Festivals and Politics

In the last couple of months I have been commissioned to design TWO covers for the Croydon Citizen newspaper. Here are the results.

cover illustrations from The Croydon Citizen

Though both inked with real ink and coloured with real, er Photoshop, their subject matters are quite different. May's cover was an amalgam of the annoying problem of fly-tipping in the Croydon borough with the, then, forthcoming general election. Politics is rubbish, indeed.

June's was to celebrate three community festivals taking place that month. Each 'strip' featured a London bus driving down the High Street near the end of Surrey Street. The first: Tech City (hence the modern street scene with sci-fi orange pipes and hovering digital signage). The second: The Summer of Love event in Wandle Park, channeling the spirit of 1967. The third: the Croydon Heritage festival celebrating all of Croydon's past but I was asked to go for the 1950s in order that the Routemaster bus made sense. I've also added some crocus decorations inspired by the new art installation by artists Aether and Hemera, commissioned for the Heritage Festival.

Each 'strip' contains people and buildings, but the eagle-eyed will notice that the clothes of the pedestrians alter slightly depending on what era they are in.

illustrations of pedestrians

Also, I've endeavoured to mimic the architecture of Surrey Street in the background by changing the buildings. I wasn't until I did this illustration that I discovered that an old cinema - called The Palladium Cinema - used to stand at the end of Surrey Street, where The Market Tavern is now. Read more about it on Cinema Treasures and see a lovely photo of it in the 1950s on Flickr.

Illustration of the Palladium Cinema, Croydon

Croydon Illustrations With Croydonist

You can now read about some of my Croydon likes and sources of inspiration in a recent interview I did with south London culture website Croydonist. They're a great team and have a really slick website. I suggest paying them a visit.

Something For Everyone

Seeing as I've been slack on posting here, recently, here's a jumble of bits and bobs. There's no particular way of grouping these finds and images: it's just a digital pile of goodies to rummage through. In an effort to garner some more viewers, though, this will be arranged into Buzzfeed-esque numbered list.

drawing of a Mermaid Court, London

Mermaid Court, London SE1. Inspired by a photo I took on my phone, I created a little birthday card for someone. She liked it, but was desperate to find a meaning in the arrangement of people, bollards and road markings. Any interpretations welcome. 

The Past on Glass (i). I've recently started doing some volunteer work with the archives department at Sutton Library, to help digitise their collection of glass negatives. Here are four images of Edwardian ladies that I thought looked intriguing (and quite modern).

illustration of man drawing

Expression Through Drawing. In an effort to show what is inside my head, and how drawing helps it come out, here's a new illustration. Oil, pencil and photoshop.

pastel drawing of a nude woman

A Return To Life Drawing. I found a new untutored session in Croydon at Matthews Yard. I've only been once, but it's good to be back.

illustration of Balham High Road

Balham High Road. I started this image last summer, but have only managed to complete it recently. I think the day that I shared it on Twitter, I was asked by Mimi's Artworks (81 Balham High Road, London SW12 9AP) if they could sell it in their gallery as prints. The lesson I've learnt is: finish every piece of work. You never know.

Look what's just arrived signed prints by #Mattbannister next stage framing and displaying @magbanno@MrsCarlieWelchpic.twitter.com/Rff9EZZbNH

— Mimi's Artworks (@mimivanger) April 17, 2015

Here it is again pride of place in the front of the window @magbanno@NPBalham@balhamdotcom@Balham_Life#artpic.twitter.com/Yw4w4MwIai — Mimi's Artworks (@mimivanger) April 21, 2015

Buses on Film

To help promote the forthcoming auction of all the TFL Year of The Bus sculptures for charity, I've created a couple of enhanced 'slide shows' (with a bit of new footage) for each of my vehicles.

Croydon Layers from Matt Bannister on Vimeo.

Surrey Street Market from Matt Bannister on Vimeo.

For more details of the auction, visit the i-Bidder online site. The proceeds from all the sales of the buses (all sixty of them, not just mine) will go to Kids Company, Transaid and London Transport Museum.

Year Of The Bus – Croydon Sculpture Trail – Olympic Park

The Croydon Bus sculptures have moved! They have joined the other buses at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Stratford, East London.

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

As required, I took a couple of friends with me to see how my buses were settling in with their new friends and views. Luckily, it was a perfect crisp and sunny day, so there were plenty of other bus-spotters at the park. To see all the other buses lined up across the (very long and wide) bridge near the Orbit was great. I was particularly impressed to overhear one of the volunteer guides (made famous by the 2012 Olympics/Paralympics) explaining the different types of fruit and veg on my Surrey Street Market design. They had obviously done their homework and read the blurb I wrote for the TFL website.

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

bus sculptures at the Olympic Park

Bus sculptures

All the buses will be auctioned on 24th March, by Christies live and also on the online website i-bidder.com, for the following charities:

Kids Company, who provide practical, emotional and educational support to inner city children, young people and vulnerable families.

Transaid, an international development charity who identify, champion, implement and share local transport solutions to improve access to basic services and economic opportunity for people in Africa and in developing countries.

London Transport Museum, a popular Covent Garden museum highlighting the vital role transport has played in the life of the Capital. They also work with more than 150,000 children each year delivering essential travel safety education to keep our children safe, and they run programmes to help young people into employment.