We are Sam and Mike
We’ve been working together for over 25 years – and we’ve been friends for even longer.
We met in the first year of university, where we were both studying illustration in Portsmouth, and became firm friends. A few years after graduating, we set up our illustration studio Magic Torch in Brighton and have been working together ever since.
We’ve both seen questionable haircuts, embarrassing outfits, painful breakups, laughter and tears over the years but we’ve always remained the very best of friends.
Designed by humans for humans
It’s a bit weird to point out that we’re real people but these are the times we live in!
We love the process of making our artwork and feel that creativity is not something we want to hand over to AI. So, we may use different tools – it could be Procreate, Linocut, collage, whatever – but our artwork will always be designed by humans.
Be nice
Neither of us claim to be experts but we want to do the right thing.
We print on recycled paper wherever possible. We use recycled and recyclable packaging. And we want to work with other real people, if possible in the UK. We’re committed to working ethically and sustainably and we strive to keep learning and improving our practices.
Most of all, we want to follow Dalton’s third rule: Be nice.