Character – Page 2 – Natural adventures

7306. Cumberland Basin

The Art of Sok, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025

Last year I managed to catch up with The Art of Sok several times, and it seems that the artist crossed the border several times to paint in Bristol. This year his visits have been less frequent, but he has definitely left his mark, not least with this stunner for Dibz’ birthday.

I wasn’t expecting too many Halloween pieces this year, but as it turned out, there were quite a few. (Note to self – do a Halloween gallery). The Art of Sok has created the perfect pumpkin character painted in his outstanding cartoon style. Everything is superbly balanced and the fills and borders immaculate. This is cartoon character street art at its very best. Bravo!

7302. Leonard Lane (53)

Alex Arnell, Leonard Lane, Bristol, October 2025

Alex Arnell certainly provides something a little different with his alarming sketched characters, adding to the vast spectrum of artistic styles we get to enjoy on the streets of Bristol. This piece was one of several from a recent trip to Leonard Lane by the artist.

In this piece, the skeletal ghostly figure emerges from the existing artwork on the wall, and the flowers that were there have been incorporated into Alex Arnell’s character as eyes on a tilted head. I like it when artists incorporate the surroundings into their art. Clever work from the visitor.

7300. St Werburghs tunnel (541)

Biers, St Werburghs, Bristol, November 2025

For reasons that are too complicated to explain here, I don’t have my glasses with me this morning, which is making writing this post super-difficult and I am squinting, with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp, while typing these words. Forgive any typos.

This is a superb combination piece by Biers painted to celebrate Minto’s birthday in the tunnel.

The turnout for this paint jam was exceptional, covering most of the length of both walls of the tunnel with new celebratory pieces. The letters, WD40, are superbly filled with a cartoony design of lines and bubbles, and bordered with a fine black line. I feel like I should know who the character is, but I don’t. The whole thing is set on a brick wall, a common device used by graffiti artists. A really lovely piece by Biers, who might have just got his mojo back.

7299. Purdown (96)

Another quick one. It is easy to forget, from his superb graffiti writing portfolio, that Werm, when he first started, used to paint a lot of characters, so to see him paint this excellent Halloween pumpkin character shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.

The concrete slab is the perfect shape for this piece, and is beautifully framed by its surroundings. The artwork itself is very neat and tidy, with brilliant depth created in the teeth especially. A very nice pumpkin piece.

7296. Cumberland Basin

Rafat Oner, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025

2025 has without question been a year of visitors and new artists breaking onto the Bristol stage. Such an influx of talent is a reflection of Bristol’s street art culture and national/international reputation and is a blessing for me, although at times it can be a curse trying to track down who some of the artists are.

This is a stunning combination piece by Rafat Oner, who came to celebrate Dibz’ 50th birthday and wrap up his tribute with a Halloween theme for good measure. The letters RAFAT are beautifully filled with a funky black and purple design and a double green and orange drop shadow, pulling in all the colours of Halloween. The black and white portrait of a girl is a little disturbing where her face distorts on the left. Two further creepy characters are emerging from the ground. All in all a wonderful piece with lots going on to admire.

7294. St Werburghs tunnel (539)

Posh, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

Posh’s work has been something of a revelation this year. He manages to maintain a house-style which is like an elaborate sketch/scribble with both his graffiti writing and his character pieces. He also has a knack for inserting his characters large or small into places, seemingly just for the hell of it.

This piece features a couple of Posh’s finest caricature characters, with bow ties, top hats, canes and monocles. They represent the epitome of poshness, which is exactly what he is setting out to do and does so well. There is so much life in the piece, and we can only imagine what hollow conversation is going on between the pair. Great work by Posh.

7292. Horfield skate park (16)

Kool Hand, Horfield Skate Park, Bristol, October 2025

What a pleasure to find this tidy three-quarter profile of a trademark orangutan by Kool Hand at Horfield skate park. The piece was painted alongside a wonderful pair of cats by Daz Cat. A quick look at an updated gallery of his work gives an insight into his progress over the years.

The green-faced character has particularly large teeth, and looks a little more ferocious than some of his renditions of the ape. Two things stand out for me in this piece; the confident solid fills and lines all neat and tidy, and the slight angle of the portrait, moving away from the straight on face, which is where it all started.

7289. Dean Lane skate park (884)

Mr Crawls, Dean Lane, Bristol, October 2025

Haha! I love this three character piece by Mr Crawls. A simple, and rather curious design of characters that conveys emotions and humour in equal measure. As you might expect, the threesome are painted onto a chrome background, one of the signatures of Mr Crawls and his painting pal Mote.

The characters have plenty about them, even though they are composed mainly of eyes and shoulders. The middle one has a rather expressive mouth, and the shading in the eyes of the green ones gives the impression that they are looking inwards. I rather like these abstract beings that Mr Crawls has developed, and I think he likes them too.

7280. St Werburghs tunnel (537)

Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

This puffy-faced character piece is by Zake, painted in celebration of Kool Hand’s birthday, although officially his birthday was a month earlier. It seems almost impossible to exaggerate the features in a Zake piece, but he has managed to do it here, with the result that it is all a little but disturbing, the cheeks in particular.

As I have explained many times when writing about Zake’s work, he creates so much depth in his work by playing very skilfully with light and shade, using up lighting and down lighting to cast shadows and to emphasise features. Clever work from a quiet and unassuming artist.

7269. St Werburghs tunnel (534)

Tera, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025

It has been a while since I last saw a scary clown piece, so this one from Tera is most welcome. It was painted as part of a belated birthday paint jam in the tunnel for Kool Hand, and served as a tasty precursor to Halloween. Tera’s meteoric rise as a street artist of great talent continues at pace.

This scary clown character is superbly presented within a colourful decoration, I want to say scroll, but it is more like a designed plate with interlocking parts. The clown itself is really demonic, and falls very squarely into Tera’s preference for all things satanic. Peeping over the top of the piece is another of the artist’s previous nightmarish creations, see below:

	scooj on Revel Puck Circus
	M. on Revel Puck Circus
	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…

	scooj on Revel Puck Circus
	M. on Revel Puck Circus
	paulh121 on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	Sheree on 7352. Cumberland Basin
	paulh121 on 7350. Hillgrove Street (9…

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