Would you live in one of Tim Stokes’ sci-fi metropoles?
Urban City. Can you spot the sphinx? Image: artist provided
When I spotted Tim Stokes’ architectural drawings on Instagram, I was struck by the scale of his imagination.
Tim’s drawings are born from his mind, inspired by fantasy and sci-fi films, and resemble sci-fi pulp fiction covers.
“If I’m in my cityscapes in my mind, I can draw it on paper and it comes out exactly how I had seen it. I can’t explain it, but I can conceptualise things, put it onto paper and show the world,” he tells me over coffee at Andy’s Place in Essendon.
Tim pulls out a few books of different sizes to show me some of his art. Each page is brimming with exquisite detail, and I’m immediately aware of the coffee and my propensity to spill it.
In one of his small notepads – couldn’t be larger than A5 – he shows me his work squeezed into the page. This skill was recently celebrated by Brunswick Street Gallery, who awarded him First Prize in their 2019 Small Works Art Prize.
The scope of his cityscapes is breathtaking. In one of his drawings, the one he’s most proud of, he points out a pyramid and sphinx hidden in the corner. And if you look closely, you’ll find more hidden surprises, like in a dystopian version of Where’s Wally.
While Tim’s cityscapes are generally devoid of people – probably because we’re looking at them from such a high vantage point – stories seem to lurk in every corner. Who lives in the candy-cane building? Who’s fought in the colosseum?
Tim even likes to wonder what living in one of these cities would be like.
“I have to visualise myself in the cities to build them. I ask what it would be like to stand in a spot and look up at these buildings. It motivates me to keep going.”
And it’s easy to see how dystopian films like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Blade Runner feed into his art. But perhaps the biggest influence of all is the city planet Coruscant from Star Wars: Episode II. I can easily imagine Tim’s cities, starkly drab in black and white and claustrophobically cluttered, home to an alien population. It truly is the stuff of galaxies far, far away.
“The visualisations in those movies just really blew me away. George Lucas had a whole galaxy in his mind, and he has shaped generations.”
Real-word architecture also features on the list of Tim’s many inspirations, and he mentions Norman Foster, the futuristic architect behind London’s famous Gherkin building. He also brings up his trips to Hong Kong and New York.
In fact, it was Central Park in New York that inspired the circular, tree-lined park in one of his drawings. He says it’s a reminder that even in a cluttered city – a cluttered mind – you can still find moments of peace.
“The world is so busy and there are so many things happening, it can all be overwhelming. And I use architecture to symbolise the overwhelming nature of life. But you can still find time to breathe.”
He gets a little nervous when he shows his art to people, he says, but Instagram has been a game-changer. It’s a window not only to the work of thousands of others, but also a whole online art community.
“These communities welcome you in, and they can give you constructive feedback. New technology has opened up the world for creative types.”
Interestingly, Tim’s background isn’t in drawing and art, although he’s been experimenting with illustrating since he was a child. His background is in biology, which he studied at Deakin University.
Now he works full-time in quality assurance at a cheese manufacturing company.
It takes me a few moments to realise what this actually means, and that he does, in fact, have my dream job; cheese tasting. (Of course, he assures me there’s a lot more to it than that).
“I’ve always been an artistic person, and I’ve always kicked myself wondering why I didn’t pursue this full-time. But sometimes I feel like since I do have a science background, art is my hobby, and I think if I made it as my career, maybe my artwork would feel like more of a chore.”
So with a full-time job, how does he have time to imbue his cityscapes with such intricate detail?
“I’ve gotten into a routine now - I always get up at 6.30am and get to work very early. I sit in my car and I draw for about an hour and a half. That’s how a lot of my drawings have taken shape.
“I’m so passionate about it, and I have to do it every day.”