#HAF2021 workshop & mural

Week 1 - Brunswick

The first week we visited Brunswick Skate Park in Wednesbury. On day 1 I held a doodle workshop, where I used long strips of paper along the sides of the half pipe to encourage the local young people to draw the things that they like about the park and the things they'd like to see painted on the wall. And the idea of the skate ninja was born! 

I mocked up a quick concept and on days 2-4 I managed small groups to show them can control and other useful techniques to start building up the design onto the half pipe. 

Week 2 - Britannia

For week 2 we visited Britannia Skate Park in Rowley Regis. We started the week with a doodle session, encouraging everyone to get creative and put their ideas down onto paper. The brief was slightly different this week as we wouldn't be painting directly onto any of the structures so we had lots of different sized canvases to use instead. 

I decided to get everyone taking part in the workshops to create a letter each, spelling out 'Britannia Skate!' showing the attendees different techniques and ways to mark make using masking tape and cardboard. It was great to see how individual everyone's letters came out - and they all looked brilliant next to each other and will look even better when on display at Just Youth HQ!

Then for the final day I created a temporary cling film wall around one of the structures at the skate park, and had a freestyle graffiti session inviting the young people to really let loose and practice their lettering and character skills. 

Week 3 - Victoria

For the final week we visited Victoria Skate Park in Tipton - as the space for the mural was much bigger than previous weeks I collaborated with fellow artist Miscfit. Like all the other weeks we started with a doodle session, encouraging all the young people to get their ideas down onto paper. As this was an older crowd we noticed that emoji's seemed to be the main theme of the day - which is what sparked the concept for our wall! This skate park was also known for being where scooter pro Jordan Hall regularly practiced so it was requested that we include a character of him on the wall too.

As the freestyle wall was such a hit at the previous skate park we decided to have another freestyle graffiti session for day 2, teaching the basics in can control, learning how to use stencils as well as encouraging the young people to get creative with pictures and words. 

For days 3-4 we then got busy creating the mural, taking groups of 3 at a time to implement the techniques we had practiced in the freestyle session to create the mural.

To book your own street art workshop with Miscfit and myself visit here!