H A N G M A N

We caught up with George Newman, an emerging illustrator from Bristol in the UK, who submitted his work to us and we just had to share it, check out his awesome stuff and find out more about him…

Hey George, tell us a bit about yourself, where do you hang out in the world and what do you spend most of your time doing?

Hello Hangman, Im George Newman, a 23 year old erratic doodlin, Skateboard pushin, music lovin , Beer swiggin, scummy scruff bag from the southwest of England. When I’m not pondering on ideas or face deep within a sketchbook. Im usually out skateboarding with mates, id say thats how id like to spend most of my days.

Your work is mad funky, how many years have you been at it, developing your style and skills?

Ah I’ve been drawing my whole life. I was always that little kid sat in the corner drawing cartoons. During college I did a lot more painted works (that i want to get back into!) and kinda had my own linear, goofy style works in sketchpads for outside of art courses. But had an interview at UWE, Bristol, brought my portfolio and they were more into my weird, sketchbook style and offered me a place on the Illustration course. From then on really I’ve been developing my illustration style and just trying to make pieces of work I have fun creating and that make my mates laugh. Pre-Uni my work always lacked depth and colour, now I cant get enough. Always developing, trying to keep things moving.

Who would you say are your biggest influences?

I get influenced by so much! Animation and cartoons play a big part in my influences, stuff like belleville rendezvous, Ren and Stimpy, Ralph Bakshi, Rick and Morty, Adult Swim, Studio Ghibli, Futurama, The Simpsons and weird dated sci-fi stuff. Skateboard graphics also, i love the gross early 90s stuff, Any board by Todd Francis. Also oving Jacob Ovgren at the moment, too sick, And now a list of artists and designers that always get me buzzing: Jim Stoten, Andy Rementer, Kyle Platts, ARYZ, Jack Kellythorn, Jack bailey, George Mccallum, Keith Haring, Raymond Pettibon, Geoff McFetridge, Miroslav Sasek, Horfee, David Shrigley and too too many more ​ ​……just some talented twats from the top of my head. Check um!

What important stuff have you got planned for the near future art-wise?

In the near future eh. I’ve recently designed a t-shirt for my pals clothing company, SURBI. Look out for that one on sale in the coming months. Im also planning a little show in my hometown of Salisbury and in Bristol too. Just to show case my newer pieces since leaving university, got a stack of works on my hard drive and piled across my room that id love to get in the public domain. Should also be making works for my friends label WeGrowWax, check um out, lots of talented beat makers right there. Personally Id like to get a few promotional pieces and website works updated, try and generate some clients. Just wanna keep motivated and creating!

How is the art community in Bristol?

Ahh the Art scene in Bristol in amazing. I’d say its mostly gets exposure for its street art and graffiti scene, which is rightly so, internationally recognised for. But theres lots of other artists and designers within the city that make a community of creatives. I feel Bristol has a very liberal attitude and lowbrow taste towards art which I feel other cities lack, its great. Always new galleries and studio spaces popping up that keeps the scene going. I need to get way more involved with it, to be honest haha.

Where can we find your work (on the internet)? You can find me lurking at www.georgenewmanillustration.com

Thanks for hanging with us George, any words of advice for those out there in need of inspiration?

Yeah man, Keep making, have fun with it, don’t care what people think, it aint about the money and you as an artist have the power to create your own world, how rad is that, go do it.

We caught up with Ghost, he’s got a damn tight style and some mad can skills, if you haven’t seen his work, it’s about time you have.

Your work is real tight, how long have you been levelling your skills and polishing your style?

Forever, since I started drawing I have been adapting a style that I can call my own. I feel my skills and style are still not polished enough. As every Creative knows we are never truly happy with the progress and outcome of our work, this is why we all work harder.

I notice you have an accent, tell us where you’re from and what brings you to the most isolated city in the entire world?

I am from a Small town called Bedworth near Birmingham UK. I came here (to Perth) to get a fresh start and find new inspiration through new art forms and people.

How do you find the art community in this city compared to your home-town?

Where I am form there are so many artists that you could never know all of them, and there are lots of different groups.But here on the other hand, there is still a lot of Artists, but most of them know each other, it is like a family, it is so refreshing to see.I am excited to see the future for the Perth artists and hope I can join the ride.

Thanks for hanging with us, any wise words for those out there trying to up their art game?

Thanks for having me. My advice is, keep doing what you’re doing. Talent comes in all shape and sizes, don’t let anyone tell you to ‘Give up’.

Kangblabla, a.k.a. Julius Raja Manickam is an artist from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. He took a leap of faith to become a freelance artist, pursuing  career he would truly love. I caught up with KBB in KL  earlier this year, check out his story below and his work at his Facebook page.

First off, tell us how long have you been painting and drawing for? Who are your biggest influences locally and internationally?

The earliest memory of my childhood so happens to be of me drawing at age 5, on a Sunday afternoon by the house grill while my parents are watching Tamil movies.

Locally, i am very much influenced by comic artist, Michael Chuah aka C2V of Gengkey fame. It was his comic, Gengkey, that made me want to be serious in art and instilled the love of character design as well as the importance of line strokes. There are a lot of international artists that influenced me over time… but none as much as Michael Chuah did.

What is your experience in the commercial art/design world and how has that impacted upon your personal art career?

Before becoming a full time artist, i worked as a graphic designer / illustrator / copy writer for a digital solutions company. All that proved to me is that i wasn’t suited in an office setting and i hated doing ugly designs for clients who dictated on how their work should look like. I liken that experience to swimming in puke.

Hence, being a full time artist and my own boss has been quite awesome, i’d say.

How on Earth did you come up with such a cool name, tell us man, where did Kangblabla AKA KBB come from?

It was during my 3rd semester typography class in college, i was researching on 70’s culture. Hairstyles, fashion, music and also slang. From the list of slang words I’ve stumbled upon, Kangblabla stood out the most and it literally meant anything and everything. It was a word used to describe something or someone but the context came from the user, which i thought was really cool. A word that is so adaptive and versatile, i decided to call myself that. To a certain extent, it became a way of life for me. You can call it my cult.

I see you have recently smashed an absolutely massive painting out, featuring some slick typography and a high-level concept. Enlighten us about this project.

— Project Tanahairku (translates to ‘my homeland’ in English) is an initiative of Petronas in conjunction with Malaysia’s independence day and also Malaysia Day. This project aims to show how we the young generation feel about our freedom and peace. This is the second year that this Tanahairku project has been running, whereby the first year they showcased a song and held flashmobs around the city. This year, they decided to go big and bring in the local graff artists of Malaysia to express themselves with 6 massive murals all over the city. It is really a great opportunity given by Petronas for us to show our talent and aspirations to the nation in such a huge scale. I was teamed up with Reeze from the Wild Sticking Syndicate crew (WSS), whom I’ve never worked with before and with a single track mind, we managed to create something i think is reflective of how we feel about our country. We came up with a ‘Malaysian Model Heart Kit’ concept whereby we chose to symbolize our country as a heart which we have to take care of as it is our life force and the lettering that accompanies the heart is what we feel together is a good balance of values in maintaining a progressive and harmonious nation.

Painting huge ass walls is so much fun!!!

Why is it so damn hard to find good paint in KL?

Well, i reckon coz the scene is still young and growing, plus we have shops who own the rights to be the sole distributors for the whole country. Hence, you can only get good paints from 4 locations in the country. 3 in KL city and one in Sabah.

I remember people being real chill with us painting an illegal mural during broad daylight, What are the people and the Police like in KL when it comes to can-based-painting?

Well… can-based-painting is still regarded as vandalism and you are viable to punishment by the authorities if caught. Then there are those who are so called territorial gangsters, whereby if they catch you painting on their turf, they’ll extort money from you. Just recently, i had a friend who got beat up for not wanting to pay these gangsters. But if you’re all ninja about bombing, you can get up pretty good. It’s illegal, that should be enough to know what to expect.

Thanks for talking with us here in Hangman, any last words of general wisdom for the kids out there?

Love what you do, live what you love.

FEATURED ARTIST: SLIZ (KL)

The Sliz is a Malaysian artist, working on the streets and in the studio in Kuala Lumpur city. His work is diverse and he has some mad skills across all mediums. He was kind enough to answer some questions for us even though he was recovering from an almost fatal bout of Dengue fever.

Check this sick Sliz shit out right now…

First off, tell us how long have you been painting and drawing for? Who are your biggest influences locally and internationally?

I think I’ve been drawing for as long as i could remember. My parents would just throw me into one corner with a sketchbook and some pencils, from there i went on and never really stopped. It changed along the years in it’s form and style, but the purpose remained the same: coz i need to occupy myself with something that i love doing, and drawing is the only thing I’m self-assured enough to tell people that i CAN do quite well(compared to other even the most basic daily activities like remembering where i last put my house keys, or deciding if i really need to have breakfast before i start my day).

Where did the name SLIZ come from? I know what that word means, but do I really?

Haha i think you really do! Its from high school and its a long lame story i’d spare you guys from. But that nickname only got stuck with me since college, thanks to one of my close friend who decided for me that everybody would call me that for the rest of my life. Actually it’s spelt like the real word ‘sleazy’ in the beginning and that was tagged mostly in Ipoh city buses, up north where my college was. But doing architecture, where it basically just sucks the life out of you, i slowed down a lot and almost never did anything in the streets anymore. Then around 2010 i started bombing again and i thought i needed to buy more time, and shortened it to just four letters, hence Sliz.

What do you prefer, studio or the streets?

I think that needs balance. If you spend too much time in the studio, its almost like masturbating. If you spend too much time in the streets, well, thats where you’ll always be.

What’s your most hectic adventure painting outdoors?

Bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia. The traffic’s crazy everywhere, and you have to carry your paint and stuff around in crowded shared public transports that’ll make you feel like fucking sardines in reaaaally small cans. Then when you paint kids would be all over you asking for cans and stuff. But damn, it was the most fun too! And the hospitality of the graff bunch there at Gardu House made it a hell of a good time.

Where are your favourite spots to paint in KL city?

I don’t really have any particular spots that i favour more then others. I think i like it better if i paint a new place each time. Wider coverage!

Tell us more about Secret Hideout and how did you come to start the movement?

Technically, i didn’t really start it, it was already pretty much there with a few people with the same interests when i started painting again in 2010 and i joined in their activities. Its pretty confusing for me too in the beginning actually, as most of us don’t really know much of the collective ‘members’ itself due to it’s ‘secretive’ behaviour, except that i was invited to join the cause along with CAW (Germany) at that time by Alice, who made us understand that its an initiative to link up artists from different type of disciplines to be involved and participate in the art scene through promoting curiosity, exploration and participation, to both the artist and art users alike. Then it just happened naturally as i start to get linked up to more awesome artists that i proudly work together with today, including RLSM. I guess we all just followed the white bunny and ended up discovering each other’s secret hideouts. So we are in. Are you in?

Thanks for talking with us here in Hangman, any last words of general wisdom for the kids out there?

If somebody tells you that you wont be able to make it big with arts, tell them to take their opinion and shove it up they’re rectal cavities and keep it in. If nobody is telling you that you can’t, what the hell are you waiting for? Pick up whatever you have and start doing what you want!

FEATURED ARTIST: KOMA (JKT) LOCAL GIANT Koma is a mad dude from Jakarta, Indonesia, I’ve been obsessed with his work since I first laid eyes on his mad characters. I caught up with Koma to get a bit of an insight to his spray-art-life in Indonesia and beyond. There’s way too many sick flicks to share here so suss his work over at www.koma-indo.com.

Which part of Indonesia do you live in?

Of course Jakarta, I was born and grew up in Jakarta with many complex problems, traffic jams, break the rules and lot crime on the Jakarta streets. I write KOMA on many Jakarta walls , because i think Jakarta is already in a state of coma, although i love Jakarta and i’m representing my home city.

Are people accepting of graffiti there?

Not yet, graffiti in jakarta there in grey area we can negotiation with police or security but not always going to succeed,you must ready to fight with local youth too if they are bother you paint.

Your characters are so sick, tell us when did you start painting on the streets, what are your main influences behind your character design?

First i started graffiti when i was in college, maybe 2004 , its boring to study so i did graffiti. Graffiti is like stimulant for me, refreshing ideas come to me when I’m stuck in that mood. I do cross over from letters to characters, for me it’s like a new experience because i stuck at it to develop my letters and it’s fun when my character can speak with the public , we can protest without shouting with them.I always doing propaganda about local mythology characters, I aim to introduce many people to that.

Is it hard to find good paint in Indonesia? What paint do you use the most?

I use a mix of local aerosol brands with Montana and Ironlak, people here are not too used to using Montana and Ironlak because its every expensive. We learned to use local aerosol for the best, i believe good painters don’t always use the expensive tools, cheap cans are good to build real skills with experience.

What is planned for KOMA in the near future?

Travel around the world with my graffiti , painting every town corner , and meet all friends in graffiti scene and in the world we paint together.

Thanks for hanging with hangman man, any words of wisdom for those starting out in their art careers?” Act local, think global ! “

Thanks for interview bros, respect!