Upward

There's an Artcrank show coming up this summer and they'll be celebrating 10 years of bike posters. For the show a bunch of poster favorites will be coming back from past years.

While this is not one that will be coming back (more to come on what will), I do have some copies of these posters left (along with some others) and wanted to highlight a bit of the process and showcase the amazing printing done by Studio on Fire. 

This poster started with a small scribble sketch—which is normally how my process for pretty much everything starts. I also try to think about final printing process from the beginning, as it often has an influence in paper, format, foil, ink or diecut, size and color.

I was wanting to focus on something a little looser and humanistic than my previous abstract and geometric works. I normally don't include figures in my work but felt the need to subtly hint at it. The idea behind it is that every bike ride is a journey. No matter it being a flat and minimal road in the country, or hills and obstacles to get around in the mountains. Whether difficult and treacherous or simple and smooth-sailing, biking is all about the enjoyment of the journey. 

This poster, titled Upward relates to those more difficult times. The almost-impossibility of reaching the top and extreme efforts it takes to achieve something great. This little guy is about to embark on his own great adventure and journey.

One huge reason why I love being involved in Artcrank is the opportunity. I tend to experiment a lot with design and illustration styles during my process of concepting the form of a bicycle. But another great reward is being able to try out different printing process' and papers. Like, check out some *highlights* on this copper foil paper reversed ink print.

A personal goal of mine was to some day find a reason to use holographic sparkle metallic or gradient foil. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I mixed that with some letterpress and had it printed on 130# Neenah paper. The great people at Studio on Fire assisted with the printing and it is pristine!