Is this the first time you've painted live? How was the experience?

This is the first time I've officially painted live, but I''ve been painting in front of people before. To be honest I'm not 100% comfortable with it. It stops the creative process for me, and starts becoming more of an act. Viewers expect to see a finished image, while I have no room to make mistakes. When I work in private, I'll draw something over and over again until I'm happy with it. That said, it's cool that people take the time to watch you, even if it is a little unnerving.

I first met you at Central St Martins where you were studying advertising and graphic design. Does your advertising background help when you're doing a promotional project like this?

My advertising background helps me with everything I do. It was a really intense course, where we had the majority of our ideas rejected. I learnt that ideas are the most important thing in the creative process. It taught me that you can't just rely on style - it has to have some substance. But that train of thought has also troubled me. I really admire the work of people like Doze and Futura, but there is no obvious message in their work to me, even though it is visually rich and engaging. That makes me think that I'm being too influenced by advertising, but then that's my background and my natural path to take.

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