graduate from? What are your memories of that?

I graduated from Central Saint Martins last summer. I didn’t really attend very much so I couldn’t really say, we didn’t have a studio environment like in other arts universities, so the community which is vital to educational wellbeing was amiss. The new building in my eyes represents a modern, flat packed, industrial form of creativity which I avoided at all costs. My frustrating time there provided me with enough anger to obtain necessary skills which I suppose worked out in the end but I’m not sure an inadvertent education is something I can be jovial about.

How do you feel about opening up your creative process in this way?

It will take some time for me to completely open up my process and learn how to use Instagram in a way which will aid my practice, though I am very excited about this prospect. This year my work has lacked physical experimentation in favour of honing skills but a social media outlet which encourages visuals will no doubt encourage me to investigate materials and physical colour again after so long!

Give us a clue what we can expect from your artwork?

You can expect less figurative work, in an attempt to carve out a compelling visual language which doesn’t rely on recognisable tropes.