Meet the man behind our new Footprints, the UK-based queer illustrator and artist, Alistair Stuart (call him Ali for short!)

ROMEO’s Footprints have been an important part of our platform for many years. This is why when we decided to refresh their design, we wanted to make sure we found the best person to collaborate with. After careful research, collecting your feedback, and meeting several different artists, ROMEO found Ali – and it was a match made in queer heaven.

Inspired by illustrators such as Quentin Blake (as well as Disney cartoons from the 80’s and 90’s), Ali is an ambitious, self-taught artist whose illustrations are equal parts sweet and sexy.
 
 

Read our interview with Ali here:

 

Hi Ali! Tell us a little bit about your background, how did you start as an illustrator?

I’m actually self-taught. I originally studied psychology – when I was in school art was considered quite an unstable career. My parents were not keen on me going down that route, so I picked something at random. Studied psychology, hated it. About 10 years ago, I designed a range of birthday cards, [that project] took off. Then I started doing portraits, and work for  websites, TV, Podcasts…. Then I discovered the joy of Instagram. Instagram really propelled my career in the past three years I’d say – and here we are today!

Where do you get your influences from?

I’m heavily influenced by Disney, I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s during the Disney Renaissance. When I was about eight or nine, I used to watch the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast on VHS, and I would pause it and copy all the images. When I started selling my work years ago, a lot of people compared it to Tintin, it was a lot more simplistic, and at that time I was quite inspired by Quentin Blake. I consider my style quite retro, like a bit of a throwback.

What other commissions have you done?

I’ve worked with the band Steps, that was great. H from Steps got in touch with me before Christmas. During the Christmas rush I get a lot of work; I do a lot of private work, like family portraits, wedding portraits, and I had to turn that project around very quickly. Like five days or something.

What was your reaction when you were approached to work with ROMEO?

I was really pleased, it sounded like a really fun job. It came at a time in my career personally where I was feeling a little bit ‘inert’, I really wanted something new to do. It came along at just the right time, it gave me a spark.

Do you have a favourite Footprint?

I really like “Sexy Gear!” (which is one of the new ones), purely because that was educational for me. I also really like “You’re Interesting”, that was actually the first one I ever did. I really love that one.

Which Footprint made you laugh out loud?

(Laughs) Horny Pig was probably the most amusing one. The idea of drawing a horny pig was quite comical.

What was it like creating the Footprints that didn’t exist before?

I enjoyed that the most. It was nice to have the ones which I had to stick to, but it’s always nice as a creative to have that freedom to create something new. And there was always this feeling of trust from the getgo.

If you could create a Footprint, what would it be?

Maybe a ‘friendship’ type one. Like two guys hanging out together being chummy?

What is next for you?

I’m going to be creating some artwork for a French art book that will be launched in October. I have just done some work for TV, a ton of private portraits.

Do you have any dream commissions?

I’d love to get into more fashion, editorial stuff. I’d love to design something for the many gay magazines out there, like Gay Times, Attitude. Hopefully that will happen at some stage. I’m also a big believer that it’s never too late to learn something new so I’d like to study character design, work in film, TV. I feel like with getting older, being more sure of myself, and gaining confidence with jobs like this for ROMEO definitely helps.