Tom Bingham’s fantastical illustrations are a welcome reminder to slow down and stay cosy

“I think character design is probably my favourite thing to do,” illustrator Tom Bingham tells us. “I have a few recurring characters that you will probably see popping up in my work: Frogs, mushrooms, snails!” There’s small, magical and mythical things abound in Tom’s world of illustration. You’ll come across a few that are sleepy and snoozy, some on their way to get a little treat, and you can, of course, follow the adventures of the one and only broccoli guy. At the entrance to the illustrator’s website, you’ve even got to make a tough choice between two frogs.

Whatever shape or form they take, these creatures are a comforting escape and a warm reminder to slow down and stay cosy – a reflection of the artist’s affinity with nature and “the idea that little hidden magical worlds exist around us”. Tom has recently been working on a series of hundreds of these cheery characters that he likes to call ‘Silly Little Guys’, which if you don’t already know which one you are, it's probably a good idea to pause your reading and head over to Tom’s Instagram page to confirm your creature. “I’ve made these into sticker sheets and a few people have even got them tattooed on their body!” Tom shares.

When it comes to talking about his creative inspiration, the illustrator references “old video games” as something that has been creeping into the characters he creates: “I grew up playing a lot of obscure RPGs and I love the fantasy/magical element,” he says. The artist’s obsession with drawing also started out as a child, he tells us: “I used to make my own comics,” he explains, “so I guess it all just developed from there!”

Now based in the north of England, in a small countryside town, Tom has been working for himself and “making a career from my art — which is pretty wild!”, he says, with two different offshoots to his practice: editorial and commercial work, and the personal projects he pursues for his online shop. As time’s gone by, the illustrator has found himself putting a lot more of his time into his personal work, things like his t-shirts, prints and stickers giving him “a good outlet to make things exactly as I like”, he says. “I get full and creative control and can get a little weird!”