Jack Cant: Cartoon Contemporary

Herne Bay artist Jack Cant creates colourful characters to bring pop-art into the modern world

“I create playful characters and lettering using bold, hand drawn lines inspired by street art techniques. 

Although my work regularly features within a melancholy setting, these particular themes are masked over using a selection of pop colours, often making them fun and inviting.

I’m often inspired by music, comedy, skaters and other artists. Including Barry McGee, Travis Millard, Michael Sieben, Thomas Campbell, Mark Gonzalez, Ed Templeton and Reggie Watts

The eureka moment? Out of college, I started drawing very detailed line drawings inspired by Robert Crumb, that were just pen on paper. But they weren’t getting the reaction I wanted and in all honesty were getting quite tedious. 

It was from watching the art documentary Beautiful Losers where I discovered artists such as Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen, who were creating these colourful characters using bold, hand-painted lines alongside big block lettering.  

So, I decided to make my lines more consistent and bold, borrowing techniques from cartoons to make my style more simple and easy on the eye. This is when I began using colours in my work, which has resulted in me having a loose set of soft pastel colours to give my illustrations more pop!  

My proudest moment would probably be creating animated characters for the NHS. 

The project was to encourage the public to donate their organs after they pass away. I’ve always wanted to see my characters come to life, so to see them animated on a screen, linked with such a positive campaign made me really proud. 

Web: www.jackcant.com 

Instagram: @iamjackcant