'The Bus STOP' SERIES - YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON IN PEOPLE'S LIVES
Inspiration for the original Bus Stop I would find myself in a London coffee shop or at a bus stop or on the tube where no one would be speaking to each other, so instead I was left to wonder what was going on in everyone's quiet brains bubbling away. I also thought about how when someone is a bit rude we can take it personally and judge, rather than thinking about what they might be going through that day. I wanted this piece to encourage more empathy, these people are all going through the highs and lows and mundanities of life and we just never know. Sadness, cute things, boring things and humour all feature in the illustration as the viewer is also taken on a journey.
Inspiration for the child version A couple of teachers asked whether I could take out the horny lady as the school boards wouldn't approve this. I didn't want to but instead thought it would be great to have a child version and located it in a school.
Inspiration for the tube version: One of the places I often have this thought is in the train and I thought I'd do an updated version in response to Hockney's provocative art for the Let's Do London campaign which prompted London based illustrators to show Sadiq that our art is also worthy of being displayed on the underground. As always I loved adding tiny details that tube-goers will be familiar with.
