STAFF REVIEW: LONDON STREET ART TOUR AND WORKSHOP FOR TWO PEOPLE EXPERIENCE

Nov 1, 2021
Staff Reviews , Street Art Experiences
Connor Howling

Caly and I were lucky enough to be able to witness the evolution of street art around central London and get hands-on with creating our own graffiti masterpieces!

Beginning the tour was a smooth process as we were greeted by our inviting guide, Gary, who met us by the I Goat Statue. Even while we were waiting to commence the tour, I felt as though the meeting point evoked its own sense of artistic style as there were plenty of unique sculptures to look at. Whether deliberate or not, this seemed like a meticulous touch to prepare for the street art focused tour, which was appreciated.

We were educated about countless different artists who conveyed their own style of street art through intricate pieces of art placed in interesting locations around the city. One of my favourites to learn about was an artist called Invader, who leaves his mark with pixelated art that correlates to popular gaming franchises! I think what amazed me the most was the fact that he has travelled around the world, and is recognised as a universal public figure.

Another artist that grasped my attention was Stik. Stik is a street artist, whose sole theme is based around stick figure drawings. My favourite aspect of this artist’s work is how socially conscious their pieces of work are, and the messages behind them. With Gary by our side, he explained how popular Stik has become, and their reputation in the street art industry – not only in London, but globally!

As the first half of the experience concluded, we were then able to grab a bite to eat from nearby shops before heading to the studio to commence the workshop. Arriving at the studio was exactly what you’d expect – it felt like walking into an exhibition of priceless art pieces. The aim of the workshop was to create our own stencils to then spray paint over, and get the hang of how to graffiti.

To create the stencil, we began by drawing out our templates on a piece of card. Caly decided to go with sunglasses, and I made the choice to bring some ice cream to life! Once the template was finalised, we were provided with the relevant tools to cut out the stencil to create an outline of our objects. Next, it was time to create some detail, and this involved making multiple layers to cover certain parts of the outline to make it look more realistic!

It was now time for the part I was most looking forward to: spray painting! For this, we were briefed by Gary on how to safely utilise the spray cans and the different methods that lead to different looks, such as thickness and colour intensity.

I thought that this was interesting to be made aware of, because it emphasises the attention to detail that street artists must adhere to in order to create their masterpieces! We had the opportunity to freely spray paint with a collection of all imaginable colours, before incorporating our own stencils to leave our mark in the studio.

It was extremely relaxed, and everybody was inviting and encouraging. I’m not the best at art myself, but it didn’t hinder my experience at all as it is completely up to you what you’d like to do! As the workshop ended, we had the opportunity to take our stencils home so we could remember the admire the piece of work we had created!