Upfest Artists: Full Podcast Transcrips

Host: Maximiliano Fabres

Guest: Jimmer Willmott, Maja Stojanovic, Sorrel Milne, Erin Hilsdon, James Mernagh, Mister Copy

Location: Bristol, UK

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PrqChFREsE&t=4s

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Maximiliano: Hello guys, welcome back to Beyond the Horizon podcast, the podcast where you expand your horizons of knowledge. Today, I am doing a little bit of a weird episode. What we're going to do is go around the Bedminster area to see Upfest festival. It's a festival where different muralists and artists around the whole world come to Bristol to show their art in different murals. So, please join me to see what is happening in the mind of the top artists. So, tell us a little bit about how you started and how it's evolved.

Jimmer Willmott: So, it started off really kind of really kind of scrappy with my best friend. He was always better. His name's Guts. He's another Bristol artist. He does more cartoon. And so, especially with the wall, attacking the wall with a spray can, I started off with cartoons. I didn't do much else other than when I jumped to spaghetti. But, my canvas work varies a lot. I've got a few series going. I I do giant rubber ducks out at sea out in a storm with rain hitting down. I do donut cops, American cops with big donut heads. And the spaghettis, the spaghettis also probably my main bread and butter when it comes to to selling artwork, really.

Maja Stojanovic: Started painting in like 2020. Around the COVID times when you couldn't really do anything but go outside. Well, I saw murals around my city and I was like, "Oh, I want to do that." And I met the people who were organizing a festival there and I got talking with them and they kind of helped me start out. Cuz I was like doing illustrations up until then, but I was like sick and sick and tired of being at home all the time.

Maja Stojanovic: Yeah, that's how it started and I never looked back ever since then cuz being outside, talking with people, mingling is like my thing.

Sorrel Milne: I'm an illustrator and an animator and I've been doing that for about 6 years. I wanted to get out on like actually you know in person painting and painting bigger stuff. So, I've been trying to do as many big paintings as I can lately. Um and this is the biggest.

Erin Hilsdon: I've just always really liked sort of painting really big. It's kind of in contrast with my puppet making which is really small stuff. My hometown in Cornwall had loads of murals all over the the town and I just always wanted to do one. So, I did a few there. I've done some at UWE in Bristol here. And then yeah, it's always something I've wanted to do.

James Mernagh: I guess I was always like creative and then about 12, 13 years ago I was kind of figuring out what I wanted to do and I met my now partner and she was a painter called Billy. She kind of showed me the wall side of things which I had ruled out cuz I didn't do it when I was younger. So, I started painting walls and I don't know, I guess it's just what I have to do. So, I just kept doing it and trying to figure out if you can make it pay the bills and try and have a nice time while you're doing it and here I am.

Mister Copy: I found that's important to kind of have a story when you tell art, you know, if you have these big walls and I was always fascinated and intrigued by legends and like you know, growing up as a kid ghost stories or these kind of things and uh you know, as I got older I realized that a lot of these mythologies are all around the world, you know, and they're all of the same stories, you know, whether it's an island or Greece or even in like Asia, you know, we have similar stories of flying horses or these kind of weird mythological things. So, I was just intrigued and yeah. That's That's kind of how I got into it. Yeah, exactly.

Act II: Visions of the Future and Current Works

Maximiliano: What are you trying to do in the future?

Jimmer Willmott: Just enjoy my life.

Maja Stojanovic: I don't know. I don't really look too far into the future cuz it stresses me out.

Sorrel Milne: I guess I would like to be like a role model for future generations. Like I want to be open to people asking me questions about like art and stuff because I know how it was for me when I was starting out

Sorrel Milne: and like how many questions I asked and I felt like so stupid asking those questions. So, I want to be like super open for like new artists to ask whatever and like help them out any way I can.

Erin Hilsdon: I mean, I'm still working full-time. We do a lot of kind of other puppet projects. Yeah, so so just back to making puppets, really. Yeah, that's the plan.

Maximiliano: So, what are you doing right now in Upfest? How's been your experience?

Mister Copy: Yeah, so this piece here is not really so mythological. It's more spiritual. Kind of finding yourself in the woods or getting lost in the woods, should we say, you know? If you see the third eye is kind of opening up spiritually, so you you can understand more, you know? It's getting people to go out into nature a bit more.

Jimmer Willmott: Uh so, I'm painting a version of this which I painted as a watercolor and it's got a yacht and it says stop the boats. So, I'm trying to repurpose the kind of reform Tory stop the boats about small boats and turn it into the yachts which I kind of think, no matter what side of the political you're on, you should probably agree that the yachts is like a bit excessive, you know?

Sorrel Milne: This project is a commission piece for a charity sort of campaign that's trying to get clean air for children in schools. It says care about air and it's got a big windmill to kind of link to the children.

Maja Stojanovic: Basically, I applied to come here and then I got selected and they gave me this wall. I was thinking about what could be something that would resonate with people in the UK. So, we have this like scene of two animals drinking tea. Cuz I heard that tea was a big deal here, you know? And I wanted to do something that's kind of like local. So, yeah, we have a rabbit and a fox drinking tea. This is my first mural.

Erin Hilsdon: So, yeah, it's it's just five of us getting mentored and me and Dave came and painted this or started drawing it on Sunday and it's been like kind of across three days. It's like a jazz folk scene inspired by a lot of the bands I've seen here in Bristol.

Maximiliano: So, tell us a little bit about this mentorship program.

James Mernagh: Yeah, so it's a scale up program with Upfest. So, five people get mentored by existing muralists. So great to be part of it. Like it's yeah, really lucky.

Act III: The Melting Pot of Upfest

Maximiliano: What are your thoughts about Upfest and all of what it does?

Sorrel Milne: Upfest is great. It's I mean, it's like a worldwide famous festival. I think it's one of the biggest painting festivals out there. Brings lots of artists to Bristol.

James Mernagh: Solidifies this kind of Bristol reputation as a city for painting, a city for art.

Mister Copy: Upfest has been around for years and years. So, it's a a legendary festival and it's great to be a part of it. And there's just so many artists. It's crazy, you know. Usually other festivals, they have like five to 10 artists and this one is just like hundreds of them. So, it's so cool to just be this like melting pot of all artists from around the world and just when you walk down the street, every single place has got some art. So, it's really a cool place, yeah.

Maximiliano: You've been doing art for a long time. So, it's not only murals, but illustrations and so on. What do you reckon is the key component of an art career?

Jimmer Willmott: I think don't be too precious and make as much art as you can. Don't overthink it. Just keep making stuff. Keep putting it out there, I'd say.

Jimmer Willmott: Now, when I was starting to try and paint, I watched 10 minutes of YouTube a day. You know, I was inspired by some of the American artists. And Greg Craola Simkins um was one of my favorites at the time. And I just used to watch his videos painting. And then, of course, I got really inspired. And then I was like, "Well, how the heck do I do this?" So then, I watched the other videos.

Sorrel Milne: And also, just painting in person is like the best way to get people to see your work as well. So, I think even if you're uh yeah, like an illustrator and more of your stuff's behind the scenes, doing stuff like this is really helpful, either way.

Erin Hilsdon: Just don't stop. Just going. Have patience with yourself. Be kind. Don't ever destroy your old work cuz you'll be able to see your journey. Just get get inspired and learn. Learning's free now. You can get a lot of free learning. The internet's great.

Mister Copy: Use techniques to get where you are, you know, this isn't uh just drawn on the wall. There's ways to get it there. There's shortcuts. There's hacks, you know. So, you just as an artist do the best you can to get the best artwork you can. Yeah.

Maja Stojanovic: My advice would be like just don't be afraid, you know? It's going to suck before it gets better. Uh and then it's going to suck again probably, but eventually it gets really good. It Yeah, it's like a roller coaster, you know? Like it's been 5 years, but I still have times where I'm like, "Oh god, this is terrible." And it's fine, you know? Uh but you keep going.

Maximiliano: What artists have influenced you uh to do the work that you currently do?

Mister Copy: I come from a bit of the graffiti background, so there's a lot of graph artists that kind of got me started. Then I discovered a lot of portrait artists like Case Maclaim or Sebas Velasco from Spain. And there's just so many good guys out there that constantly inspire me and try to get me to go to upgrade and get better and better. And yeah.

Act IV: Reflections and Techniques

Maja Stojanovic: I don't remember where I was. I think I might been at some some some uh art ideas come to you best. I think I was in the shower.

Maja Stojanovic: Well, actually before I was a street artist, I uh was doing illustrations. And I had this little project that kind of was like a niche thing in Serbia that I did like literal illustrations of Serbian expressions. And that went semi-viral.

Maja Stojanovic: So, I kind of actually built my reputation on illustrations and which was really difficult when I just randomly switched to murals. And people were like, "We're not following you cuz of this, you know? We're following you cuz of the illustrations." So, like no one really gives a sh

Jimmer Willmott: I then thought it'd be cool to you know, paint on a canvas I love you written in alphabet spaghetti. And um at the time I was doing a sort of what I called my own apprenticeship as an artist. I I set the quality control bar level for each painting jumping across to the next to be slightly more difficult, slightly better. Um Yeah, and that one was the next one that came to me. And once I'd done it, I realized, oh yeah, actually that was pretty cool painting alphabet spaghetti. And it seemed pretty popular, so I just carried on with that.

Maximiliano: What do you reckon have you learned from puppet making that you can actually apply in uh your mural work?

Erin Hilsdon: Painting really straight lines, I think. Yeah. But usually I'm painting with like a brush that's got a tiny tiny like pinhead end to it like bristles on it. Painting like tiny lines, and they've got to be perfect at that scale like something like that. So, doing it massive is much easier, you know.

Erin Hilsdon: Because kind of can kind of apply it to that.

Maximiliano: Tell us a little bit about your experience. So, like what is the main challenge do you reckon of painting walls and murals?

Sorrel Milne: Wow. I mean like I guess the precision of painting on the wall is a bit harder cuz it's just like a lot of ripples and stuff. Um but I think apart from that, like yeah, I don't know. I've just been filling in. Um I just came here today, so uh I didn't see the process before, but um really fun.

Maximiliano: What do you reckon is the most crucial skill to have when painting a mural?

James Mernagh: Well, I mean it always depends on what type of artist you are. Um I mean I do realism, so I guess understanding skin texture and blends and gradients. Um whereas if you do like more illustrated stuff, it's more about clean lines. And um you know, you use maybe use paint. So, it's a completely different game to spray paint. So, you know, there's there's not one right answer for that, but I think just for everyone is just to continue going and each time you paint try to get better and learn and constantly evolve. And that's what I do every time I paint. I learn something new, no matter what. And the next time you try and remember that and then you implement it into the artwork.

Erin Hilsdon: So, we actually used a tape grid. So, we had like loads of bits of tape all over the wall. Then I put that onto my original design and use Posca pens to draw up this this whole thing. And without that it would have been so hard to get all the scales right, but you basically find a piece of tape and you go, "Oh yeah, the guitar goes through that piece of tape, you know, perfectly." And you draw it like that. So, originally this was just covered in random pieces of tape. Then it was a big drawing and then we've been slowly painting one color at a time.

Act V: Community and Monetization

Maximiliano: So, now that it's Upfest, let's call it, how have you interacted with all the artists that were are currently here?

Sorrel Milne: Painting festivals are really good cuz normally if you were just painting this wall, you're just on the street, but a lot of people that you know are people that are friends of people you know are here. Lots of people painting doing the same thing. So, it kind of makes a different atmosphere where people are quite keen to talk to you. You might see old faces. Um

Maja Stojanovic: But it's really like honestly one of the best communities to be a part of. Like everyone's so nice and like supportive and really like coming to Upfest, you meet like I just met like an Argentinian guy. I met a girl from the States. Like it's so many people from all over the world and I don't think it's not You don't have many things like that, you know, where you can meet people so casually all the time. And like 150 artists, you know, it's crazy.

Erin Hilsdon: So, I just applied um on the Upfest website. Yeah, and then they paired me with Dave, which is great cuz he's um like sort of painty style. Like he does a lot of block colors and all that and like he's amazing, so I was really lucky.

Mister Copy: Upfest, this is my first time here in England painting at Upfest and it's great, you know, there's so many artists and good people, old friends that I've known from other festivals and yeah, just good vibe. Good weather for today, so I can't complain, yeah.

Maximiliano: So, the last question is, how do you go about selling art or going around monetizing off of your art cuz it's well, one of the biggest leaks that we have in the current art industry.

Jimmer Willmott: So, going back to the last question, I think when you're starting out, it's good to be realistic about where you are at. And when I started out, I just put a I just found a few cafes and I said, "Can I stick a few paintings on your wall?" And they were like, "Yeah." I had a few little breaks like that. I networked a lot. Got involved with a few shows. And it's about producing the work. Getting it seen as well is very important. You got to have the work and then just start off slowly. Get involved in you know, get your peers, whoever you're running alongside. Um and then the selling starts to happen. Like put it out there and and tell people. If you're on your social handle on Instagram for instance and you want to sell a piece make sure you tell them people. Yeah. And um don't ever be precious about your work, just let it go. Yeah.

Maximiliano: Ah, that's some good advice, good advice.