Moutchy, Yannick Bouchard's Striking T Shirt Designs

Moutchy aka Yannick Bouchard is an artist who caught our eye back in 2012 when his art appeared as a submission in The Dark Knight Rises contest. His unique style and liking for darker, more intriguing art makes him stand out from the crowd. Cool execution, dark themes and a slight tongue in cheek undertone have made Moutchy a favorite at Design By Humans. Since his first win he has delivered one amazing submission after another. A painter, a master of the digital brush and a cool guy. Hailing from Quebec, Canada please welcome the very talented Moutchy.

One on One with Moutchy

Q: Mr Moutchy, it's nice to be able to get an insight into your world. How would you describe your style and how did it come about?

A: I like simplicity. When it comes to T-shirt designs, I think not having an overabundance of intricate details is the best. I like broad black ink lines, a minimum of colors and playing with textures. Most of my designs are hand drawn and scanned at high resolution, so the image can be printed on the tee at a much larger scale than the original. I used to draw a lot using a dip pen and ink when I was a teenager, but I put that aside and started doing oil paintings in my 20s, and got into digital painting a few years ago. I've really rediscovered the fun of inking since I've started doing T-shirt designs.

Q: I hear you obtained a baccalaureate in visual arts at the Laval University of QuÃ©bec City back in 2005. Nice. How has that formal training helped to develop your art for T-shirts?

A: I don't really think it helped me much with my T-shirt art. My university degree was more focused on forming artists in the gallery/exhibition circuit, which I never really got into. Not that I didn't learn anything at all in university, but as far as T-shirt designing is concerned, for me it's more a back-to-basics approach.

Q: I noticed from your website that you have a range of paintings that are beautiful, delicate and seem to explore the human form pretty heavily. Is this an area of art you are drawn to?

A: Yes, absolutely. It's a subject of inexhaustible inspiration, and I think anybody can relate to it. We're all humans, and we make art for humans (obviously), so I find it natural that we can easily appreciate art in which the human form is the central subject.

Q: Surrealist elements feature in some of your personal pieces and that is clearly an art movement that influenced you heavily. So who was your favorite surrealist and why?

A: RenÃ© Magritte is my favorite. His art combines some of the things I've mentioned in my previous answers, and I think that's why I identify myself to his work: simple ideas, and the depiction of people, often isolated subjects, in many of his paintings. I really love Dali as well, but his style was more chaotic and bizarre. But there's a side of me that relates to that as well.

Q: Your T-shirt art seems to have more of a sense of humour than many of the other art you create, is that intentional? Is T-shirt art an outlet for your lighter side?

A: I think so, yes. I definitely have a lighter, fun frosted side, and T-shirts are a great canvas to express that. The thing is, when you do a T-shirt design, you have to think about what people would like to wear, and funny tees are popular. But I mainly think about tees that I would like to wear myself. I enjoy dark subject matters too, but nothing too serious and somber. Who wants to wear a depressing T-shirt?

Q: I wear XIII all the time, it deals with death nicely. A theme that interests you?

A: Yes, death is part of life, and nobody escapes it, so I find it interesting. It's scary, but you got to accept it. XIII is based on an old card from the Tarot of Marseille. In the Major Figure Cards, "Death" is the 13th card, but the space where the title of the card should be was left blank and only the number of the card appeared at the top. So it was the card without a name, almost as if Death should not be mentioned (like they called Voldemort "You-Know-Who" in Harry Potter). An interesting point is that you can see two severed heads on the ground, a lady and a king (plus a bunch of hands and feet), probably meaning that Death comes for us all. But there's also seedlings growing out of that ground, as a symbol of renewal, the circle of life and death, you know. My design "Time" deals with the subject in a similar way.And also, there's the fact that I like to draw skulls and skeletons, so, there!

Q: OK enough about art for a second, tell us a little bit about you, the city you live in and something that might surprise us about you?

A: I'm 30, youngest children of 5, I come from Chicoutimi and live in Quebec City since 2002. It's a beautiful and nice city, there's plenty of activities to do, but without all the inconveniences of a larger city. Winters are a bit long up here though. Can't wait to put on some shorts! Something surprising about me: I've got to be the shyest person you've ever met. I'm not sure if it's so common among artists, who tend to like expressing themselves and being the center of attention. I'm a very low profile, quiet person. So I guess art for me is an outlet to express myself

Q: With your current winning streak at Design By Humans you are fast heading towards the Top Most Printed Design By Humans Artist List, which other artist do you think might be heading there with you?

A: I really like Hydro74's unique and recognizable style. Beautiful designs, he's already got quite a few wins, so I think he's on the rise!

Q: When you're not painting and drawing awesome stuff what do you do, what's your vice?

A: I love watching movies. A good old horror flick, some chips and a "Dr. Pepper and rum": it doesn't get any better than that!

Q: Finally, you have one day to be anyone who is no longer of this world. Who and why?

A: I think I would like to be Bruce Lee, simply because he's awesome!