With a name like Crump he has to be good!
Luke Crump is a British designer and artist known for his amazing doodles. I hate to call them doodles, but they are — they are incredible doodled art — intricate and amazing to look at and explore. There are so many images in one piece.
I had a chance to ask Luke my 10 With Tom questions.
TOM: Your art is fascinating, you can stare at it for hours and see so many images in once piece. You seem to work on lots of surfaces — wood, canvas, paper and of course large murals. Those are my favorites. How did the murals start?
LUKE: Thanks for the kind words Tom! My foray into murals started somewhat early.
At the age of 11, I remember decorating my entire bedroom with chalkboard -paint — splodges which allowed me to draw with chalk across my walls, then just erase the old designs and start all over again.. Looking back, I’m thankful my parents allowed me to express whatever creative endeavors I saw fit — from sharpie doodles on the bathroom ceiling to recreating my favorite Keith Haring piece across my teenage bedroom wall!
The first ‘professional’ mural I completed was at a local school, I was around 21 and couldn’t believe I’d finally been paid to draw on walls — after all this time!
TOM: I noticed you use “ethical sourcing materials.” What are those?
LUKE: I’m super into keeping a hold of old packaging materials and bits of random wood, paper or fabrics to use in my future projects. I used to work in a local supermarket and kept the huge paper advertisements and old displays to make my work on!
I’ll also never chuck away a good pen and even water down my poscas (markers) or acrylics for different effects — My dad is a bit of a hoarder, so I may get that from him, but in this disposable day and age it can’t be a bad thing — right?!
TOM: Do you travel the world for your commissioned mural projects? Where have you been?
LUKE: I was due to set off to Paris pre-covid, to a sock shop who’d asked me to create some window illustrations, unfortunately the pandemic had other plans…
Since then I’ve traveled a fair amount of the UK for mural projects, working with quite a few schools and local organizations, which has been just as rewarding. My personal work and commissioned pieces have done most of the traveling (27 countries and counting) with lots going to the East and West Coast of the U.S. I do suffer from diagnosed OCD and anxiety, something which I’ve worked hard to overcome, though this does make traveling to far flung destinations a challenge, but something I’m really determined to overcome!
TOM: Who were your influences? Can I guess Keith Haring as being one?
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE, PLEASE VISIT MY SUBSTACK SITE HERE:
10withtom.substack.com/p/luke-crump-mr-doodle
