Cakes with Faces - behind the scenes

Written by Ross Locksley on 16 Jun 2014

First up, tell us about yourself and how Cakes With Faces came to be. 

I'm a graphic artist in the midlands and Cakes with Faces is my brand of colourful t-shirts and accessories. I love Japanese culture (and cakes!) so that's what pops up a lot in a lot of my designs. I'd been drawing cute characters just for fun, and wanted to do something with them. After lots of dreaming about designing t-shirts, in 2011 I finally decided to go for it and booked a stall at MCM Expo London. That was when the online shop started too, with just five original t-shirt designs (including our Pain au Chocolat croissant, who's been with us all along!). And there's a more fun, comic version of our story here: http://www.cakeswithfaces.co.uk/about/

What is it about Cakes with Faces that gets you up and excited on a morning?
I love drawing cute characters, and there are so many things I want to do!
It's been exciting to build Cakes with Faces up and develop a following - it's great to see photos of people wearing their t-shirts, or photos of sushi they've made using our comic book!

How would you sum up your style? I know the Guardian says "Quirky" :) How did you get started with design?

We're certainly quirky - I've always liked being a bit different, and I that's something our customers and followers share! My manifesto is Be More Colourful - the style is bright and bold with chunky outlines, influenced by Japanese design and kawaii. I've always loved drawing, and got into digital illustration when I got a graphics tablet and a stack of Photoshop magazines as a present. I followed the tutorials, became addicted to Photoshop, downloaded hundreds of brushes and then discovered Illustrator. Vector illustration gave me the flat colours and graphic look I wanted. I read blogs, magazines and spent lots of time drawing characters and developing the Cakes with Faces style!

How many designs do you put out a year?

Last year there were 6 new t-shirt designs, but it's not just about t-shirts - we also bring out other kinds of accessories, like our chopping boards, cushions, comics, charms and hair clips. And there are lots of designs just for fun - they don't all get printed but I always share them on our Facebook and Twitter - it's great to hear what people think!

I notice you've started selling watches, are there any other items you want to branch out into?

Watches were something I'd wanted to do for a while, and a lot of time went into getting them just right! The final four designs were chosen by our followers on Facebook. So far the Juicy Watermelon and Neko Cat have been the most popular. There are so many other things I'd like to design: dresses, trainers, skateboards, blindbox figures... that would be a dream! I'd also like to draw more comics - they take such a long time to draw, so I have huge respect for comic and manga artists.

How did you come to start your Stan Lee Excelsior range?

I met the organiser of the Stan Lee Excelsior Award at Thought Bubble comic con in Leeds, a show that's really beloved in the indie press world. He liked my designs because they're cute but not too cute, and appeal to boys and girls alike. Together we put together a range of t-shirts for his award. It's a comic and graphic novel reading scheme for 11-16 year olds, and as a supporter of reading and comics it's been great to be involved. This is our second year - last summer I announced one of the winners and had a stand at the awards ceremony, and it was great to see people so excited about comics.

Where are you popping up next? (Shows etc)

It's going to be a busy summer, with MCM Manchester Comic Con and Hyper Japan in July, just a week apart! If you're going, come along and say hi, and if you're not, you can keep up with Cakes with Faces on our website, where you can also order everything online.