I have been skating for quite some time and I know the industry is full of crazy dudes but this guy is by far one of the most unique I have ever met. We first met at Agenda in January and off the bat he didnt even see myself as a stranger but as his homie. He is an art form himself and that is why he is so rad! Ladies and gentlemen I give you Iceland
Video by. Ryan Neddeau and Marcus Sims
Post by. Marcus Sims
Some of the Mob decided to shred LA all weekend in some the new Summer gear! So here is a sneek peak on what to expect 5/15! Enjoy!
By. Marcus Sims
Photos by. Ryan Neddeau
A few quick snaps of my time in Italy so far. Great inspiration trip.
Almafi Coast
by, Jonathan Garcia
CCS came by the office to do a video feature on ROOK. Came out nice, check it
by, Jonathan Garcia
Iain Macarthur is very talented artist/illustrator living and working out of London. His combination of playful pencil renderings combined with elements of inked ornate design has given his work a signature look. He’s been a big staple in ROOKs seasons and has created some memorable designs such as “night shade”, which can be found on our rookbrand.com site. We took some time to talk to Iain and see what inspires him, and what he’s up to these days. Enjoy
ROOK : Hello Mr Iain Macarthur, how’s life ?
hi there! Yeh life is going good, getting a lot of commissions and keeping myself busy making new pieces for people to gork at.
ROOK : Where are you currently living? Are your current surroundings influencing your art in anyway?
I’m currently living in London, though I have moved 3 times since being here which can get a bit frustrating when your trying to get motivated and not get stressed out with packing . but I’m managing to keep it together :P. at the moment I’m living in Clapham junction in south west of London, a bit different from living in hackney in east of London which I use to live. Since moving to London I have become more motivated and more creative as I always wanted to live in London, And there’s So much to do here and always a lot of things to see as well.
ROOK: Let’s go back in time. Do you remember what gave you the taste of drawing ? from what I remember back when I was a whippersnapper I became interested in art when I went on a school trip to an art museum for the first time, from that experience of looking at artists work hanging in a gallery made me want to do it as a career. I draw a lot when I was a child and sometimes got me into trouble , especially drawing on the furniture or in my maths book. But it became a reflex I couldn’t stop doing.
ROOK : Talking about your illustrations, did you go through several different phases (in terms of techniques, themes or mediums used)? If yes, please describe the most crucial ones. During my college years I tried a lot of techniques in order to find a style I feel comfortable in doing, tried using chalk and also coloured pencil. Though the only material I felt safe with was pen and pencil. I then tried using both of them together to see what effects I can get out of them, that took a while to do as well. i then found a way of making the pencil and pen work properly by using the pencil for portrait and figure drawing and then using the pen part for patterns and shapes which I incorporate into the pencil pieces as explosions of patterns of as jewellery pieces.
ROOK: A good portion of your subjects are female and animal focused. How did this come about? Was it a conscious decision or did it slowly evolve to that over time ? I love animals especially birds , I get a lot of my inspiration from birds in books and on the internet as I like the way there feathers are layed out on there body. Drawing females has become a conscious thing through out the years of drawing. I just enjoy drawing there eyes , something about them I cant describe but I always start with the eyes when drawing faces. I want to incorporate nature and beauty in each piece I create.
ROOK: How do you see your artwork evolving in the years to come? Any particular aspirations ? at the moment I want to try and create bigger and more adventurous pieces. I want to draw bigger pieces and probably have them stuck around in the streets so people that walk by can stop and stare endlessly at them.
ROOK : Can you reveal us your upcoming projects or collaborations that your excited about ? the last commission I did was for allsaints clothing , though I did the commission last year but they have released some of the clothing that I did the designs for this month, so I’m really happy to see them in all the allsaints shops now.
Im working on a few of my own pieces for a upcoming collaboration with a shirt company called dudes factory which are based in Berlin. I will also be doing a live drawing that the event which should be on sometime in august this year. So keep an eye out for that!
Also! Got some pieces which will be featured in Hi-Fructose in a few months time.
ROOK: It has been a pleasure! Thanks for taking the time to do this, and always giving us amazing work. Yeh was fun talking with you guys and fun working with you aswell :D
By, Jonathan Garcia
I know there’s already been tons of posts on the Known Gallery Sesame Street show already, but we had to do our own post Joe was in the show…plus it was a great show. Thanks for Aaron from Agenda for getting us on.
Joe King piece
Joe and I
Munkone piece.
Joe King and Munkone. Graphic artist power house meeting
by, Jonathan Garcia
It was a rainy day in the I.E. yesterday so I decided to take some of the Rook Mob to Active Ride Shops training facility for the day! Everyone was killing it as usual! I thought it would be good to shoot some photos while I was there so here are some of the few I decided to post up! In the pictures are Ben Cortez, Josh Reyes, Lheighton Cook, Josiah Ito, and Jeremiah Ito! Enjoy! #skateboarding #skatelife #rook #rookbrand #streetwear #fun
by. Marcus Sims
