Brian Casey is the sure hand behind Drawing from the Best, and one of Greenwich Market’s most talented creators. Specialising in fine-art illustrations of motor racing and other sporting subjects, his painstakingly hand-drawn works are masterpieces of pencil work.

For Brian, it all began with sign writing, which he studied at Lewisham College. Traditional sign writing requires a sure eye, a deft hand and plenty of patience. Brian was struck with the skill and elegance of the work he saw all over London: ‘Signwriters always fascinated me. Watching them work, seeing them going up on their trestles and the precision of their lettering.’ Once, Greenwich boasted many shopfronts resplendent with his work, including many in Greenwich Market itself.

However, the days of traditional sign writing ended with the advent of printed vinyl signs, in the 1990s. With an artistic itch to scratch, Brian knew he had to find something else. ‘While everyone else was sticking vinyl lettering all over shops and vans and cars, I pursued a new career, in illustrated art.’ The way letters and designs wrapped around high-performance racing cars fascinated Brian, just as sign writing had done.

Brian’s intensely detailed, photorealistic images are the result of dry-medium processes using high-quality pencils and fine liners. A skilled watercolourist, he couldn’t achieve the precision he wanted, working in a wet medium. Now, the incredible level of detail he achieves does justice to his high-performance subjects. ‘With Formula One and Moto GP fans, everything’s got to be perfect!’

But there’s more behind Brian’s choice of automotive subjects than just the overlap with signwriting. Growing up as a teenager in south London, he could often be found at the Crystal Palace Racing Circuit, where F3 and F2 cars raced until 1974. Then, he’d take himself to race meetings across the UK, photographing the cars, motorbikes and drivers that form his artistic subjects. Still passionate about high-performance racing, Brian now gets his fix at one-time Grand Prix track, Brands Hatch, just 20 minutes from his home in Kent.

There’s also a deeply personal aspect to Brian’s devotion to illustrating motorsport. In 1996, the British F1 driver Damon Hill became world champion. Hill’s son, Oliver, has Down’s Syndrome, as does Casey’s daughter, Sarah-Louise. Inspired by Hill, who is a patron of Down’s Syndrome Association and Down Syndrome International, Casey produced an artistic celebration of his feats and dedicated it to his delighted daughter. ‘That was the catalyst’, he says, ‘It all grew from there.’

Setting up his stall in Greenwich Market in 2016 was something of a homecoming for Brian. He clearly remembers, decades earlier and before the Market’s roof was added, getting his brushes, enamel paints, scalpel and other tools out to decorate the shopfronts surrounding the cobbled market floor. Sadly, none of his handiwork remains, as new businesses have moved in, and new shopfronts emerged.

It’s something of a happy homecoming, then, that Brian’s illustrative talent now graces the Market in another form. His long connection with Greenwich Market seemed to lure him back here and helped him ’ease himself back into the market game’. He quickly found his natural home amongst this community of creative traders. Drawing on a lifetime’s passion and skill, Drawing from the Best now showcases Brian as one of the Market’s most talented makers.