Ben Tallon: Cultivating creative optimism

“If I can spread a positive message to ten people in my network, and they can do the same, what can thousands of people do with that same message? We have great power as visual communicators.” 

With a 16-year career spanning illustration, hand-lettering, art directing and writing - and working for brands internationally from World Wrestling Entertainment to The New York Times - it’s safe to say that Ben Tallon is a bit of an expert on being creative. 

But what interests him more nowadays, he explains, is creativity as something bigger than artistic talent – specifically its role in personal and collective well-being, and its potential to bring about positive change, which he investigates in his writing and podcast The Creative Condition. 

We caught up him at OFFF Festival ahead of his talk with Stefan Sagmeister to discuss his journey into the industry, the importance of self-belief, and how creativity helps him stay optimistic for the future, as both an artist and a new father. 

Above: Ben Tallon's live painting at OFFF Festival 

What was your journey into the industry like? 

I come from a very working class family. We didn't have a lot growing up, but what we didn't have financially and we always had in affection. My parents were innately supportive from day one, they would say ‘whatever you choose to do, choose with your heart’.

I always drew as a kid and I could draw portraits amazingly well, but looking back, I realise that was draughtsmanship, not creativity. My creativity was in play and storytelling, but you don't know that as a kid. 

And it's cliché, but those little failures along the way help you define that circle of competence. 

Like a lot of people in our industry, I didn't get on with school. l got to my GCSEs without much of a clue that this industry even existed. And sadly, that hasn't necessarily progressed. Too many kids from my background aren't exposed to it. Luckily, my teachers pointed me in the direction of art college, and as soon as I walked in that door, it felt magic. Although I'd been  delusional about playing for Leeds United and had chosen sports GCSE, so I had to stay on another year to get my art GCSE! 

Above: Photo of Ben Tallon (by Madeleine Humphries) 

I had a false start at the first year of uni doing a graphic communications degree, but once I transferred to illustration, I started to get a sense that actually I could belong in this industry. When I left uni, I paid the bills with various temping jobs. The first six months were tough because, cut off from tutorial input and peers and the studios, I found it hard to create. I was doing really bad drawings.

As long as you believe in yourself, then you can translate creativity to a surprising amount of things

I later rented a freezing cold garage with some other people; furniture makers, and a guy making surfboards, a really mixed bunch. It was so nice to just be around other creative people again, that's when I started to build a portfolio and contact people in the industry. After two years, I had saved up three months' money, and quit my job. It's been 16 years now as a freelance illustrator, slowly but surely adding things to it along the way, like writing and podcasting. Just following the heart really.

Above: Ben Tallon's book, The Creative Condition

You branched out from illustration into writing and podcasting, how did you navigate these changes in your career? 

Once you're at peace with who you are, and your creativity, you realise there’s a unique path for every one of us, and you can take that in various directions. You can traverse between disciplines. As long as you believe in yourself, then you can translate creativity to a surprising amount of things.

I heard someone brilliantly refer to it as a ‘circle of competence’, a sense of knowing the areas where you're comfortable and competent, so you can sort of move around within that. If you start going further outside of that, it's maybe better to bring a specialist in and collaborate.

I wanted to explore what I attributed to my own happiness, which was belonging to social groups, and creativity. I found particularly artistic expression was translatable across a lot of people. 

Sometimes I’ve just gone far too far out. My best friend goes by the name Dirty Freud as an electronic musician and producer, and when he was just getting started with live music, we did this live show a couple of times where I painted on these big paper banners while he DJ'd. It was shambolic. It was terrible, and we did it twice! But you have to try these things. And it's cliché, but those little failures along the way help you define that circle of competence. 

Above: Ben Tallon's illustration for the Evening Standard's Olympics cover 

Are you still illustrating? Have you felt any big changes in the industry since the emergence of AI? 

I want to be predominantly focusing on teaching about creativity because I've fallen in love with that, so I can hopefully cherry pick the illustration commissions. The commission market is melting, it's very volatile. Even now, 16 years on, I still go through quiet spells, that's the thing with trends.

There's a change of awareness about what we need as humans, about happiness and mindfulness and wellbeing, and the disconnect in this way of life, like the amount of time we spend on screens, and AI.

From the minute I heard about AI I started to, even if subconsciously, make decisions about what real creativity is, and where that human value is in all the things that I do, because anything that can be automated will be automated. Not in the sense that it's just going to suddenly eradicate everything, but I certainly think there's going to be some hardship along the way with that. So the stuff that kind of can or can't easily be replicated, is the stuff I'm placing value on. 

When did you first start investigating creativity as a subject? 

I ran a voluntary awareness campaign for C.A.L.M the suicide charity, because I found the statistics around suicide heartbreakingly sad. I wanted to explore what I attributed to my own happiness, which was mostly belonging to social groups, and creativity. I found that, in particular, artistic expression was translatable across a lot of people. 

So I started to do these interviews for C.A.L.M, we managed to interview Stephen Merchant and Danny Dyer, and Mick Foley on board, and a common theme was that their career and creative endeavours helped them to keep going. And so from that point on, I really enjoyed the interview and media side of things, and I continued to conduct these conversations, but I didn't start the podcast until 2016, after my first book came out, and it's just gathered momentum ever since. 

Above: One of a set of four posters illustrated by Tallon, promoting the Saudi Pro League's Jeddah derby between Ittihad Ahli.

Are there any key themes or changes you’ve picked up on through your interviews with other industry creatives? 

There's a change of awareness about what we need as humans, about happiness and mindfulness and wellbeing, and the disconnect in this way of life, like the amount of time we spend on screens, and AI. I think it's going to return some focus to how we're living as a species. 

In this sub sector especially, perhaps since COVID, there's more willingness to understand each other, you know, we have a mental health crisis out there. And I think that slowly but surely, there's much more open conversation around mental health, neurodiversity etc. 

I’d see a news headline, and for the rest of the day I would feel awful. We worried what our kids' futures would look like a lot.

We certainly needed that, because there's a lot of toxicity on social media and everything. So that's exactly why I think Stefan Sagmeister’s project Now is Better is really important, because it shines a much more positive light on where we are as a species, but yeah, that's that collective awareness and being a part of a network. 

As a father of young twins, that excites me, because there's a lot of reasons to be freaked out by the ideas of my kids going online. However, the fact that I can now drip feed this mindset into their young lives, and normalise things that when I was at school would have just been laughed out of the room, that's a big positive thing.

Above: Artwork for Tallon's podcast, The Creative Condition

How can we maintain an optimistic creative mindset for the future?

In my first two years of parenting, I was so exhausted all the time that my defences were down. So the things that were worrying me were amplified, like the climate crisis. What I hadn't realised was happening, was that the news was triggering that evolutionary fear response. I’d see a headline, and for the rest of the day I would feel awful. We worried what our kids' futures would look like a lot.

When you can do that, with today's connectivity, then we all have that power within our own little individual passions and creative pursuits.

But we've always had big challenges to tackle through history. Sure, we have some of the biggest of all time to tackle today, but Stefan’s book Now is Better points out that, if you address those problems from a place of longer term success, and you look at all of the things we've achieved - and all of the times we've had to pivot throughout our history as humans - now is still arguably the best time to be alive.