Ambassador

Chris Gambrell

Chris Gambrell is an artist and fashion illustrator from Bristol, UK, who loves to explore form, colour, texture and different media. He has worked with large European fashion houses and featured internationally in fashion magazines and wider press.

“I think it’s the magic that comes from giving your part and allowing it to mix with the reference of the people who are viewing it. How does it make them feel? It’s a way of communicating with people. To tell a different story of a subject.”

About Chris Gambrell

Chris has always been happy to use soft pastel. His mum taught him how to draw, shade and add tone to his work when they would sit and draw together. A natural progression from graphite and pencil -where you have a lot of control- to soft pastel occurred.

“I have always liked being really hands-on with materials. People often say ‘they’re just too messy. I don’t get on with them’. Since I’ve grown up with them, I don’t notice the powder on the surface. I tend to leave it all to the end and try to build up layers. I have always been really comfortable with it, ever since I was 6 or 7 years old.”

He took a ten year break and went to Spain and Japan to teach English. While he was abroad, he met his wife and started a family. After arriving back in England with his wife and kids, he decided he wanted to get back into art. He qualified and finished his degree in illustration.

“I really felt the pull back towards art. I had this box of ammunition - an old box full of materials from ages ago. The box contained everything from back when I was very passionate about art, before I started travelling and having a family.”

Empowering creativity

“I want to offer people my take on different things. Art is in our family: I have a relative from a couple of generations back named Horace Mann Livens, who was studying to paint during the time of Van Gogh. He used to paint portraits and specialised in painting poultry. You can find his work in different museums. This great-great uncle used to even have correspondence with Van Gogh – there are some letters between them. The name Livens actually goes back to a Dutch name (since part of my family is from the Netherlands). There’s a whole history of artists in my family. I feel like I am continuing that legacy.

Chris also loves teaching. “Teaching people how shapes work and how you can manipulate your work to create feeling, structure and more. Seeing them do something completely different. It’s magical to work with people.”

Find out more about Chris

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gambrell_/

Website: https://chrisgambrell.bigcartel.com/

Favourite products

“I love Rembrandt soft pastels. The quality of the colour is fantastic. There genuinely is a difference between colours. It feels like they’ve been produced with different compounds/ingredients. Whereas with others, it felt more like glued together powder (no difference between the colours).”