Artist Interview - Ollie T (Pt. 1)
How excited are you about your Solitaire deck?
- Really excited! It was such a pleasure to get the chance to combine two of my favourite things - game art and drag artists! It was really lovely hearing all the positive responses from the performers, and I can't wait to share the deck with the whole world!
Is everything better with a touch of glitter?
- Literally everything, until you have to shower, and realise that maybe throwing a whole bag of glitter down yourself on stage was less than ideal.
What artwork would we see adorning your walls at home?
- Honestly, mostly naked drawings and paintings of myself! I used to be a life model so I have a lot of beautiful art that people have gifted me over the years. We also have some exquisite pyrography butterflies and a charcoal fox drawing by my partner Artemis's incredibly talented artist cousin Emmanuelle Mason, and some amazing pieces by my two wonderful step children Hetty (age 9) and Robin (age 6).
What makes a Drag artist sexy?
- This is a tricky question. Sexiness in drag is something that's unique for everyone that performs. Many performers have no desire to be viewed as sexy on stage, many perform society's stereotypical expectation of sexiness as a way to break it down, and some take society's idea of sexiness and flip it on its head. For a lot of drag artists, performing sexiness on stage gives them a sense of confidence that they may have not felt before they started performing. I think for me personally, I don't aim for sexiness in drag, I'm much more about making people laugh or think, or laugh AND think. Any performance of sexiness is generally done as a way to make fun of the concept!
Do you like surprises?
- As long as they're good ones!
What was it like working with the Flick Solitaire family?
- Really lovely! It was so nice having the creative freedom to pick and choose the art direction, and you guys are all super nice!
Do you have a favourite person / object to design?
- I generally like environment stuff over people art. I really enjoyed working on all the intricate building details for Eloise, and also all the tiny doll costumes for the dress up game!
Sorry to fall into the expected (never like doing that) but following Plague Inc... which you worked on (nice job!) What video games do you play?
- I play a pretty wide variety of games! Currently I'm playing Death Stranding, and eagerly awaiting the chance to play The Last of Us: Part 2. I'm also absolutely obsessed with adorable indie game Ooblets!
Aside from anything involving glitter, glue or eyebrows what would be your make-over advice?
- I can't believe you're taking away my signature glitter glued eyebrow advice for this question, but other than that probably just to play with different styles of makeup, work out where's best to place things like eyeliner and blush for your face rather than just following where beauty vloggers tell you to put it, don't be afraid to go big and bold sometimes, and for the love of all that's holy in this world please wash your brushes regularly!
What have you missed most during lock-down?
- Hanging out with people and going to drag events!
Dabble in a bit of drag and start collecting the Drag Deck now!
From cabaret to clean shaven.. Part 2 of our chat with Ollie T coming soon….
