Portfolio Review: Chris Piascik

Image via Complex Original

Chris Piascik, a designer and a bicycle enthusiast, lives in Connecticut. He's worked for Nike and provided illustrations for some of New England's finest rappers — including Akrobatik and Mr. Lif. Most importantly, Piascik designed the winning entry for the Get Out and Vote campaign sposored by American Institute of Graphic Arts. 

His personal projects have found him detailing every bike he's ever owned and producing amazing type driven illustrations on a daily basis. 

We're big fans of Piascik. He shared work and words with us for our portfolio review series. 

Muhammad Ali 

"Muhammad Ali was the epitome of greatness. Throughout his boxing career he amassed 56 wins, 37 by knockout. He was known for relentlessly trash-talking his opponents which he did with rhymes. These drawings highlight some of my favorites." 

Steve Jobs 

"Recently, Steve Jobs resigned as the president of Apple. He is credited with saving Apple and repositioning it as the world’s most innovative and valuable technology company. No small feat. I love Apple products and I wish Steve Jobs the best!" 

Surfer Blood 

"Hype Machine asked me to contribute an illustration for their 2010 Music Blog Zeitgeist. It is a collection of the very best music of 2010 as picked by music bloggers, featuring original artwork, full album streams, and DJ mixes. Surfer Blood put out one of my favorite albums of the year so I was excited to do this illustration." 

Major Taylor: Good Habits, Clean Living 

"Marshall Major Taylor (a velodrome world champion from Worcester, MA), renowned as The Fastest Bicycle Rider In The World in the early 1900’s, accredits his success as a world champion to the value of good habits and clean living through these guidelines. Even while contending with the challenges of racial adversity, as one of the first African-American professional cyclists, he was able to achieve victories and dominance for over a decade." 

All My Bikes: FBM 

"I did a series of illustrations based on every bike I have ever owned—that sounds reasonable, but I have been bike-crazy most of my life. The series includes 30 illustrations that I compiled into a small zine." 

Bottled Up 

"This illustration was for Illustration Friday—a website that posts a new theme each week for illustrators and artists to contribute to. The theme for this one was “Bottled.” I decided to play off the idea of bottled emotions—namely anger. Grrr!"

John Wayne Bachmann 

"Michele Bachmann made a pretty hilariously, bad gaffe while kicking off her presidential campaign in Iowa. She stated, “Well what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.” Unfortunately—well fortunately for this drawing opportunity—she mixed up her John Waynes‘. TheJohn Wayne from Waterloo, also known as the Killer Clown, was a serial killer. Whoops." 

Biggie Smalls for Mayor 

"Biggie was the greatest. I tried to illustrate these lyrics three different times before landing on this one. I tried to loosely model it after old political posters." 

Don't Slow Down 

"This is a t-shirt design for Print Brigade. Which is basically just shirts by me!" 

Safari 

"Since I was a little kid I have been doing these improvised drawings—wherein I just start scribbling out lines and then filling in the negative space with whatever I see. I did this piece for my nephew, Adam." 

BP 

"The Deepwater Horizon (BP) blowout was the worst oil disaster in American history, exceeding the Exxon Valdez spill. The people(read: Republicans) who decided that the oil companies could and should regulate themselves felt bad for BP when others tried to hold them accountable." 

Curses in Cursive 

"This verse from the new Jay-Z and Kanye West album is pretty great and certainly pertains to me!" 

Boehner 

"This guy sucks." 

Giving Up 

"Growing up is overrated. Markers on paper." 

Shut Up, Dude

"Das Racist is great, this drawing was inspired by them."