Zake – Natural adventures

7678. Cumberland Basin

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, March 2026

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.

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.

7647. Dean Lane skate park (922)

Hire and Zake, Dean Lane, Bristol, April 2026

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.

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.

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.

7457. Peel Street Green (61)

Zake, Peel Street Green, Bristol, January 2026

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.

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.

7403. Dean Lane skate park (894)

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.

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.

7344. Peel Street Green (55)

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.

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.

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.

7259. Cumberland Basin

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, October 2025

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.

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.

7032. River Avon (86)

I am writing this post (last night) in a lonely hotel room in Warrington. Tomorrow, I am attending the launch of a new National Nature Reserve just outside the town, something I have been working on for a few months. It will be great to see the partnership project come to life.

This piece by Zake is a superb example of his work, and he has really managed to keep the whole thing very neat and tidy. Although it doesn’t look like it, the piece is quite large, and on a wall he decorated back in August

As with all of his portrait pieces, he has created great depth using light and shade to lift the face from the wall, deceiving the eye. Big teeth and a lack of pupils in the eye, give the character a sinister appearance, which is a bit of a Zake trademark. Below is his previous piece in this spot.

6988. Sparke Evans Park (130)

Zake, Sparke Evans Park, Bristol, June 2025

I don’t really need to dwell too much on haw Zake has been smashing it lately, his skill is matched by his creativity, and in this piece he has really gone to town. I also like the fact that Zake has returned us to the wonderful colour combination of pink and blue.

Zake has combined three faces into one, to create something that looks like a primitive deity or something like that. The expressions on the faces, running left to right are contentment via uncertainty to some kind of evil rage. An interesting piece with lots to enjoy about it.

6979. Cumberland Basin

Zake, Cumberland Basin, Bristol, May 2025

This piece by Zake is something a little different, a variation on a theme from the artist. It is rare to see Zake paint anything approximating to letters, but here we are with an unusual combination piece.

Two letters and two faces, making up the vowels, are nicely designed and set on a grey background with watery bubbles. For once, I will forgive the use of brown paint, because it is subtle and in keeping with the ‘slatey’, earthy, feel of the whole composition. It is always a pleasure to see artists try something new.

	TiffanyArpDaleo on 7679. Mina Road (17)
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7679. Mina Road (17)
	hitandrun1964 on 7679. Mina Road (17)
	hitandrun1964 on Posy
	skat on Posy

	TiffanyArpDaleo on 7679. Mina Road (17)
	Wes Vinglun (aka) Ni… on 7679. Mina Road (17)
	hitandrun1964 on 7679. Mina Road (17)
	hitandrun1964 on Posy
	skat on Posy

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