Behind the Graphics: Meet Pedro

In our second behind the graphics feature, we're catching up with Pedro Oyarbide (@pedroyarbide), who worked up some of the graphics for our upcoming range of acid wash t-shirts as part of our recent summer collection.

Pedro talks about his art style, his inspiration behind the graphic t-shirts that he designed for us & about his creative process.

My name is Pedro Oyarbide, I’m a Spanish illustrator currently based in Valencia and I’ve worked as a freelance illustrator since 2015 . Previously I lived  in Portsmouth and Bristol, where I worked for the illustration studio Ilovedust; a place where I learnt so much about this industry. I enjoy working for both small independent brands and bigger clients such as Miller Lite, Harley Davidson, DC, Hurley, etc.

Fill a bucket with 10 litres of cheap beer, vomit, battery acid and high octane fuel ,then throw in some Charles Burns comic books, a human skull, two snakes and stir everything with an axe. Drink it and start drawing shit, that’s part of my work process.

It’s been crazy, I have an 18 month child, so it’s been very difficult to produce work during daytime. I’ve been forcing myself to work late night like until 2am, so I’m knackered. I need childcare to come back!

I love '70s band t-shirts. Like all the Grateful Dead shit. In fact recently I had the chance to work on some official merch for Phil Lesh and Grateful Dead, so it’s been amazing to revisit Rick Griffin’s work, and other geniuses from that era.  My P&Co graphics have probably taken some inspiration from that.

I always start with some very rough sketches, sometimes straight into Photoshop and other times pencil and paper. The Lights Out design uses the raw distressed work that I’ve been experimenting with lately and definitely has that vintage band tees essence we were talking about. Process was very smooth, P&Co creative team gave me a lot of freedom and the communication was great, probably because our references and taste are very similar. 

In terms of the music I’ve been listening to lately, although I have listened a lot to those late '60s and '70s bands in the past, recently I've been playing Mark Lanegan's discography on repeat. I love that man and his music really gets me in the mood for drawing badass imagery.