My Career: Art lead at Google Matthew Cruickshank

Did you always want to be an artist?
I adored English literature and language at school but brilliant art teachers steered me towards pictures, colour and line instead.

In college, I studied… graphic design, animation and illustration.

My most formative work experience was… working in a tea bag packing factory one summer. It was horrific! I remember thinking, ‘I’ve got to make sure I don’t end up here permanently – I have to double my efforts with art.’

My first real job was… as a junior character artist at Warner Bros. I knocked on about 500 doors in London with my portfolio and finally got a break.

The most invaluable thing I learned early on in my career was… you need to make about 10,000 bad drawings before you make a few good ones. The pencil mileage counts – start early!

A common misconception about what I do is… that I work in tech. Without engineers, I’m nothing at Google, but artists bring illogical ideas to logical people and that’s invaluable.

My main responsibility in work is to… educate and entertain in equal amounts.

Do you have a career mentor or someone you look up to/seek advice from?
My animation teacher Peter Parr wrote a book called The Zen Of Drawing. When I’m burned out or feeling uncreative, this book restarts the pilot light every time.

The biggest risk I have taken in my career so far is… leaving San Francisco for Santa Fe, New Mexico. You have to follow your gut instinct and roll the dice.

I wake at… first sunlight. We still haven’t purchased curtains for the bedroom.

The first thing I do every morning is… release my dog from the garage. After around 8 hours, he starts to make his own type of art if I don’t get him outside.

My morning routine is… a bike ride with said dog to the local café. He runs by my side always on the lookout for rabbits.

I travel to work by… walking about 12 meters from the house to the office, lamenting no excuses for being late and being able to blame traffic.

On an average workday I… work in concentrated bursts. You can get a whole day’s work completed in 3 hours if you disappear down a creative rabbit hole. Being an artist is not, and should never be, 9-5.

The most useful business tool I use every day is… a 2b pencil – 2b or not 2b, that is the question and the answer. It’s the most versatile pencil of them all.

I rarely get through my working day without… taking breaks for fresh air, staring at the horizon line to exercise my eyes.

The best part of my day is… animating, bringing art to life. Animation is the most fascinating of mediums; there are endless possibilities.

The accomplishment I’m most proud of is… meeting Jane Goodall and animating her life. Also working with Stephen Hawking’s family and animating his journey across the universe.

If you want to get into my line of work, my advice is to… always keep a sketchbook with you wherever you go. It’s your recording device and gateway to a million ideas. Draw what’s around you and balance that with drawing from your imagination in equal amounts.

Imagery provided by Matthew Cruickshank