"F**k It!" Friday: Mr Bingo

Welcome along to this week’s “F**k It!” Friday where we celebrate the industry greats who made it by saying just one thing – “f**k it!” Because throwing caution to the wind, letting go of your inhibitions and being unafraid to be original is KEY to making a name for yourself.

We’re bringing back our MTV Breaks graphic design opportunity for this year’s MTV EMA in London so, to celebrate, we’re choosing someone this week that will inspire all you graphic designers to say “f**k it!” and get applying!

Who’s our FIF inspiration today? It’s MR BINGO!

Mr Bingo is an illustrator who played the commercial field for 15 years, working regularly for big companies like The Guardian, TIME, The New Yorker and CH4. He’s created everything from book covers to animations, to wallpapers to whoopee cushions, and made quite the name for himself.

More recently he became known for his hate mail series. People paid him to send personalised hate mail drawings to people they knew (amazing) and, in 2015, he did Kickstarter campaign to raise money for his book about it, featuring his very own rap music video. Hate Mail: The Definitive Collection turned out to be the most successful UK crowdfunded book EVER and raised the funds needed in just 9 hours.

At this point Mr Bingo said a big fat “f**k it!” (probably) and decided never to work for a company again, saving all his best ideas for his personal projects and venturing completely off the beaten track.

He does talks all over the world encouraging others to say “f**k it!” and pursue their creative visions despite what anyone says. He also has an online shop selling weird and wonderful merchandise. He’s basically the perfect “F**k It!” Friday idol.

As he says on his website: “Make the work that you want to make, don’t follow trends, be honest, just get on with it, work harder than people who have normal jobs, only go for this as a career if you enjoy it, don’t expect instant success, don’t compare yourself to others, be competitive but not ruthless, ignore advice (sometimes), if you’re motivated by money get a proper job, don’t forget to have fun.”

Check out Mr Bingo if you’re a budding graphic designer who hasn’t heard of him. Most importantly don’t forget to submit your crazy creative submissions to be in with a chance of working with us at the MTV EMA in London this year (click here for more details). Remember: the sky’s the limit!

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE.