The Olympic Games mural.
HARD work and ambition has helped an Island man turn his passion for artwork into two successful global creative design companies.
Terry Guy is the founder and director of Monorex and Secret Walls, and has worked with worldwide companies, including Reebok, Nissan and, most recently, Coca Cola, producing a London Olympic Games mural on the wall of a building.
Born in Newport, Terry attended Sandown High School and studied computer programming at the Isle of Wight College before winning a place at the University of West London, studying animation and digital design.
Terry said: "I’d be the first to admit I wasn’t the best student at school but I always had ambition. I just about scraped enough grades for college but had dreams of living in the city.
"I loved animation and design but soon realised I wasn’t going to be good enough to make a career out of it and needed a new direction.
"I met a group of urban graffiti artists in Brixton when I was 21 and saw art I’d never seen before. That’s where the idea of getting artists together and creating artwork came from."
Terry, 29, received a financial grant from the Prince’s Trust, which enabled him to set up a company.
"We started painting and selling canvas artwork and then got our first job from Reebok and things just snowballed from there.
"Secret Walls was then born, which is artists competing against each other for 90 minutes, producing artwork on a wall.
"It went global. We’ve held events all over the world and had artists performing in front of all manner of celebrities.
"I have 2,000 artists across the world who I can call on for work and events," he said.
Due to trademark issues, Terry, who is based in Clapton, East London, recently changed the brand name from Secret Wars to Secret Walls.
He still regularly visits the Island to unwind and see his mother, Sheree, who lives in Lake, and friends and grandparents.
"We did a programme at Sandown Bay Academy, which received great reports.
"It’s important to teach people about the art of graffiti with spray cans, done in the right place and right way.
"It’s been a crazy ride over the years, and it’s been an exciting challenge, but I’m loving every minute of it."
Reporter: jamiew@iwcpmail.co.uk