Mallory Wolk x T.U.K.

Mallory Wolk is an emerging Digital Artist that collaborated with T.U.K. to make our new T-Shirts come to life! She created two original designs, Gossip Ghouls and Monster Jamz that show off their T.U.K.s.

Mallory is currently earning her BFA in Graphic Design. When you take a look through her website you can immediately see the immense talent she has in many different mediums. Something that is noticed right away is the feminism inspiration a lot of her work has. She also gets inspiration from various books, celebrities and film. Her website showcases the modern woman. Independent, confident, and Introspective. Mallory shows how important it is to plan and find inspiration before creating a piece.

Gossip Ghouls

The first illustration is two supernatural ladies having tea with a side of gossip. Fashionable undead ghouls wearing T.U.K.s. This is the illustration that started the collaboration with Mallory Wolk x T.U.K.

Monster Jamz

The second illustration was created exclusively for T.U.K. When the full moon comes out the men of your nightmares creep it real with some midnight jams. Monsters of the night showing creepers are cool even in the afterlife. 

Give us a little intro about yourself and when did you start illustrating?

I’ve probably been illustrating for as long as I could hold a pencil. It’s something I always loved as a child but never took very seriously until I started attending art school in 2016, which gave me the confidence to pursue art full-time. I’ll be graduating in the spring, which is bittersweet, but I can’t wait to start working in the “real world” …whatever that means! 

Tell us about the two illustrations you created for us.

I actually created the first illustration for a school assignment. My professor always stressed the importance of having a strong reference to work with, so I dressed my friends up in clothes from my own closet and snapped some photos. The stars of the show were definitely my beloved pink creepers. Later on, when I posted the final image on Instagram, I tagged T.U.K., who kindly reposted it to a really enthusiastic response. That’s when the collaboration began, and I was commissioned to create the companion illustration.

What is something that you love about T.U.K.?

I love that T.U.K. is bold, unapologetic, and above all, fun. I was a wannabe goth in high school, and I lusted after countless pairs of these shoes. When I finally bought my first pair, I felt like part of me was coming out of a shell I didn’t even know I had. Now I wear them whenever I want to feel like a badass. 

Where do you get your inspiration from lately?

Right now I’m taking a course about the downtown art scene of New York in the 1980s, and it’s been a constant inspiration to me. We talk a lot about the influences of Andy Warhol and the Velvet Underground, and my second illustration is actually drawn from an old photo of Lou Reed. I got the idea from the first cover of Punk Magazine, and the fact that he just looks a lot like Frankenstein.

When you have an idea for an Illustration, how do you get started?

Sometimes my process is very immediate. I used to regularly draw images from friends and celebrities that I’d just find on social media, because they would stand out to me and I had fun doing it. But if an idea hits me first, then I usually spend a little more time developing my process, sketching, hunting for visual inspiration, etc. 

When you’re feeling a creativity block, how do you move past it?

I often find that the best thing to do when I’m feeling blocked is to step away from my work for a bit. This can be as short as a lunch break, but sometimes I’ll set an idea aside for months or even years before revisiting it. I find that I learn a lot through that distance, and when I do revisit the project, I have so many new tools to work with the second time around.

What’s your favorite work of art you’ve created, and why?

In the same illustration class that I originally made this piece in, we had an assignment to create a movie poster, and we were free to come up with any genre and title for the fictional film that we wanted. I made this wacky feminist sci-fi epic inspired by exploitation films of the 1970s, and it’s probably the most fun I’ve ever had on a project. I checked out all these books on movie posters and B-movies from the library and got so excited about the whole endeavor. I love doing visual research. Maybe one day I’ll actually make the film.

Do you have any artists you look up to?

Too many! Bijou Karman is one of my biggest inspirations right now.

What are you currently working on?

Graduating, keeping my plants alive, and some special passion projects.

Where do you hope to see yourself in the next year?

I hope to be making a living doing what I love, spending lots of time with my family, and hopefully doing something crazy and wonderful that I haven’t even thought of yet.