Banksy Designer Research

A collection of Banksy work
Josh Norris
For Christmas 2016 I got a Banksy desktop calendar, every month is a different Banksy piece. This is where I started properly looking at Banksy work, I understood who he was from a younger age but being older it allowed me to value his work a lot more. This research task is both secondary research and some visual research as I want to experiment with using his art style inside my own work, ready for the first exercise ( book cover design).

Banksy has one of the most unique and identifiable art styles in design. It's unquestionable that his work is world renowned, this is why I think an art style this strong is perfect for my book covers. I'm not going to flat out copy his work but the stencil style street art is something that is so inspiring. Furthermore, the social commentary that is tied into his art is so powerful and goes beyond just graffiti on a wall.
Image result for banksy art
This is hands down my favorite Banksy piece, It discusses an incredibly powerful and current issue of child soldiers. When I was younger I watched a film which many of you would know called, Blood Diamond. This film featured child soldiers, and this issue hit me -especially as a child- very hard. This Banksy piece shows the contrast between the lives of child soldiers and the life of children not robbed of innocence and their childhood. The little boy is holding a huge machine gun loaded with crayons, crayons being a child toy and such are a metaphor for his innocence being used as a weapon, him being impressionable and weak are taken advantage of by savage warlords. Furthermore, the boy Is stood in a field of grass and flowers drew with crayons and resemble children drawings. This is a literal contrast between two lives, one where children are free to be creative and innocent and the other of a child handed a gun and told to kill people. Also, another element to further this contrast is the fact that the child is drawn in black and white and the flowers in colour.

My aim was to experiment with his art style, now to get a more genuine Banksy effect I need to actually create a stencil my image in, that way I can be more authentic. However, I need to invest in spray cans and spend a lot more time experimenting with this style. The next assignment is greeting cards, so I might hold out and put some more time into this style closer to the time.

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