About Skwaam

Born in South London in 1992, Will H-G aka Skwaam has always had a great passion for drawing since he could first pick up a pencil. Born into a family of mixed heritage his mother grew up in the Scottish highlands, a gifted oil painter and lover of the outdoors; she taught Skwaam about art and the beauty of nature. Skwaam’s father was a South Londoner of Caribbean descent introduced Skwaam to music from a very young age; Skwaam definitely had his father’s ear and quickly developed a taste for all the Jazz, Soul, House Music and Hip Hop he’d be playing in the house. But Hip Hop was always Skwaam’s favourite.

At 9 years old, Skwaam bought his first album, Gorillaz genre blending debut album, fixated on the illustrated world Jamie Hewlett showcased to the world. After this discovery, the way Skwaam digested music changed and intensified forever, now visualising every song as a music video in his own vision, imagining what his favourite artists would get up to in their own 2D universe.

After leaving London for Gloucestershire at the end of the 90’s, receiving an art scholarship in school and a couple years in college, Skwaam kept drawing as a hobby having gained little inspiration from teachers as to the potential to creating art professionally. At age 23, fresh back from a year of travelling, Skwaam was encouraged by his father to get back into drawing and from there the inner child was woken up.

Since 2016, Skwaam has used his lifelong inspirations to create visually striking illustrations of some of hip hop culture’s greatest creative visionaries. With praise coming from the likes of Tyler, the Creator, A$AP Rocky, Dave Free, Snoop Dogg, JID and many more. He has worked with some of the biggest icons of the UK grime scene and some of the hottest talent coming out of the USA; providing illustration and animation to help bring their music a new dimension. Having worked on character designing, comic book art, clothing designs, collaboration with the dance industry one thing has remained constant; Skwaam lives and loves to create.