As a visual designer it is exciting delving into the endearing subject matters. The range is huge as it all depends on the client or cause. One minute you could be creating a piece based around a local landmark like the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle city centre or St Mary’s Lighthouse along the coast, to encapsulate a life’s story of a person’s family member by means of a personal gift. I love to research and discover the barely told or forgotten parts of our local history. Though getting more recognition now, I was blown away by how Thomas Brown’s courage in gaining the Enigma codes so that Britain could decode Germany’s secrets during the war was only told to me when in my thirties. He is a massive reason behind our victory and of it he was born in North Shields. That is a topic that has inspired me for one of my poems and could be anytime for a visual. Other figures not always given enough credit such as the Fish Quay Fisherman or Fishermen wives of Cullercoats I find almost honourable to depict as I feel I could be playing a small role in having them get introduced to a new generation.
I was born and have always lived in North Shields, so the place is a chalice for the majority of my childhood memories and avenues in life growing up. Such as times in school and the hangout spots I had as a student with classmates. Cullercoats beach near where my grandparents live where great pastimes of picnics and sandcastles on the beach with them and my sister always cross my mind. There is our beautiful coastline of Priory Castle, Cullercoats clocktower and again St Mary’s Lighthouse much visited with family, walks along Tynemouth longsands or King Edwards Bay with friends and of course North Shields quayside and the Royal Quays.
These often feature in my work not only for being overly worthy but because they are sentimental to me as in pride and belonging. It is where I am making new memories with my two nieces. I have seen the good and bad of North Shields, such as how due to the economy, nearly all of the central businesses and livelihoods have faced closure to leave premises empty or boarded up. It’s sad and makes our town like a ghost town. But from that I am really excited by how the cultural side in recent years has emerged. This could be through local musicians and performing acts finally getting a chance to be heard in all the old and new micro hotspot bars, cafes and hubs.
Poetry and spoken word is growing through nights which bring residents closer together like nights presented by my friend Dean Jolly. The sources of inspiration to me have been delving into the deeper, more sentimental and often unnoticed side of where we live. If you are creating a scene from the Spanish City to the castles of Northumberland, I want to present humanity. So, I find it a responsibility to tell illustrated stories of a mother and child building sandcastles, elders sitting on a park bench reminiscing a lifetime together over an ice cream to the more unfortunate of the homeless and lost. Sad but the truth that deserves to be represented.
But when getting a commission to expose an essence of the personality of a local musician or band, local author or independant business, that is when I get really excited. I have been honoured to have been asked to produce and be part of calendar issues alongside great local artists for ‘For the Love of the North’, and workings for ‘Fisherman’s Bay’ in Whitley Bay, ‘Longsands Apres’ in North Shields. More recently the cover for one of the singles by my friend Shellie Critchlow’s band ‘Snake’s with Tit’s’.
What kind of projects or collaborations are you currently looking for, and how can people support your work? I am open to absolutely anything. As long as those who see my work, like the style and would like for me to represent them, that grateful interest there is enough for me to want to work with them.
Do you offer design services to the public, and how can people get in touch with you to discuss a potential project? Yes, I am always available for either individuals who may want a personal piece produced for themselves or for a gift, businesses who want to have an illustration made telling of their brainchild or productions which would like help with promotional/ visual material.
Follow Christopher Paul Cook LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-paul-cook-633a09281/) or Linktree (linktr.ee/christopherpaulcook), or simply email [email protected]
