Kid Crayon – Page 2 – Natural adventures

6391. Dean Lane skate park (755)

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 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

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.

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

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

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 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

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.

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.

6217. Dean Lane skate park (734)

I am hugely encouraged to see that Kid Crayon had rediscovered his appetite for painting on the streets, or perhaps he has had a slight lull in his commercial work, whatever the reasons, he has painted several pieces of late, including this surfing polar bear behind the railings at Dean Lane.

The combination piece features a rather cool polar bear surfing on an orange board in a sea of bubbles. The words Kid Crayon create a fine backdrop for the bear. Readers will know how much I like Kid Crayon’s work, however, this piece seems to lack something from my point of view. I think that maybe the black background isn’t right, or perhaps the bubbles don’t quite work, I don’t quite know, but when it comes to Kid Crayon I do set my expectations very high, so am probably just being a bit hyper-critical. More to come soon.

6150. M32 roundabout J3 (589)

Kid Crayon, M32 roundabout, Bristol, June 2024

This is an unusual, but also rather pleasing piece painted by Kid Crayon, alongside his friend I am Ian, who featured on Natural Adventures yesterday. The whole piece is relatively simple in its construction and made up of only five colours; a yellow background, white letters, green border, grey accents and some random orange squiggles.

The bubbly/cloudy letters spell out CRAYON, with the letters KID written backwards, a regular device used by Kid Crayon. There is a lightness of touch and ease about the piece and although simple in design it is beautifully executed. I know that Kid Crayon is extremely busy at work, getting paid for what he loves doing, and that makes his street pieces all the more welcome. Nice one.

6109. Upfest 2024 (25)

Kid Crayon, Greville Smyth Park, Upfest 24, Bristol, May 2024

This combination character and graffiti writing piece by Bristol’s Kid Crayon was something of a rarity at Upfest this year. It seems fitting that Kid Crayon was selected to paint this wall, because for me, he kind of represents the ‘Bristol school’ of street art, and although the styles of Bristol are enormously varied, somehow KC encapsulates them in his art.

The piece is a tribute to Jack Black, who KC obviously admires, and he openly states “This is not the greatest Montana burner in the world, no, this is just a tribute!”. This statement shows Kid Crayon’s modesty, because this is an accomplished piece, perfectly presented for an Upfest audience. It would have been nice to see a bit more graffiti writing at this year’s festival – maybe next time. More of Kid Crayon’s work in this gallery.

5929. Dean Lane skate park (701)

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.

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!

5894. Dean Lane skate park (699)

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 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.

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?

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.

5852. Cumberland Basin

Kid Crayon, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, February 2024

Kid Crayon holds a special place in the evolution of Natural Adventures, as it was his paste ups that drew me into the exciting and mysterious world of street art in Bristol, with posts such as this first one, my 11th post, or this one of the boy eating cheese. I developed a love for wheatpastes because of Kid Crayon, who eventually turned his attention to painting with spray cans.

Kid Crayon is nowhere near as prolific as he used to be, but this is probably a good sign, because it means that his work as an illustrator and animator is keeping his busy and bringing in an income. In this bright and colourful piece Kid Crayon has written his name in letters with a variety of fills, and the eye is drawn to the character in place of the letter ‘O’. A fun and most excellent piece reminding us all what a fabulously creative artist he is.

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	hitandrun1964 on 7598. M32 roundabout J3 (…
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