Going to battle, Dressed in Pink
I found my creative voice drinking bad whiskey and listining to an 89-year-old woman sing the blues in Downtown Los Angeles. This was my art school!
waking to the crisp sound of vagrant sex will change your life forever
Within a week of moving into my new slice of an old clothing wharehouse I had lost every form of income available to me. I was 25, a retired pro cyclist and new to work that did not include wearing Lycra. With 2,500 sq feet of bachelor pad bliss hanging in the balance I had to be creative and I had to do it quickly if I was going to be able to pay the rent, and so began my creative hustle!
Afeter being awakened once again to the sounds of my friendly vagrant neighbors burning some calories, I sat looking out at the skyline of Los Angeles one saturday morning and was quickly distracted by a familiar site going over the First Street bridge. What started as a slow trickle of a few cyclist soon became a seemingly never ending peloton of riders. Curious as to what was gong on, I jumped on my bike and followed the pack to the Staple Center. As the riders crossed the finish line of what was a large charity event I noticed a lot of them were wearing purple and green jersies that said Team in Training on them. With a little hesitation I approached the group asked them about themselves the event and eventually if they wanted a coach for their next event, they said yes; rent payed! From that point on I was able to worry less about rent and spend more time learning the fine art of creativity by allowing one opportunity to melt into another. From cycling coach, to production assistant at Paramount Pictures to line chef to interactive producer, etc. In my 2 years living in the Arts District I learned how to create more than just my rent.
During this period of time I was intoroduced to a small but hip clothing company called Army Pink. Although, I never vibed with the clothing they offered what they did really well was market themselves by fully curating an image around their brand. From pink and green Army Jeeps to military themed parties. I have kept the memmory of this brand tucked away in a corner of my mind for years, patiently awaiting the point when I could use it in a design of my own, that time is here!
battle Without style is just painful
Design is a constant battle between texture and simplicity. Finding the balance between these two opposing forces is even more challenging when working with a small format such as a bicycle. Sure, the overall size of a bike can be rather large but the actual surface area is tiny in comparison. To solve this design problem we like to go with large bold paint cuts that start speaking to the viewer from the distance, this is the hook. Once we have the viewers attention it is time to bring them in for the texture or the bits of fun details. This system works well to get a general layout going in the right direction but to make everything click together just right we need to do more exploring of the rider and the bike itself.
Unlike the work we do for more stock frames, when we work with someone like Rob English we get the CAD file of the actual bike we are designing the paint for. After a life spent on and around bikes, seeing the layout of the frame is like having a very deep and personal conversation with someone. The geometry of the frame and the position of the stem and bars tells us a great deal about what kind of life the bike is going to live (or wants to live) and what kind of rider will be enjoying that life with it. As soon as I saw the layout of this bike I thought, aggressive and comfortable, and then I thought, Army Pink!
The exact execution of the design did not come quickly but after collecting some great points of reference and basing the details around Mid-Century modern inspired graphics, we were onto something that clicked. The bold pink spills into the cockpit of the bike with a great deal of confidence, turning what some might see as a delicate color into the visual aggressor. Paired with the utility evoking nature of the dark greens you are left with a bike that screams it’s ready to work hard while standing out in the crowd. The colored line pattern on the bottom portion of the bike adds a bit of motion to the bike even when it is waiting against the wall of a local cafe. The lines were inspired by a Mid-Century-Modern painting and complete the look by adding that very important detail texture to the mix. Have fun going to battle within the peloton on this one!
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