So Nick, Why Thumbs?
I used to work in my family’s skateshop called Halfpipe based up in Ladbroke Grove when I was 15. I was constantly on my phone ignoring customers and just texting mates instead.
Everyone else who worked there would be like ‘oi thumbs, get off your f***ing phone’ – the nickname just started to stick after that unfortunately. My mate set up an Instagram for me and my illustrations and he chose the name Thumbs and now there’s no turning back.
Pretty much all your artwork is cartoon based. What are your earliest and fondest memories of cartoons?
Simpsons on VHS was definitely one of the earliest memories for me, I would just sit there and relentlessly rewatch the same episodes. From then on it was all about the Saturday morning cartoons: waiting for Spiderman and X-men to come on. I just loved the feeling of getting up early on the weekends and trying to cram in all the cartoons. I would sit there drawing and try to replicate what I would see on TV and in the comic books I was reading. Certain aesthetics of cartoons are just so timeless.
It was all about the Saturday morning cartoons: waiting for Spiderman and X-men to come on
I specifically remember drawing from Garfield comic book strips when I was around 6 and, now I’m 33, I still just love the shapes and style of it. I am still a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, from the toys to the cartoons, as much as my missus lets me. I will still bid on certain toys on eBay, you’ve got to love the thrill.
I remember being in Primary School drawing Bart Simpson as a football player mixed with Mario cart – that was probably the first mash I ever did really. I was doing a Simpsons mashup before I was even doing Simpsons mash-ups.
I specifically remember drawing from Garfield comic book strips when I was around 6 and, now I’m 33, I still just love the shapes and style of it
Many reading this may be completely new to mashup/cross-universe art. What is the story behind this crazy cartoon spectacle?
I fell out of love with illustrating for a few years of my life; I was working too much and had little time for creativity. I never thought I could make anything out of what I was doing, then my wife sent me off to do a graphic design course and that re-sparked that fire again. Digitalising my concepts that were originally done on paper changed everything for me.
I first started drawing Star Wars characters wearing classic Nike trainers and whacking it on Instagram. Suddenly there was a big demand for them to be produced as stickers. One day I was watching The Simpsons with my daughter and started to notice little parallels with certain characters.
I started drawing and drawing to get everything right – I wanted to make sure it would pass as something that would come straight out of the FOX studio. People then started to go apes**t for this online. I started putting up stickers and they would just sell out within a week. I have always just drawn what I like and what I’m passionate about – people just went mad for it, that nostalgia factor played a bit part of that I feel.
People started to go apes**t for this online. I started putting up stickers and they would just sell out within a week
There are of course other mash-up artists out there. I do a mash-up month now where fans and other artists can get involved as well – it’s a really cool community. To be partly responsible for people getting creative is honestly such a great feeling. I always try and respond to everyone who messages me.
I am so passionate about the cartoons so my art is only a means of paying respect to them and parodying them, it’s never to steal for my own benefit. There is even an event called ‘Bootleg Bart’ by BESTREET in LA, where artists get together to recreate versions of Bart Simpson. Matt Groening even attended and was going round looking at the hundreds of interpretations of his own cartoon – that’s a real special thing to happen in this community.
Matt Groening attended and was going round looking at the hundreds of interpretations of his own cartoon – a real special thing to happen in this community
You manage to have this bizarre talent to match character personality so effortlessly. How do you achieve such an effect?
People say to me ‘dude, you must have been so stoned when you thought of that’, but I don’t even smoke weed anymore (Ha Ha). They honestly just pop in to my head out of nowhere. I love it when the characters just fall into place so beautifully – that is the key to a really good mash-up. Forcing it is the worst approach.
I created a Pokémon Simpsons series and it took 2 years to finish. I mean it was the 151 original generation 1 Pokémon afterall – originally I didn’t think there were even enough Simpson characters to make the full series but luckily there were just enough.
I am glad I did it in the end. It was a really popular series. I made them all into collectable trading cards and it’s still one of the most crazy things I’ve ever created.
It’s a really weird talent that has luckily turned into a living for me. The main thing is creating stuff that is cool rather than naff for comic and cartoon fans. Most of my t-shirts are laid out like old school surf t-shirts, big bold back prints. I wanted to make clothes that I would actually wear myself.
It’s a really weird talent that has luckily turned into a living for me
You have a ridiculous following in the States and you even have your own day in LA. How come they show you so much love?
Almost 70% of my following is actually from California. There is a really cool chain of comic book shops out there called ‘A Shop Called Quest’. They have 3 stores in the LA area. Initially they hit me up to start stocking my stuff; you know pin badges, clothes and stickers. Then they came to me about having a ‘Thumbs day’ – a huge immersive experience with arcade machines, a tattoo booth doing my designs, food trucks, screen printing, live music. It was unbelievable man. All these people just there because they loved what I do!
Then they came to me about having a ‘Thumbs day’. It was unbelievable. All these people just there because they loved what I do
We had about 1200 RSVP this year and this was the second year of doing Thumbs day – it’s absolutely nuts man, I was there taking photos with people and signing stuff. LA just seems to be my town somehow. It’s cliché but it’s an absolute dream come true. Sitting on that plane on the way there is such a surreal feeling. I’ve got a lot of love for the US as well of the UK of course.
