James Jarvis is best known for his Amos Toy's creations, his recent YOD Figure is his latest, but he's also just released a book of his selected drawings from over the years, fittingly titled "James Jarvis Selected Drawings". I spoke to James about his work over the years, the development of his company Amos and more.

As an artist, I've read interviews with you when you say you consider yourself an illustrator before anything else, how has this transposed into making figures and other mediums?

I think what I tend to say is that above all else I consider myself someone who draws. Drawings are the raw material for everything else: illustrations, toys, comic books and everything else I do.

What initially influenced your interest in art, and who or what did you look towards for inspiration in developing your style?

My initial influence I guess was my parents. They are very cultured people and exposed me to an amazing array of visual and intellectual culture from an early age. I was brought up on amazing children's books by Richard Scarry, Hergé, Uderzo, Maurice Sendak, David McKee and Alfred Bestall Rupert the Bear.

When I think about style I look much more to an intellectual consideration of what I do rather than the purely visual. The particular intricacies of my way of drawing is evolving constantly - I am always re-evaluating how I draw. But my way of thinking about drawing and about visual creation in general is much more consistent.

How did Amos toys come about?

I've answered this question so many times, but basically... When the toys I made with Silas became popular(ish) we realised that they could, and should, have a life of their own, outside of and independent from the insular world of 'streetwear'. So in partnership with Russell and Sofia we started Amos.

Many of your early toys were made famous for their colaboration with Silas, what was your relationship with the brand?

I met Sofia and Russell who ran Silas when they were working for Slam City Skates. I went to see them while I was still at college in Brighton in '92 or '93 to show my work and I used to hang out in the shop when I moved back to London to go to the RCA. When Slam started Holmes they asked me to do graphics for them. When they left Slam to start Silas I carried on working with them...

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