Mr Bingo is a London based illustrator that has done work for Jimmy Carr, The New York Times, Esquire, The Mighty Boosh and Doritos to name a few. His work is heavily based around comedy and making people laugh. His series of postcards called Hate Mail started off when he was drunk in his studio one night and decided to tweet “First person to reply to this message I will send an offensive message written on the back of a postcard”, within the first minute 50 people had favourited and replied to this tweet. The person who won, Jonathan Hopkins, received a postcard with “Fuck you Jonathan, Fuck you and Fuck your shit legs”, after this he started selling them on his website to who ever wanted them. To this date Bingo has sent over 800 postcards to people that have been exhibited in Amsterdam and London, it has also been published into a book.
His illustrations are used in a wide range of media, including beer bottles and editorial, he has been featured in the Financial Times and the Guardian newspapers, along with magazines such as Bearded, Dazed and Confused, WIRED and GQ. His signature style runs through everything he does, and even though he says himself that he is not the greatest illustrator in the world, his drawings have a lot of character and are very well thought out. His use of humour gives a very personal feel to his work (even if it is calling someone a cunt), he definitely seems like the type of designer that doesn't take himself too seriously and can have a laugh, shown with the way he handles being called every name under the sun on social media.
Looking into Mr Bingos creative process, it is very simple and to the point, firstly he comes up with his ideas, usually away from his desk, going for walks or sitting in a cafe or pub to have a brainstorming session, this is an interesting way to do it I think, putting yourself in a relaxed environment to let your ideas flow instead of being in a studio and being influenced by what other people are doing (which isn't always bad). The next step Bingo does is to make the work or find out how the work will be created, usually drawing from reference and using the internet to find images that could be used or creating his own using friends and family. The final stage is then taking his drawings that are inked and scanning them onto the computer and put into Photoshop to make a digital piece. Finding the interview where Mr Bingo explains his process was an interesting way to get into the mind of a designer from a different creative field and what he does when confronted with a project. In the interview he also explains a little secret he does with clients, where he thinks of an idea he wants to do and the convinces them thats what they need, this way he has a piece that hes happy with and that the client is happy with. Sneaky twat.
Check out Mr Bingos work on his website:
http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/
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