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Art on the Underground: South London dad uses tube commute to create fantasy masterpieces

A self-taught London artist from Fulham creates sensational pieces of iPad art on his 30-minute commute home as he prepares a portfolio to showcase his work.

The father-of-one currently works as an audio-visual technician and only gets time to draw during his commute home because he prefers to spend all the time he gets at home with his four-year-old son Tyler.

Shane Boniface, 31, spends his short journey drawing beautiful one-off fantasy art pieces and carries with him an impressive arsenal of tools, that includes a home-made glove, for this labour of love.

Fulham artist

His glove allows him to lean his hand on his iPad’s interactive screen without leaving a palm print, while he uses an array promarkers as well as pencils, pens, sketchpads, to create his masterpieces.

His evening commute home is only 30 minutes long but has led to a collection of beautiful fantasy art work that he is developing into an impressive portfolio.

Having had an interest in art from a very young age, Shane was fascinated by the techniques used in futuristic films and comic books.

Shane Boniface art unicorn

He said: “I loved monster films, I think I was the only five year old that loved watching films like Aliens, Predator and The Fly.

“I never felt scared – I was just in awe of the creations, the artwork and different techniques.”

After some frustration in his attempt to study art at school, Shane decided to embark on a self-lead study of art techniques.

“I did art in secondary but didn’t really learn anything to do with techniques and painting,” he said.

“I got so frustrated because I did not want to just draw objects but to learn the underlying techniques.”

Shane Boniface art dragon

Following this, Shane decided to gather up all the information he could on perfecting his talent. He read book after book, researched different techniques and continues to work to excel in his art.

In addition to fantasy art drawings, Shane has a variety of subject art mostly inspired by his family including his son and girlfriend.

His father supported his dream when he was younger, buying him art books and comics to continually inspire him and remains a great inspiration to him.

Shane Boniface art Star Wars

Shane is currently putting together a portfolio of work that will include one-off pieces of futuristic digital art pieces and textured fantasy sketches.

Due to be released early next year, it promises to be an impressive display of what is possible in the little time we get on a short commute on the tube.

All pictures courtesy of Shane Boniface, with thanks

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