Slick Rick remix artwork and video

Slick Rick Children's Story (final), fountain pen and watercolour on Fabriano Paper and digital composite. Rhythm Scholar funk 1970's hiphop Bob James

Not often my fountain pen drawing and watercolour artwork gets featured in a music video and cover for a remix of Slick Rick….think of me as the funky Bob Ross! This work was a collaboration with Rhythm Scholar illustrating his wonderful mashup remix of Children’s Story. This was delving more into my design/illustration past yet working more in a loose funky 70’s illustration mood but it was a first for me videoing a whole piece. I was inspired by Slick Rick’s use of purple, the old Children’s Television Workshop / Sesame Street animations and 70’s funk/soul cover graphics.

For indeed it was a children’s story, and that kids ‘storybook’ 1970’s watercollour approach was the way we agreed was best to illustrate that. It was Rhythm Scholar’s idea to also film it, and it turned out really well.

This was actually started during Lockdown 1 in 2020, that’s how long we’ve been working on this! I did the two parts – the police car and the street which was a mashup of various scenes I found during my research into 1970’s New York – I now know FAR too much about NY cop car liveries of the 70’s – and little Slick Rick which again I added the eye patch and the pimp-style purple fur coat and long wing collars (total memories of school in the 70’s).

In fact Slick Rick was born and grew up not too far from where I live, in Mitcham – an area famous for it’s lavender farms, so I find it interesting he is associated with purple and I although this was depicting New York I felt a local connection doing this.

Street Scene, NY, Children's Story, fountain pen and watercolour on Fabriano Paper. — Street Scene, NY, Children’s Story, fountain pen and watercolour on Fabriano Paper.

For fountain pen geeks this is one of my vintage pens, as I recognise the end cap, it’s Gerald, the Waterman 1940’s unbranded Commando/Wx/Sxx? semiflex as I only have two pens like that, both Waterman’s and this isn’t the oblique unbranded Emblem, also 1940’s.

I did them separately and composited them in Pixelmater Pro because I was worried I’d screw it up and wanted to be able to change the layout – actually both pieces went without a hitch, first time, so I need not have worried. You can see the individual parts above and below: