If I had a pound for every time a teacher told me that in Primary School, I’d have retired decades ago.
While other kids were focused on their sums, I was the boy with the permanent lead smudge on his head and a crayon firmly gripped in his left hand. I went everywhere with a pad and pencils—it was my way of processing the world whether it was at school, on holiday in a wet Clacton Caravan Park for weeks on end or just dealing with 2 sisters who are very different things entirely!
According to the “experts,” at every parents evening, art was “a distraction, not his future, he should really try harder”. Today I would probably be diagnosed with something but back then I diagnosed myself and neither a bricklayer or accountant was I ever going to be.
By Middle School, the fire was officially lit. I remember being taken to the Tate in London to see a Dalí exhibition. Seeing those surreal and enormous images changed everything. I came back to school buzzing, only to be met with the same old chorus: “Focus on your ‘real’ subjects. You can’t make a living from art.”
Senior School. God this was a slog. To be honest, the only reason I showed up at all was for my mates and the art class. Even then, my art teacher—the one person who should’ve seen and cultivated the spark—told me I’d never make it. Where was the nurturing or creativity back then?
The turning point came at 16. As soon as I could leave school I did, I landed a job as a foot messenger for an art studio in Londons West End, working with high-end advertising giants. It was summer and I was walking from ageny studio to agency studio seeing real creatives in action for the first time, I was surrounded by people who didn’t see a sketchbook as a “distraction.” This was my light bulb moment. They saw my passion and told me:
“You can absolutely make a living out of this. What would you like to try.” No pressure to give a finished piece straight out of the block, all I needed to supply was a eagerness to learn and a willingness to work.
The Power of the “Doodle” ✏️
That habit of carrying a pad has never left me. Even now, decades later, if you’re in a meeting with me and you see my eyes wander or my pen start moving, it’s not because I have zoned out or I’m not listening—it’s because the creative side of my brain has found a spark and started to doodle it into reality. My best ideas rarely come from staring at a screen; they come from that lifelong itch that needs to be scratched, the need to draw.
Looking back, school was an essential part of the journey. It gave me lifelong friends and opened the eyes of an East End council boy to a world I would never normally have seen. But here’s the truth, art and design aren’t just about software and tech. You cannot understand how design affects people if you haven’t had the life experiences to go with it. It’s that lived experience—the grit, the travel, the years of collaborating with world-class photographers, illustrators, and directors—that teaches you how to choose the right “feel” for a brand, this is not an algorithm, it’s a human head turn, that thing that makes you cry or laugh in equal measure.
Experience is what helps us choose the right person for the job, whether it’s a manual worker or a rocket scientist. I’ve spent years building visions for all kinds of businesses, brands and working with truly inspirational people from all over the planet. What i’ve finally realised (even if it’s reluctantly) is that I am, always was and always will be an artist. I love creativity and it makes my heart weep when I see it being undermined and dragged down to the lowest common denominator. If your passion has followed you through life then let nobody tell you it’s a waste of time or that you are no good at it, no matter what that passion is.
Follow your dream and make it come to life, you may only get one go at it early on but never give up on it, you never know where that chance will take you next.
In a world full of “quick fixes,” don’t settle for something created by someone (or something) that hasn’t lived the story behind the message. If you want a human who brings decades of real-world experience and soul to your brand…
📩 Message me today. Let’s create something worth doodling.