Tado consist of the mad-capped duo of Mike and Katie, straight out of sunny Sheffield. They first strated doodling in 2002 and have been wow-ing you and me ever since. Some call them cute, some call them scary, we call them TADO!

Hello and welcome to the world of Thunder Chunky. How do you both do today?

Hi-hi to you too! We are very well today thankyou, it is a happy lazy Sunday.

How would you describe your style of work to those unfortunate people around the globe who haven’t seen your illustrations yet?

A ferocious wonderland filled with love, hate and boobies.

There’s two of you behind Tado, what are the pros and cons of working in a partnership?

Two of us? Who told you that?! We’re actually puppets controlled by the man standing right behind you! Teeeheee…

There are a lot of rainbows and teeth in your work. Is there any specific reason for this? Are there any other things our readers should look out for in your illustrations?

Rainbows are fun and teeth are naughty! More recently we have gotten into frisky ghosts, multi-faced beasts, and abusive messages! You can’t beat a good frisky ghost sometimes!

Your work is so vibrant and rich with colour that it has such an impact as soon as you see it. How do you negotiate colour into your design process?

We don’t really negotiate colour into our designs as such, it just kinda comes naturally. Like anybody we use a lot of similar colours in our work, usually a neutral beige or grey offset with something like a randy pink or a nice vomit green!

What do you think makes vinyl toys so desirable? Do you collect them yourselves and what was your favourite toy when you were growing up?

Haha! If we knew what made them so desirable we could probably get some kind of treatment for our condition! Unfortunately, toys are our crack and we’re hooked hard! Our collection mostly consists of toys by our favourite artists and designers – it’s a cheap way to own a little piece of their work for those of us who cant afford to buy originals or expensive prints!

Our favourite toys when we were growing up were Lego for Mike and Keepers for Katie!

Vinyl toys, stickers and badges have all become fashionable to designer-types over the past few years. What do you think will be the big thing in 2005?

Hmmmmm… we’ve seen some very nice Dalek shower curtains! Home-wares are definitely high on a lot of lists now, and big toys that are more like sculptures – some of Tim Biskup’s recent stuff has been gorgeous!

Who have you had most fun collaborating with?

Haha – we couldn’t possibly name one collaboration that has been the most fun – they’re all very different and all special for various reasons. Most recently we worked on a spread/tutorial for a mag with the goons at ilovedust – that was a pretty funny experience! Strange sea-side types they are!

Do you ever resent having to attach your characters to other people projects?

No not at all! 90% of the time we always create new characters – we have a few recurring ones but usually we create characters specific to whatever job we’re working on. We have a really low boredom threshold so we’re always pushing for new stuff. Working for fun clients means that we get to draw beasts all day and get paid for it so theres certainly no resent at all!

What do you think would be the best style of music for a Tado soundtrack?

Neopunkelectrojpopheavymetaltwattlings.

If you could do an illustration for any album sleeve ever, what would it be?

Betty boo’s boomania album. We would destroy her!

What are the best three things and the worst three things to draw?

The best are boobies, each other and plans for toys. The worst are other people – including relatives, sensible things and cars!

Finally, what’s the one thing everybody should do today?

Draw a rude picture of someone you know! Thank you for having us! Rocky mutha power!!

Check out more of Tado’s doodle-magic by visiting their wonderfully mental site, which is www.tado.co.uk.