Zake has come along such a long way from his early column pieces under the M32 back in 2018 when I first came across his work. This year he has turned up the dial with a variety of really different character pieces that each tell a bit of a story.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, August 2026
In this piece, Zake has painted a cartoonish demonic character playing some mystical pipe. Behind him is a group of hooded characters, looking a little creepy to me, with lanterns held on sticks. Perhaps out protagonist is summoning them to do their evil deeds. Something a little different from Zaake.
Soap, Zake and Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, July 2026
It feels like a real treat when the Pirate Wall Art (PWA) crew get together as it doesn’t happen all that often since Face 1st left for Herefordshire and Chill also left the city, but every once in a while there is a gathering, and in this collaboration, Soap, Zake and Face 1st have joined forces alongside the M32.
Soap, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, July 2026
Soap has painted a combination piece incorporating an Adventure Time character who appears to be crafting a mini character from his own flesh. The letters, spelling SOAP, have a rather flat presentation and are filled with a highly decorated turquoise colour. This is a highly attractive piece with plenty of detailing to admire.
Zake, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, July 2026
In the middle section of the collaboration, Zake has painted a wild and wonderful beast, modelled on a spider, but not like anything I have seen before. The fearsome arachnid is nibbling away at Face 1st’s letters. This is something quite different and unusual from Zake, but great to see.
Face 1st, M32 Cycle path, Bristol, July 2026
To the right, Face 1st has painted his blocky letters with a considerable depth provided by the extensive deep blue drop shadow. I notice that one or two vertical lines might be missing under the C and E, but I am just being picky. A giggling girl makes an appearance inside the arch of the A, and some spider web rounds off the piece nicely. A fabulous PWA collaboration.
Zake and Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026
I would describe this collaboration by Zake and Hire as unusual, for two key reasons. Zake has painted a character, rather than one of his face caricatures, and Hire, who tends to be a graffiti writer, with the occasional rabbit thrown in, has painted a character, which, without the signature and a conversation with Zake as he was tidying up, I would never have guessed was painted by him.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026
These two seem to have paired up quite a lot of late, especially since the PWA crew has become a little diluted, with both Face 1st and Chill leaving town. Zake has painted a humanoid robot, looking a little sinister, set on an urban landscape. Is this a dystopian future piece?
Hire, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2026
Hire, meanwhile, has painted a comic-book style villain (or that is how I see it). The thick-set character with large, brilliantly crafted hands, is holding an old CRT television. Given that I don’t see many characters by Hire, I think this is superb, and hope to see more such pieces in the future. A fine and surprising collaboration.
I forgot to paste this beast of a character face by Zake back in March when he painted it, but found it on a little delve in my archives. Such has been the unbelievable turnover in Bristol this spring, that I have dozens and dozens of superb pieces in my February-April folders that might never see the light of day.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2026
This cheeky face has been stretched out laterally to fill the long rectangular space. The character is slightly creepy, most of Zake’s characters are, but beautifully presented. His command of light and shade to create depth has been put to full use in this piece using a shade of blue to great effect. Nice one.
This is a rather fun collaboration between Hire and Zake in Dean Lane. I can’t remember if these two have collaborated before, they probably have, but this is still a bit of a treat from the writer and the character artist.
Hire, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2026
On the left, Hire has written his letters in a rather compact block, which is quite unusual, as he typically spreads his letters out a fair bit. The fills of orange and light blue have been nicely done and work surprisingly well together. A deep drop shadow is bordered with a drippy pink line with light highlights woven in.
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2026
I’m not too sure what to say about Zake’s character piece, as it is all a little bit strange. A bald man with a huge mouth and multiple teeth has a little finger puppet attached to the end of his long tongue. The puppet character, which looks like some kind of lizard monster is spraying pink ‘vomit’ over Hire’s piece, thus creating his drippy pink outline. A great read-across between the two pieces in this collaboration.
This character piece from Zake almost feels like a throwback to some of his earlier work, which focussed on just the head of a character. Of course, his style has developed since then , but this piece is uncluttered by other ideas and incorporations.
Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, January 2026
This wall is a particularly good spot for character artists, because it is too square for graffiti writers. As ever, Zake has created a face with so much depth created with clever use of shades and tones, and some subtle white flashes. Great grinning work.
Benjimagnetic and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2026
This is a rather unusual collaboration, and I can’t quite make up my mind whether it is a collaboration or two independent pieces that are sitting adjacent to each other I’ve not seen Benjimagnetic and Zake paint together before. My guess is that they both turned up at the same spot on the same day, and decided to paint alongside one another, which makes sense on this wall, because both artists tend to occupy squarish spaces, and this wall is a long rectangle.
Benjimagnetic, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2026
To the left, Benjomagnetic has painted one of his customary GRO pieces in his distinctive cryptic style. The colours are a bit compromised because the wall was in shade with a bright sky behind. The shapes and colours that make up the whole are once again perfect.
Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, January 2026
The character by Zake is rather more elaborate than many of his pieces, and with more than a hint of Chinese dragon about it. There is a rather unsettling third eye in the forehead, and wispy smoke ‘bleeding’ from the main pair of eyes. Definitely curious and slightly odd, but very nicely painted. The long forked tongue rounds off things nicely. An unusual collaborative wall.
Face 1st and Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2025
I am really impressed that Face 1st has kept up with his intention to visit Bristol from time to time after his move to Herefordshire last year. I guess he knows he can paint freely in Bristol, and he probably has plenty of friends here to visit.
Face 1st and Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, November 2025
This is a rather unusual combination piece from Face 1st and Zake, featuring some fancy ‘gold’ letters by Face 1st with an incredibly deep drop shadow, and a (satanic) portrait piece in the middle by Zake. Set on a fiery background, there is a hint that this might have been a Halloween piece, but I am not too sure. Some nice shout-outs to Soap and Chill from the PWA crew.
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.
Zake, St Werburghs, Bristol, October 2025
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.
This is an absolute corker from Zake, placing one of his iconic characters into a space suit helmet, adding layers of interest and perspective to this piece on the long wall in Cumberland Basin.
Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025
I think that the piece was painted for a celebratory paint jam, but I forget now which one it was, there have been so many in the latter part of this year. Great work from Zake, always adding new and interesting ideas to his base characters.
Natural adventures 