- I was approached on instagram by someone who called themsleves 'laid back andy', he commissioned me to paint the entire exterior of his old school VW camper van.
- He had seen my mural work from inside 'The Libertine' I did last year - he wanted me to cover his van in designs similar to had I done in the bar, he was well into my work and was happy for me to come and do my own thing on his van which was cool and meant I could experiment within my own interests.
- His van was already covered in random spray painted patterns and words so I didnt need to spend too much time accurately masking off different areas - it could handle a few drips and splats it kind of added too the aesthetic he was going for.
- I sketched out each side of the van and experimented with how I could fill the space with my characters and faces. I used the shapes of the van to structure the designs.
- I had an idea to make the front of the van into one big face - I find that the front of vehicles resemble a face kind of anyway with the lights as eyes and the bumbers/grills as a mouth. I wanted to paint facial featured onto the front of the van so I would look like a big colourful mask like face coming towards you on the road.
Painting the van...
- It took me 3 whole days to paint the entire van - Starting on the right side and finishing with the front face.
- I started with a pink blue and yellow colour scheme and changed it up across the rest of the van, Andy wasn't bothered about keeping the colour scheme consistent throughout the whole van - he just wanted me to involve as many vibrant colours as possible so I mixed up the colour combinations in each side.
- He also got me to paint some words and sayings onto different parts of the van - things like 'Slambassador', 'the groovy bus' and 'slow moving, just like your wife likes it'. Incorporating words into my spray paint work isnt something im used too, but andy was paying me to do this so I needed to give it my best shot. It also let him feel like he was getting involved with the artwork more which he really enjoyed, especially with how enthusiastic he was about the whole project and my artwork. - Sometimes is just as important to keep the client happy and involved with the work as it is to get the final aesthetic how I would like it. Especially when its such a personal project like this - he was decorating the van purley for his own enjoyment.
Finished Van:
- I really enjoyed working on this project, It has been beneficial figuring out how to fit my designs onto a 3D object/surface, working with the contours and bends of the van - I enjoy having a really specific canvas to work with.
- I would love to continue getting commissioned for work like this, its enjoyable and has equally good money for it! I think the more work I do like this I could increase my prices as well. But this was a good way to open some doors into new directions for my practice.
- This was also a great piece of advertisement for me - Its a big painting that will be constantly moving around and stands so strongly against other cars on the road - I have already had people approach me saying that they had seen it on the roads. And im pretty sure this will lead to some more projects like this - I have had a few suggestion for potential commissions involving painting more vehicles.
- The van also got posted on various different VW instagram accounts, and Andy is confident that I will find it way into a VW magazine soon because he takes it to VW shows all over the UK - This is really good exposure for my work.
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