Sam’s on the Blob

When he’s not skating or making videos for boys who skate, Sam Taylor draws unshaven, boggle-eyed slackers, tastefully detailed with stains, veins, wrinkles, creases, stubble, and double chins. They usually have a cigarette dangling from the corner of their mouths and an Efes (the Turkish beer they sell at the Dalston snooker club with the same name) in their hands.

Sam’s cheery, bright-colored drawings make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so we’ve commissioned him for a bunch of illustrations lately and he always sends us two versions: one containing what we asked him to draw, and one featuring some sort of green, slimy creature. We didn't give it much thought until a few weeks ago at a UK launch party for the Children of the Dragon Issue at The Old Blue Last.

Sam was flipping through the mag while telling us about that time a car pulled up next to him as he was skating home and the driver whipped his dick out and started pissing in his path when he spotted his illustration. He stopped mid-sentence, had a quiet moment, and looked up. He stared at us with what could only be described as intense sincerity and stuttered, “you chose… you finally cho-chose THE BLOB!”

Curious about this emotional outburst, I figured I’d ask him about this green blobby blob of his. VICE: So what is this blob you keep sending us?
Sam Taylor: It’s a toxic, beer-loving slime monster from the abyss, aka Camberwell [where Sam lives in London].

Are you a fan of that 1950s flick, The Blob?
No! My blob has nothing to do with that crappy b-movie.

What is it made of?
It’s primarily made out of slime and bits of congealed beer. And goo. Just basic blob DNA, really. Right. What does it want?
It wants to hang out with people and have a beer but everyone thinks it's disgusting. Why do you keep drawing a blob version of each illustration you make?
I love the blob and want everyone else to see him in different scenarios. It’s funny to me.
Tell me about the birth of the blob.
I was just drawing these little destruction scenes at art school, and it progressed from Godzilla-type creatures to blobs. The rest is history.
  
What are your hopes for the blob?
That he’ll take over the world. How, exactly, would he do that?
Well, he consumes everything in his path, so either in that way, or, after this interview, he’ll go viral and I’ll get a McDonald's commission and he’ll be on Big Mac boxes and made into a series of Happy Meal toys. Imagine how cool that would be. Or maybe Zuckerberg will see him and want me to do some blob stuff for Facebook. I could really work with some of that Facebook money. VICE, hook it up. Sam likes followers on Twitter, if you want to befriend him, follow him on @sptsam.