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Contemporary Craft Not Digital Doping

As the world focuses it’s attention on France for the 100th edition of the Tour de France for the next three weeks, some people are bound to question whether a cyclist’s performance is due to his hard work and skill or to more dubious means.

Age and treachery will overcome youth and skill

Cycling Art Print – Tour de France Cyclist – Coppi: Cycling Quotes
Image: The Handmade Cyclist

In the world of art and design people sometimes pose similar questions claiming that drawing on a computer is cheating and isn’t REAL art.

This year I started using Adobe Illustrator to create and edit designs on my computer. I can honestly say it has transformed the way I work.  As I started climbing a very steep learning curve (no pun intended) getting to grips with the strange new world of path tools and clipping masks; Neil Wyatt (otherwise known as The Handmade Cyclist) offered me a helping hand.

Neil has created a range of stunning work celebrating the stories and scenery of the cycling world, which you can see scattered throughout this post.

He’s very kindly agreed to answer some questions about how he uses uses Illustrator in his work.

So if you’ve ever wondered what you can achieve with Photoshop (other than making models look perfect) or still think that using a computer to create art is cheating read on to find out more…

Does Illustrator really feature significantly in your creative process?

It’s really central to it. It’s just a really fast way of working through ideas. I’ll often use pen and paper to quickly sketch out compositions and then use basic shapes in Illustrator to get a feel for how they will work. You can change shapes, reposition, work through colour schemes, and generally play around until you are happy the image will work. My Flanders poster is a good example – I must have come up with 15 different layouts of the shapes making the landscape before I was happy. Then it’s down to adding the details.

Tour of Flanders Print

Cycling Art Print – Tour of Flanders Image: The Handmade Cyclist

Once the design is complete in Illustrator I will then paste it in layers into Photoshop to add textures and depth – this is vital to give the image that something extra. Vector shapes created in Illustrator can sometimes feel a little flat, so the final steps are important.

 Some people feel that using a computer is cheating – do you agree?

No, not at all, its really a case of horses for courses. I love hand-drawn art, collage, paper cut – but I know I wouldn’t be able to get the precision I want using those techniques. When I was learning to draw I really loved technical drawing – in the days of using pencil, protractor etc – and I really loved creating precise exploded diagrams and the like. So I’ve always been drawn to creating sharp, graphic images. Using the computer helps me achieve the finish I want – that’s why I use them. Maybe in the future I’ll experiment a little with other media, but for me it’s about getting the right end result.

Graphic print of Italian landscape

Cycling Art print – Milan-San Remo

 What are the advantages and disadvantages of creating designs digitally?

The advantages are the speed and flexibility. You can change composition, colour really quickly. You can experiment. Sometimes things happen by accident and you really like the result. You have complete control when you need it.

The disadvantages are just like any art – sometimes it’s still hard to get the vision in your head onto the screen or paper in the right way. Sometimes I can still sketch an idea on paper better than I can get it to look on screen. It’s frustrating when that’s the case. You learn how to do things better every day – I’ve not even scratched the surface of what’s possible yet.

 

 A lot of people would say that craft implies handmade. In my own experience as a designer I would claim that craft refers to an understanding of processes and materials and how to use them skillfully, and so using a program like Illustrator to create designs is also using craft. Would you agree?

Yes, for me Illustrator or Photoshop are just another tool to make things look better. I could do all my posters in pen and ink but would people like them as much? I’m not so sure. I do take great effort to make sure the whole process is done with love – I took time to find a great printer, who cares as much about my work as I do and produces beautiful prints. I might not hack the finished products out of a lump of tree with my bare hands, but the process is done with love, attention and craft.

Cycling Art Print – Tour de France Cyclist – Kuiper: Cycling Quotes 4 Image: The Handmade Cyclist
Galibier, Aubisque, Marie-Blanc, Puy-de-Dome, L'Alpe D'Huez, Croix de Fer, Tourmalet

Bike Art Print – Tour De France Climbs
Image: The Handmade Cyclist

 

Just as the shape of a piece of wood might dictate the design a woodcarver can create, does creating art digitally dictate the outcome of your work?

If anything I would say that using digital techniques makes the outcome more open. The possibilities are endless. And developments like 3D printing will really open things up – imagine the possibilities!

Sometimes the open possibilities can be a bit daunting – having some restrictions and discipline can really help the creative process. With digital art it’s tempting sometimes to chase perfection, and that can be quite a negative thing to do – you’ll never achieve it and rough edges give character.

I want to do more screen printed posters, there’s a purity there in the restrictiveness of the process, and some of my favourite artists like Army of Cats use screen-printing exclusively. But a lot of my prints are better suited to Giclee printing due to the textures and number of colours used – so again its horses for courses. Digital doesn’t mean bad – it’s just a means to an end.

If you missed our in depth interview with Neil you can read it here  and if you want to find out more or purchase a beautiful print here’s how:

etsy.com/shop/TheHandmadeCyclist
Blog: thehandmadecyclist.tumblr.com
Twitter: @handmadecyclist

Interview with The Handmade Cyclist

Today’s post is a fascinating insight into the work of Neil Wyatt aka The Handmade Cyclist.

Enjoy….

1.Tell us a bit more about yourself

I’m a lifelong bike geek – aside from a short period in my early twenties when the usual distractions of girls and music led me astray for a while – it’s always been about the bike.

I grew up in Ireland in the era of Kelly and Roche (and Earley and Kimmage), so it was rather like Britain now with Wiggo and Cavendish – suddenly everyone was into cycling. I still remember my first club run with Bray Wheelers (the club of the great Shay Elliott) – I was crawling by the end!

Orange and White Art Print: Tour De France Climb, L'Alpe d'Huez Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

Tour De France Climb, L’Alpe d’Huez Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

I’ve also always had a passion for design – so it was a logical step to bring the two together. I actually find that mentally they are similar experiences for me – just really immersive, you can just clear your mind and focus on it.

It also gives me great pleasure to know that all that time spent as a teenager (ok, and as an adult) reading every cycling book, biography and magazine I could lay my hands on was not put to waste!

It’s a bit of a cliché but there really was not a lot of cycling on the TV outside of the great Channel 4 coverage of the Tour (well, that and Trans World Sport… I miss Trans World Sport!). So cycling magazines were my bible. And the sport looked great in photos in the 80’s – no helmets, no Oakleys, some great kit and they all pushed huge gears so had the most cartoonishly huge thighs!

That love and knowledge of the sport from my youth has really stayed with me and hopefully you can feel and see that in my designs.

 

2.You describe yourself as a bike geek – what are your best and worst biking experiences.

A couple spring to mind as my best. I did the Marmotte a few years back, and it was such an emotional thing for me – to actually ride those roads I had read about for so many years. It was also pre-kids, so it marks the high-water-mark of my fitness as I had time to train properly! I will never be that fit again, sadly.

Photo of a group of cyclists taken by Neil Wyatt

The second is more recent – taking my five year old son out for his first proper off road ride. We were dead slow but seeing his concentration and pleasure was just so rewarding. Its great watching kids take to the bike – it brings all those memories of the simple pleasure and freedom they give you come flooding back. I think that’s one of the reasons why cycling is so popular – no matter how long you’ve given it up for, get on a bike and that pleasure is there. You never forget it.

Worst… well, the human brain has a remarkable ability to put bad memories in a box somewhere. But most likely one of the many times I’ve suffered from the hunger knock and you just wonder how on earth you ever will get home. Or the time a couple of years back when I crashed night biking – I broke my collarbone and in the words of a doctor “a bunch of ribs”. My friend Will had to ride home with my bike like a cowboy returning to the ranch with a riderless horse, whereupon he greeted my wide with the words ‘well the good news is I think his bike is alright’!

 

 3. So many cycling enthusiasts talk of the romance, myth and colour of races like the Tour de France and your work seems to capture it perfectly.  I was struck by your beautifully written descriptions of famous races and mountain climbs and wondered how the scandal of doping in professional cycling had affected your view of the sport and your work?

Well, its always been there, hasn’t it? I think for many fans the organised nature of the blood doping from the 90’s onwards really soured it – not just because it was so blatant but also the racing suffered. It got boring. Ha! Doesn’t that say a lot about how twisted cycling fans’ compasses can be? We tolerated drug taking for years because it was individual, amateurish and the exploits were still heroic. Put a team of doped up USPS riders on the front of a race to kill the romance, and the view changes.

Art Print: A Classification of Cyclists of Note and Notoriety Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

A Classification of Cyclists of Note and Notoriety Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

I actually have really tried in my work to make sure its not a rose tinted view – the ‘A Classification of Cyclists of Note & Notoriety’ print has Dopers and Cheats sections. Its part of the fabric of the sport and there’s some mind-boggling stories there. But I think for anyone creating art about cycling there’s a romance about the past that has been lost from the present day peloton.

But there’s hope! I really believe riders like Dan Martin and Taylor Phinney are doing it clean – and winning too. Maybe all is not lost. And the mountains and bergs will always be greater than those who ride them.

 

4. If you were creating your own personalised cycling art print what would your nickname be?

 I have really skinny legs so perhaps The Whippet. Not sure I am fast enough for that though. Or given my recent lack of time to maintain my bikes perhaps The Reluctant Mechanic.

 

Art Print: Nicknames of the Peloton Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

Nicknames of the Peloton Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

5. Which is your favourite words of wisdom quote and why?

Got to be ‘it never gets easier, you just go faster’ from Greg Lemond. Never a truer word spoken about cycling.

 

Art Print: Tour de France Cycling Quote - Greg Le Mond Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

Tour de France Cycling Quote – Greg Le Mond Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

6. What inspires your choice of colour?

It depends on the story behind the picture. For my Alpe print it just had to be orange – it’s the Dutch mountain! The Monuments prints set out to capture the essence of the classics. So it was all murky spring colours for Belgium, the bright sunshine of the Ligurian coast for Milan – San Remo, and the autumn setting sun for Lombardia. The idea dictates the colour scheme in most cases.

Cycling Art Print in Oranges, Yellows and Browns - Tour of Lombardy, Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

Cycling Art Print – Tour of Lombardy Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

7. Where do your ideas come from? Is it watching races, whilst out on your bike or reading about the cycling greats?

All of the above! I try to make sure all our designs are based on an idea or story, or some facts about racing. There should be something for the viewer to find out or decode. My favourite for this was researching the Classification print – I’d hope there’s no-one in the world who would know every single name on there. I like the idea of people looking up the names on there and learning about their story.

Cycling Art Print - Legendary British Climbs Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

Cycling Art Print – Legendary British Climbs Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

8. Do you think cycling can claim to have its own particular aesthetic?

For me, cycling is the most stylish sport. Particularly the golden era of the 1950s and 60’s – not too many logos, lovely bikes with loads of chrome – Bianchi, Masi… simple clothes in wool. Stripes. Short shorts. I should qualify that – cyclists are stylish on the bike, it takes rare rider indeed to look good in bike kit off the bike.

I also think that the aesthetic of suffering is important – it’s a sport that displays the rawest emotions at its greatest moments. Its pure. A window into the riders’ souls.

Set of 5 Cycling Art Prints - Monument One Day Classics Image: Neil Wyatt - The Handmade Cyclist

Cycling Art Prints – Monument One Day Classics Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

And the sport is defined by the landscape. There’s a lot of beautiful sports and art forms out there, but none that have the arenas of cycling. There’s not a stadium, golf course, opera house or theatre that can compare to the Izoard, the Lugurian Coast, the Dolomites. So you have a stylish sport, beautiful technology, and incredible landscapes – unbeatable.

9. What can we look forward to from The Handmade Cyclist this year?

We’ve got some really exciting plans – we should have some really great new posters out by the summer that we’ve spent a lot of time researching. I think they will give even the geekiest of bike geeks real pleasure and new things to discover. And we hope to have some new products too – we trialled a run of some mugs before Christmas and they sold out in a week, we could barely keep up!

4 mugs featuring cycling quotes created by The Handmade Cyclist

The very popular range of mugs created by The Handmade Cyclist last year.

10. How will The Handmade Cyclist be celebrating the return of the Tour de France to the UK in 2014?

My wife’s family are from Bridlington, so hopefully by getting up to Yorkshire, riding the route and seeing it as much as I can!

 

Bike Art Print

Bike Art Print “I love you more than you love your bike” Image: Neil Wyatt – The Handmade Cyclist

 

If you want to find out more about Neil’s work or grab yourself one of these gorgeous prints then here are the links you’ll need:

Shop: etsy.com/shop/TheHandmadeCyclist
Blog: thehandmadecyclist.tumblr.com
Twitter: @handmadecyclist

 

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Rosie and the Boys is a creative family team with a love of colour and soft spot for parties. Our products are handcrafted with attention to detail, quality materials and a smile on our face! Inspired by Nature and designed with the latest trends in mind, we provide a range of party decorations and greetings cards with a contemporary twist.

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