About the artist
A proud member of ISCA.
"I love your work, you're a master of caricature."
Richard Baratz, caricaturist in residence, Sardi's, New York, New York
Terry was born and raised in Paisley, and began identifying himself as a cartoonist whilst still at primary school. His professional career began at the age of seventeen, creating cartoon strips The Phoenix and the Turtle and Creature Cru for the monthly Schools supplement of The Herald, the Glasgow-based national broadsheet. He went on to write columns for the newspaper as well, but these came to and end when he left Scotland in 1995 to pursue his education in the USA.
Terry studied at the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon & Graphic Art in Dover, New Jersey. The school specialises in comic book artwork, but whilst there he took courses in caricature and animation too, picking up techniques that would greatly inform his drawing style. Terry returned to Scotland and a course of study in Film and Television theory at the University of Glasgow but this was cut short when he once again began producing cartoon illustrations for The Herald in 1998. In between these stints of academic study he found time to self-publish a small press comic entitled Schism Schasm.
In 1999 young entrepreneur Chris Sommerville opened the Scottish Cartoon Art Studio and Terry was invited to join as one of the founding members of the Studio’s talent pool. Later he would aid Chris in running the business and today works under the title of Studio Co-ordinator, assisting in the development of relationships with the Studio’s wide-ranging client base and managing large, collaborative projects. Among the highlights of his recent years with the Studio are: representing Scotland at the Salon International de la Caricature, du Dessin de Presse et d’Humour in St.Just-le-Martel, France; illustrating the “Safe-T-Rex” children’s road safety campaign for Glasgow City Council; contributing to and acting as an editor on the CockTales comicbook, helping combat HIV/AIDS; illustrating the Hidden Lives comicbook, addressing issues of mental health and social exclusion; providing conceptual artwork for Vox Motus' CAT award-winning theatrical production, Slick.
Beyond doubt the Studio’s greatest achievement in the field of caricature has been the Fizzers project. Conceived by Tommy Sommerville and inspired by the works of continental caricaturists like Sebastian Krüger and Patrice Ricord, Fizzers represents the most ambitious effort ever to raise the profile of the caricature art form in Scotland. Fizzers was formally launched in 2006 with a simultaneous book and exhibition. Fizzers: Famous Scottish Faces Caricatured was published- and can be bought online from- Birlinn Ltd. Fizzers: the Alternative Portrait Gallery was shown at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and received some 15,000 visitors over its three months there. Terry contributed over forty caricatures to the show, seventeen of which can be seen in Birlinn’s book. In 2009 two more shows of Fizzers caricatures were great success in Glasgow, the first at the Platform space in Easterhouse and the second entitled Fizzers: Well Kent Scottish Faces at the People's Palace & Winter Gardens. The latter included brand new work never before seen anywhere and attracted almost 82,000 visitors from all corners of the globe.
Frequently asked to write, broadcast and lecture on the subject of cartooning, Terry was invited to speak to the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts in 2009, the first time a caricaturist had done so in the Institute's century-and-a-half history. For three years he served as President of the Scottish Artists Union, the trade union for visual and applied artists in Scotland. Subsequently, "in recognition of his distinguished career as an artist and to acknowledge his valuable contribution to support visual artists in Scotland" he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce by its Trustee Board.
His political outlook and social conscience are evident in some- though not necessarily all- of his work. In a society where most artists are underpaid and undervalued, he counts himself as very fortunate to be leading a creative career at all. Chief among his art heroes are: Brad Bird, Darwyn Cooke, Evan Dorkin, Pete Emslie, Jim Henson, Jamie Hewlett, Al Hirschfeld, John Kricfalusi, Craig McCracken, Marlo Meekins, Mike Mignola, Genndy Tartakovsky, Bruce Timm, Alex Toth, Marion Van DeWiel and Bill Watterson. The influence of animation character design on his work is particularly strong. He uses markers, ink washes, coloured pencil, watercolours, acrylics and gouache, often mixing these media. For the moment he eschews Photoshop and its ilk, but it's probably only a matter of time before he caves in.
He is thirty three years of age, married and lives in Glasgow.
Photograph by Ian MacNicol
Fizzers ® and © Scottish Cartoon Art Studio