![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/63daac95f1d7c384792c4e8f_SHAY%20CASANOVA.webp)
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/63d81898832daa6780edca11_SHAY.webp)
SHAY CASANOVA
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60be357cc72267c75834dc92/63d4508863cb80704f2c779a_black-star-illustration-large.webp)
Shay is an exciting talent from Brixton, who goes by the nickname #thestylistwhopaints - his bold style has seen him featured by Hypebeast, and star in campaigns for Nike, Size, Converse & Reebok.
Shay, how do you stay creative?
‘I stay creative through my dreams really, and I also look at my gaps. Like what do I need to do to make myself better and progress?
During covid that was only the second time in my life when I had anxiety and I was super scared, and I’m not a scared person, so that’s crazy, so I started practising colouring in, and I made a little colouring book for myself.’
‘I thought colour therapy, this helps, and I was like I want to get this out there. So I made this colouring book just to help with anxiety, but just to give colour therapy as a way of helping yourself, just so people can see you don’t have to go to a therapist to get that. I made this concept of a colouring book with 15 illustrations around this concept of nostalgia, but also to make you look at yourself. Ideas that make you laugh a bit, but makes you think.
I sold over 100 internationality - I sold them with pencils, sweets, stickers, personalised it, people started buying it. I just wanted to help people, I didn’t want to make money off it - and it went to Memphis, Amsterdam, Italy, Utah. I wanted people to self reflect as well, that’s why I made the cartoons so relatable.'
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/60f167ac82aa34befce68d69_Screenshot%202021-07-16%20at%2012.02.36.png)
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/60f167ab3965cf4c8c203d73_Screenshot%202021-07-16%20at%2012.02.54.png)
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/60f167ab9971ed1795505756_Screenshot%202021-07-16%20at%2012.03.02.png)
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/60f167ab5c16e0387d32f0fd_Screenshot%202021-07-16%20at%2012.03.10.png)
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/60f1682fed2b0acd4f43a718_Screenshot%202021-07-16%20at%2012.05.20.png)
![](https://assets-global.website-files.com/60c271f95144f49d5e3845a8/60f1682fc3adad04a646d5da_Screenshot%202021-07-16%20at%2012.05.34.png)