MACHAS

Ricardo Fumanal launches t-shirt brand Sticky Ricky

Machas Artist Ricardo Fumanal keeps broadening the scope of his work and exploring new mediums and techniques as he launches Sticky Ricky.

The first release is a capsule collection of three T-shirts, featuring new playful and provocative artworks. With a suggestive use of fruits and vegetables, the three new illustrations make for some unique and eye-catching garments.

Recently interviewed by L’Officiel USA, the Spanish illustrator gave his insight into the creative process behind his art, his inspiration, his latest collaboration with Adam Selman and, of course, Sticky Ricky.

“The first t-shirts are very pop and fun, and it’s been really exciting to work directly on illustrations with the clear intention of them ending up on the body”, Ricardo explains to L’Officiel USA.

Moving away from his traditional black and white pencil drawings, Ricardo played a lot with colours in these new artworks. Used to working with few touches of watercolour or light coloured pencil lines and shades, Ricardo opted for full colour and pushed the boundaries of his style.

“At the time I left graphic design to focus on hand-drawn illustrations, all of my work was black and white. Colorless helped me hone my illustration skills, especially my compositions and line work,” he explains to L’Officiel USA.

“Ultimately colour was introduced to my work at the request of clients who started asking for it. [...] I’m currently in a bit of a colour moment. I don’t have a preference between black and white or colour. It totally depends on the subject I’m working on. I will go for black and white versus colour depending on the vision I am developing… some ideas are better executed in black and white, and some are better in colour.”

We asked Ricardo why he decided to start his own t-shirt line: “Throughout my professional career, I’ve received many comments from viewers of my work that they feel the hyper-realistic and somewhat pop nature of my work would be well suited for apparel. I briefly dabbled into fashion with collaborations with Adam Selman and Lou Dalton. In the past year, I’ve been yearning for a new medium on which to present my personal work and, with the encouragement of some friends, I decided this was the moment to make the leap to apparel for a special project.”

“When I launched this project,” continues Ricardo, “I wanted it to exist in a separate world from my illustration or commercial work but still maintain some link between the two. So instead of using my full name, I decided on using my nickname, Ricky. And as a playful wink at the somewhat suggestive nature of some of my art as well as this first collection, I liked the insinuative nature of the word Sticky. I like that my audience has the freedom to interpret the name as they please, and they can find it naughty, or not.”

The brand has just launched online (www.stickyricky.tv) and Ricardo is already working on a follow-up series. Stay tuned!

See more of Ricardo’s work here.