How to choose the best urban wall art for home

Welcome to my blog, I am a professional cartoonist, illustrator, artist and writer. My site here is intended to promote a range of works that I think will look good on the wall. Included on my site is not just my own work, but some works by other artists whose work I love and hope to bring to a wider audience. I hope you enjoy your tour of my site and welcome any feedback. Prints are fulfilled by The Print Space for prints on paper, they are one of the UK's premier fine art print companies, and there is also the option of buying some images printed on to canvas, these are fulfilled by Printumo. All prints are available worldwide.

The best urban wall art does not need to shout simply because it is made from a city subject. A rusting shed, a painted sign, a cracked wall or a bit of corrugated iron can hold a room just as well as a grand skyline, often better. These are the things people walk past every day without really seeing, yet they have terrific shapes, colours and history once they are framed, printed well and given a proper place on the wall.

I have always been drawn to buildings that have had a working life. There is something honest about a patched roof, industrial metalwork, faded paint and old lettering. They are not polished objects, and that is exactly the point. Their marks, dents and strange arrangements are part of the composition.

What makes the best urban wall art work?

Good urban art has a sense of selection. It is not just a photograph of a street corner or a drawing of an old building because old buildings happen to be fashionable. It needs to find a strong image within the clutter: a bold shape against the sky, the rhythm of repeated panels, a surprising colour, or lettering that seems to belong to another time.

Large advertising signs in the Los Angeles area are particularly good at this. They have a scale and confidence that is hard to ignore, whether they are still selling something or have long outlived their original purpose. Against hard blue skies and wide roads, their graphic shapes can feel almost like paintings. Some of these images are available as photographic prints and as canvas prints, depending on whether you want the crispness of paper or a more substantial, painterly presence.

Canvas can work very well for a large sign or a broad industrial scene, especially in a room that needs one clear focal point. Fine art paper prints are often the better choice when you want to notice smaller details, texture and line at closer range. Neither is automatically the smarter option. The room, the size of the image and what else is already on the walls should decide it.

Urban subjects with a rural eye

Not all urban-looking work comes from a city. Much of my own work is inspired by the Gloucestershire countryside and the sites around the River Severn, where rural views and industrial traces often sit side by side. A weathered shed in a field, a line of metal fencing, old workshops near the water or corrugated cladding catching a low light can have just as much visual punch as a city scene.

That mixture is one reason these subjects work well in homes. They bring atmosphere without turning a room into a themed interior. A charcoal drawing of a shed can look right at home in a Victorian terrace, a modern flat or a house surrounded by countryside. It offers a bit of grit and structure, but it still feels human and familiar.

I often photograph a subject first, then paint it when the weather is bad. The camera gives me a record of the odd details, while painting allows the useful parts to come forward: the balance of the building, the weight of a dark doorway or the lovely awkwardness of a roofline. New charcoal drawing images have recently been added too, alongside new photographs. Charcoal is particularly suited to these subjects because it can be direct, smoky, rough-edged and precise all at once.

Choose character over a matching colour scheme

It is tempting to choose art only because it picks up the colour of a sofa or cushions. There is nothing wrong with wanting a room to feel pulled together, but a picture with genuine character will usually outlast a carefully matched palette. A good image can introduce a colour you had not planned for and make the room feel more considered as a result.

For a quiet space, try a black and white drawing, a restrained industrial photograph or a charcoal piece with plenty of breathing room around the subject. For a larger, brighter room, a Los Angeles sign or a colour work with strong geometry can carry more weight. If the room is full of furniture, a simpler image may have more impact than an overly busy scene.

Size matters too. A small print can be excellent in a group, on a shelf or in a narrow stretch of wall. It can look a little apologetic above a big sofa, however. For that sort of space, go larger or make a deliberate arrangement of several related works. Give the art enough room to be seen from the other side of the room, not just when somebody is standing in front of it.

A print should keep rewarding you

The appeal of industrial buildings, sheds and metalwork is not nostalgia for its own sake. These subjects carry evidence of use. Someone made that door, repaired that roof, painted that sign or bolted those sheets together. The longer you look, the more you notice: a shadow underneath a gutter, a line of rivets, a hand-painted letter, a flash of bright colour on an otherwise grey day.

That is what a worthwhile wall print should do. It should still offer something after the first week, when it has stopped being new. The works are not limited editions, so the decision is not about artificial scarcity or trying to beat somebody else to a number. It is about choosing an image you genuinely want to live with.

There are also new exciting works by Steve Parker in the selection. I include guest artists because I like their work, not because a catalogue needs filling. A good curated collection benefits from different eyes and different ways of making an image, while still keeping a clear sense of what deserves wall space.

Give the image a proper finish

A good frame can make a modest-sized print feel substantial. Black, natural wood and simple white frames are usually the easiest places to start, but the image should lead. A darker, more graphic work may benefit from a pale mount. A colourful sign photograph can often look best without too much decoration around it.

Avoid hanging a piece too high. The centre of an image should generally sit around eye level, though furniture, ceilings and groupings will alter that slightly. More importantly, do not be afraid to let a picture have some empty wall around it. Space gives the composition a chance to work.

The right piece may be a bold Los Angeles sign, a charcoal shed, a quiet River Severn industrial view or a photograph of corrugated iron that catches the light in exactly the right way. Pick the one that keeps your attention. That is usually the image that will look good on the wall for years to come.