BIO

Will has a long and devoted history as a practitioner of art, illustration and music. During primary school years, Will was taking weekly piano lessons, and in between practice could often be found sketching things onto the pages of a perpetually renewing 110gsm Winsor and Newton A4 pad. During secondary school, the interest in drawing continued, and a staple part of many of Will's lessons involved drawing something elaborate onto the back of a 'recycled' A5 sheet of paper in biro. Even if it wasn't part of the official lesson plan.

Will Squire at the Sun Temple Park, Beijing. 2005.

Seasons changed and Will switched from drawing to painting, and from piano to guitar. Will took A-level Fine Art, Art History and Media Studies at Cirencester College, and conspired to develop his understanding of visual art by studying and fostering the styles of as many other painters and illustrators as possible during that time. The objective was given extra weight by studying Art History, and was an integral part of Will's Fine Art coursework, facilitating his attainment of a straight A grade. Will also attained an A grade for Media Studies, and respectable grades in A level Art History and AS-level Philosophy. Will took several Art and Art History trips with the college to galleries over the UK (usually London), and a very special week long Art-focused excursion to Beijing, China, also organised by Cirencester College's Art department.

After being exposed to a large amount of artwork, spanning from 800BC to present, and across the world, Will had become particularly fond of Durer, Masaccio, El Greco, Goya, Géricault, Friedrich, Leonardo, Raphael, Xu Beihong, and Rothko, Degas, Schiele and Klimt - admiring the mastery of Renaissance painters, but feeling that a more expressive approach was, in many ways, more relevant to modern life.

Will Squire (top right) and fellow Henna Bodyart Co workers, 2004.

While college term was out Will spent two summers travelling around the UK attending various rock festivals, working long but rewarding hours as part of a team of tattooists on a large, mobile bodyart stall. This allowed him to witness some fantastic performances and exhibitions, but he took a break from his artistic commitment for Donnington's Download Festival 2006, opting instead to enjoy the festival to the full as a part of the crowd. (Although he was almost coaxed out of retirement when the Henna Body Art Co. asked him to come back and tattoo Axl Rose as a special guest tattooist.)

Prior to University, Will took an Art Foundation Degree at Swindon College. Screen printing, etching, book-binding, pottery, and sculpture were some of the things Will learnt formally, and he managed to persuade a fellow student to show him the basics of darkroom photography during down time. A large emphasis was placed upon life drawing during the foundation course, which was done weekly with professional models. Near the end of the year, Will chose to specialise in illustration and animation, and he produced a series of animatics and short, fully animated videos. Will came out with a Distinction grade degree, and some excellent experiences, including another art trip, this time to Paris.

When the time came to choose a University degree, Will opted for a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Animation, reasoning that it would be more vocational than Fine Art, more communal, and something that would instil a great deal of new knowledge and ability. Will experimented with a wide range of techniques before choosing to specialise in 2D digital animation in his second year, and favouring a disneyan approach. He was therefore very pleased to work under world famous 2D character animator, Joanna Quinn, as part of a simulated project. Will also served as one of two Animation course representatives during the second year. As with the foundation degree, the course placed a large emphasis on the importance of life drawing throughout its duration: Will spent one lesson a week with his peers drawing from professional models, and had a supplementary sketchbook that he was expected to continually add drawings to, several a day, from everyday life.

Before graduating and moving back to Wiltshire, Will took part in several additional activities in Newport, which worked to improve his draftsmanship and creativity; martial arts lessons (ninjutsu and tai chi - which both expound that a person should cultivate their understanding of the body's natural way of moving in order to overpower an opponent), and open mic nights at the historic rock venue, the "Legendary TJ's rock bar," which he co-organised with Newport Music graduate, Josh Jones. There was also just enough time to take the train around Europe for a three week trip.

Will now uses his creative skills and strong I.T. knowledge working as an in-house Web Designer and Artworker/Illustrator for a small company in the South West. Outside of these hours, Will continues to paint and play music.

Will is available for talks and tuition on any of the above subjects. If you have any enquiry, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .