7104. M32 roundabout J3 (698)

Kid Crayon and Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon and Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

This is a wonderful character collaboration from Kid Crayon and Tera, otherwise known as the Doordie crew (do or die). What is extra special about this is that it has lasted a couple of weeks, which is quite rare for a Kid Crayon piece these days, and should be celebrated.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

The character on the left is by Kid Crayon and on the right by Tera, between the battling zombies we see a collection of bones spelling UZI (Undead Zombie Infection). The green zombie looks very much like the characters from Plants vs Zombies, a game that my kids very much enjoyed a few years ago. There is so much detail and expression in this zombie, brilliantly crafted by Kid Crayon.

Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025
Tera, M32 roundabout, Bristol, July 2025

Tera, continues to amaze with his rapid progress this summer with this fantasy style zombie, a little more menacing and scary than his counterpart. There is, once again, plenty of detail in the piece, with the bony fingers taking a prominent role. Altogether a fine and fun collaboration. It is so good to see Kid Crayon out so often this summer, with a regular painting partner.

7060. St Werburghs tunnel (517)

Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

There seems to be a direct correlation between the days and locations that Kid Crayon paints, and the longevity of his pieces. More than any other artist I can think of, his work gets painted over really quickly, and I have missed several of his pieces this year, arriving a day late.

Most recently, a piece in Cumberland Basin lasted a day maybe, and worse still it was only half painted over, which is rude, and not in the spirit of the unwritten graffiti code of etiquette. I rushed to photograph this one, and of course, it has bucked the trend and lasted a while, and was still intact yesterday.

Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, July 2025

This is a superb example of Kid Crayon’s playful style, with a great combination of letters and characters throughout the piece. The piece formed a part of a Frazzled Magazine paint jam, which included the artists Mind 49, Ejits, and Smak amongst others. There is so much to enjoy in this piece with so many little details to admire, for example, the munching maggot carving pieces out of the letter ‘C’at the start of the piece. Fabulous work.

7000. M32 roundabout J3 (692)

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

A little bit of a landmark this morning, with my seven thousandth street art blog post, which is quite a few really. When I set out on this adventure in 2015, the blog was set up to share my diary and log from a life-changing experience I had, working with the fisheries department in the Falkland Islands.

In the early days, I simultaneously started to notice the street art and graffiti around me in my adopted home, Bristol. I started posting the odd piece, mainly because nobody else was at that time, and I wanted to share what I saw and found out with others, and to lay down an archive of this ephemeral art form. And here we are, still going strong and with a bigger street art scene than ever before.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, May 2025

It is fitting that this milestone piece is by Kid Crayon, because it was his unusual and surreal wheatpaste portraits that originally captured my imagination and motivated me to blog about this stuff. I was lucky enough to catch up with Kid Crayon and Tera while they were painting this wall, but alas, Tera’s piece was painted over by the time I returned to get clean photographs. Kid Crayon has produced a fabulous piece with some great colour fills discrete to each letter and a wonderful one-eyed character making up the ‘o’. The floating crayon in front of the character’s mouth is a signature motif used by Kid Crayon for at least a decade. Splendid stuff.

6961. M32 roundabout J3 (686)

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, April 2025

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
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.

6677. Dean Lane (799)

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

It brings me great joy when I come across new Kid Crayon pieces. He has been reasonably quiet over the last couple of years, which in a way is a good thing, because it signals that his work is going well, and being an artist/designer having plenty of work is always a positive.

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2025

This wall used to have three alcoves in it, and in fairness, was quite difficult to paint. For whatever reason, the council decided to fill the alcoves with breeze blocks, and I have to say that the unintended consequence was this new long wall, which artists have been enjoying ever since. Kid Crayon has used the full length of the wall to paint his letters in hi favoured pink. Each letter is in a distinct style, where the ‘O’ is a masked character incorporating a floating crayon. A nice tidy piece and great way to start the year.

6476. Cumberland Basin

Kid Crayon, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2024
Kid Crayon, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2024

Kid Crayon has launched himself headlong into the Halloween season with this mildly creepy scene, underpinned with his CRAYON letters, that perhaps resemble stone carvings. I can’t really explain what the ladder and chair are doing, but they act as good bookends to the piece.

Kid Crayon, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2024
Kid Crayon, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2024

The spooky atmosphere is provided by the leafless dead trees in the background, and the long-haired character emerging from a well… what is happening here? The same character (?) is seen reflected in a mirror. There is a story, and a creepy one at that, without even a whiff of a pumpkin in sight. Well done KC.

6391. Dean Lane skate park (755)

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

Regular readers may recall that I am not a fan of posting work that is in effect advertising, but it seems that it is becoming all too common, whether promoting music or art. I guess I am more forgiving if an artist is promoting their own work, or helping out with mates, but it it still doesn’t sit very comfortably with me. It is a fine line between advertising for mates and corporate advertising. I suppose if money doesn’t change hands then it is ok. Somehow, though, the promotional aspect seems to disrupt the freedom of the artist, because there is a different driver or purpose, and this is reflected in their style and content.

Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024
Kid Crayon, Dean Lane, Bristol, July 2024

Kid Crayon manages to gain leniency from me because I love his work, and in this piece he promotes n exhibition ‘Art on wax’ that happened way back in July. I expect the delay in posting the piece was down to my prevarication. It is well painted but in my view insincere. There you have it.

6347. St Werburghs tunnel (441)

Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024
Kid Crayon, St Werburghs, Bristol, August 2024

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
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.

6301. M32 roundabout J3 (617)

Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

You’ve got to grab the opportunities when you can, and that applies equally to artists as it does to me. Kid Crayon and I Am Ian have been out and about a few times this summer, and knowing that they are busy people, it is great to see them painting walls and enjoying themselves.

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

This recent collaboration on the M32 roundabout wall showcases their artistic skills beautifully. kid Crayon has produced one of his light-hearted writing/character combinations, which I have to say is really good. It is always nice to see the floating crayon, KC’s signature symbol, in front of the character’s mouth. There is a little shout-out to the Gums and Tongue crew on the character’s baseball cap.

I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024
I Am Ian, M32 roundabout, Bristol, August 2024

I don’t think I have ever seen any writing from I Am Ian, I don’t think it is his thing, but his characters are always interesting and usually humorous. This rather forlorn character at least is able to comment ‘What a beautiful day!!! I Am Ian’s pieces are often accompanied with the words ‘sit up’, although I am not entirely sure of their significance. A wonderful collaboration from these two fabulous artists.

6270. Cumberland Basin

Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

One of the really enjoyable things about this summer has been the re-emergence of Kid Crayon and his painting partner, I Am Ian. They have collaborated several times recently, with their blend of colourful writing and cartoon-style characters. This piece is what I would call a ‘true’ collaboration, where it becomes difficult to determine exactly who painted which bits.

Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024
Kid Crayon and I Am Ian, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, July 2024

I don’t know I Am Ian to be a writer, so I guess that the letters are by Kid Crayon, as is the character on the left, I think. Although both characters are very similar in style, I think that the one on the right might be by I Am Ian. The whole piece is a fantastical mickey-take of the Cabbage Patch Dolls, turning them into a drug gang, ‘the Cabbage Patch Cartel’. Both mischievous and witty and great fun. More to come soon from these two.