Welcome to Art of Soul Studio!

Art of Soul is the brand new t-shirt and apparel brand from illustrator Sri McKinnon. With a background of working in the independent music industry as well as a lifelong love and appreciation of live gigs, clubs, concerts and festivals; Art of Soul seeks to capture and translate some of that vitality and passion for the music into visual form.

Our brand is a vehicle for sharing our creative expression with the world and we hope our offerings resonate and bring a smile of recognition. All designs are dreamt up, hand drawn and crafted with care from our seaside studio on the boogie down South East Coast.

Intended to celebrate and revere the timeless music of our favourite, most beloved and iconic artists of the 90’s Hip Hop era, our debut collection comes to you live and direct with our own unique flavour, style and attitude ;) From the youth dem to the more mature b-girl and b-boy, we hope you enjoy our products and rock them with pride!

Hold tight for future designs inspired by the Jazz, Funk and Soul genres; crate digging, record collecting and the spirit of peace, love and unity of the true school Hip Hop culture we know and love. Likewise, keep’em peeled for dedicated Women's and Children's collections in the pipeline. 

We're only just getting started - so in the classic words and rhythms of The Jimmy Castor Bunch… “It's just begun”… Watch this space!

From left to right: The Doctor's Orders Tribute Event Flyer, Scala, London, 2010. | Raise it up for Ma Dukes! Mrs Yancey herself wearing our donut tribute tee. 🍩 So honoured, much love x Photo courtesy of The Doctor's Orders. All proceeds donated to Lupus UK and the J Dilla Foundation, 2010. | The 'Sampled' Sample Sale event where we first traded some of our previous products, 2012 & 2013. | Ms. Lynette Townes sharing how her hubby DJ Jazzy Jeff enjoys his coffee - using our Dilla mug no less! Whoop! 2012. | Our collaborative Quasimoto mural alongside the homies Curse 273 (Vinyl Miners) and Pyklops at Soundwave Festival, Croatia, 2014. Madlib played an epic beachside set that year. Good times! | A brief foray into hand drawn illustrated shrink plastic jewellery. Dinky mini turntable pendant anyone? | Our AKAI MPC 3000 tees (circa 2013) that are now officially all sold out! Shout out to the homie and Champion Nerd like DJ Mr Thing for rockin' his on his superlative Boiler Room set!

Near Mint x We Out Here Festival

These days you can catch us trading in person at the Indie Label Market at Coal Drops Yard, Kings Cross, London in May or at The Near Mint Record Fair tent at We Out Here Festival, Dorset, every August. Our favourite music festival by a jazzy country mile, its full of smiles, good vibes and more fun than you can shake a (glow) stick at! Photo courtesy of Near Mint, WOH Festival, 2019.

  • Hey!

    My name is Sri. Nice to meet you. Thanks for stopping by :)

    Fun Facts (for the record) :

    • I LOVE tea. Strong and milky please. Mine's an Earl Grey with oat milk.
    • My favourite beat of all time is '93 'til Infinity' by the Souls of Mischief. Or possibly 'Lucini' by Camp Lo or maybe even 'Put It On' by Big L. Arrrgh, impossible to choose! Either way; guaranteed to lose my ish when the beat drops.
    • I really enjoy plants and flowers and in my humble opinion, a lady can never have too many plant babies or pretty fresh flowers.
    • If i were stuck on a desert island and could only listen to one genre of music, it would have to be sweet sweet saccharine soul. Soul is the source for real.
    • Walking out in nature is my happy place. Oh and being on the dance floor.
    • Charity shops are my kryptonite.
    • My brain (like most fellow creative types) is like a gazillion tabs open all at the same time, its any wonder i got these ideas out in the world. Can you relate?

    Peace and Love. I wish you everything you wish for yourself x