A week or two back there was an EAT/DoOrDie paint jam on Stapleton Road, alongside the M32 motorway, with an X-Men theme. This piece, by SPZero76 is one of the three painted that day.SPZero76 has a special place in Natural Adventures because he was one of the first regular artists that I photographed and wrote about ten years ago. Although he used to paint more often then, his pieces are always outstanding.
SPZero76, Stapleton Road, Bristol, March 2026
The raccoons, creatures that appear in most of SPZero76’s cartoon-style work, are playing out the parts of Wolverine with its claw hand and Cyclops, who is wearing 3D specs instead of his special visor – a nice twist. An incredible scene unfolds in such illustrative detail. This is a truly fabulous piece of cartoon character street art.
Because I observe and write about street art in Bristol on a near-daily basis, I become familiar with some of the little markers and themes laid down by artists either in the content of their work or in their style. In my rambled writings I try to point out some of these details that casual onlookers might miss. I guess that is part of what this blog is all about.
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, March 2026
Kid Crayon is a favourite of mine and an artist I have been writing about for more than ten years. This is a wonderful, colourful combination piece, where the letters, in a range of colours, spell out CRAYON, where the ‘O’ is a character face with a party hat. Kid Crayon is very fond of party hats, which make an appearance from time to time in his work – this one has additional relevance as this was a birthday celebration paint jam. Great to see that the character has a crayon floating in front of his mouth, a signature emblem of KC’s work.
Although this piece is a little bleached out by the strong sun, I am so pleased to have captured it at all. So many times when Kid Crayon has painted a new piece, I get down to photograph it, and it has gone. I don’t know if this is purely coincidental, or whether there is something more sinister going on. Suffice it to say that I have missed at least two pieces by him this year.
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
It is fantastic to see Kid Crayon getting out more often this year, after quite a long period of low productivity – due in part to his real work being very busy. In this piece, the letters CRAYON can be seen with a little reversed out KID at the start. Each letter has an individual paint treatment, with the base colours alternating through the word. The ‘O’ is represented by a character with a blue face, donning a rather fetching Eat crew baseball cap. A floating crayon in front of the character’s mouth rounds the piece off nicely. There are so many KC trademarks in this fun and uplifting piece.
Following on from the last post, a wheatpaste by Abbie Laura Smith, it perhaps ought to be remembered that Kid Crayon began his foray into street art with magnificent wheatpastes dotted around central Bristol, before moving on to spray-painting, a transition he managed almost seamlessly.
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
This is a magnificent piece of composition writing from Kid Crayon, where each letter is telling its own story, with the ‘Y’ shaped like a catapult and the ‘N’ is a burning candle. Magnificent and creative stuff from Kid Crayon, nicely executed. It is so good to see the artist out there painting more this summer, as he has been a little quiet on the streets since Covid, being busy with his work.
Kid Crayon and SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
What an absolute pleasure to see SPZero76 and Kid Crayon teaming up this spring to bring us some more EAT Crew joy. This is a fabulous collaboration celebrating the Terminator film franchise, painted in the styles of the two artists, but remaining reasonably honest to the film’s characters. The middle ‘liquid metal’ section spells out EAT.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
On the left, is a brilliant rendition of a terminator robot by Kid Crayon, complete with smoking gun. The dystopian future character is menacing enough, although Kid Crayon’s soft edge style takes some of the heat out of the menace. There is some great detail in the mechanical workings of the robot, and the whole thing is finished really nicely.
SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
To the right, SPZero76 adds his own twist to the motorcycle-riding Schwarzenegger character, with the inclusion of a couple of racoons that tend to frequent his pieces. There is movement and drama in the piece, which is clean and sharp, just as you’d expect to see from SPZero76.
Kid Crayon and SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
All in all, it is just to see these two collaborating again, and I sincerely hope that they manage to do so more frequently this year than last. I’ll be back!
The day I originally photographed this wonderful piece by Kid Crayon was very wet indeed, and although most days have been wet this winter/spring, that day was particularly wet. I mention this because, unfortunately, my original set of photographs were blurred with a spot of rain on the lens. Of course, by the time I returned to get more pictures, the piece had been tagged, so this post has a blurred untagged image and a crisp tagged one. It can be difficult to win at this game sometimes.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
Kid Crayon has been out a couple of times recently, and it is great to see, I certainly miss his work during the long gaps of street inactivity. In recent years, his work mainly consists of a letters/character combination and with this piece he doesn’t disappoint. The letters are painted in modest colour tones, and the ‘seams’ ‘bolted’ together with ‘rivets’, a writing technique used by other artists in Bristol.
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
The character face is the star of the piece in my eyes an harks back to Kid Crayon’s early wheatpaste faces that got me curious about street art in Bristol in the first place, back in 2015. The trademark crayon is present, floating in front of the character’s face – who needs a signature and letters spelling out your name when you only have to include a floating crayon?
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, March 2024
At the time of painting this wonderful piece, Kid Crayon left a little extra, as he often does, by painting the bin at the far corner of the skate park. Stylish stuff.
SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Sometimes I am so far behind the curve I actually surprise myself. I think I was aware of this wonderful winter wonderland piece by SPZero76 and Kid Crayon, otherwise known as the EAT crew, from last Christmas, but I simply haven’t visited the hoarding in such a long time.
SPZero76, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
The whole piece is a continuous story and a great collaboration, with the left-hand side painted by SPZero76 and the right-hand side by Kid Crayon. Inevitably, SPZero76 has included a robot snowball-launcher alongside a woman throwing a snowman’s head.
Kid Crayon, Cattle Market Road, Bristol, March 2023
Kid Crayon has painted a couple of young lads throwing and launching their own snowballs back. Beautifully sprayed by both artists, this is a fun, cartoon-style piece that really captures the spirit of winter, and snow that most Bristolians can only dream of (even though we had a little bit of the white stuff this year). We just don’t get to see enough by the EAT crew these days. Perhaps they will get busy on the streets this year.
You don’t get to see pieces by SPZero76, outside of festivals or commissions, as often as a few years ago, so stumbling across one was both a rare and joyful occasion. This recent piece was part of a collaborative wall, marking the first anniversary of the death of producer and rapper MF Doom.
SPZero76, Dean Lane, Bristol, June 2022
SPZero76’s take on this anniversary was to paint a cartoon-style version of Marvel villain Dr Octopus asking ‘what’s a Doom?’. This is a hilarious piece and perfectly painted, sharp and clean, and just the kind of thing we are so privileged to see in Bristol. It would be great to see more of these casual pieces about the place from SPZero76.
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