Nick

Nick is a jaded agency hack turned insanely optimistic gun-for-hire, variously trying to convince people that he’s an illustrator, animator and/or writer, depending who has access to the vault.

Only with the benefit of hindsight is he able to describe his activities since the mid-nineties as a career. After graduating, he spent nine-years in self-imposed exile, first in the industrial hinterlands of Silesia, and then Budapest. It was here that he accidentally became an animator whilst trying to extract himself from a burgeoning career as a language teacher. In 2004 he decided that despite being incredibly happy, he needed a dose of English miserabilism to sustain his creativity, and made an ill-advised move back to the British Isles. He then became ensconced in a digital agency where he designed games and websites for many of the most successful children’s TV brands of recent years, helping them win 2 BAFTAs. Following Ronald Searle’s advice that you should quit at the peak of your success, he abandoned his salary in favour of going it alone as http://nickhilditch.com

Chris duped Nick into the daily doodling of irkafirka by appealing to his vanity at a time when he was particularly vulnerable. He’s since forgiven this flagrant act of opportunism, as the project helped him rediscover his own voice, and partially justified his addiction to buying large sets of coloured pencils.

Nick lives just under the middle bit of Shistol (or is it Breffield) with his Hungarian wife and several hundred coloured pencils. He’s still inclined to clear off again, to take his wife and his pencils to a warmer climate where they can make proper coffee.