portraits created by Nate Padavick of Studio SSS.
Nate Padavick is an artist and graphic designer from Columbus, Ohio who has been inspired by Portland’s local biking vibe.
His design firm, Studio SSS, creates illustrations for major magazines, publishers, greeting card companies, and others. But, since spending his summer in Portland, he’s turned his eye toward bicycles and the people who ride them.
Padavick has launched an illustration series that captures Portland’s colorful range of bike lovers, including “Rabbit” and his high-wheeler…
I caught up with Nate via email and asked him why he was compelled to create these portraits:
“I’m spending the summer in Portland and love the bikiness – the culture, the style, the ease of getting around, the lifestyle, the politics… so this is my way of paying respect to all that.”
Padavick says he has no specific plans for the illustrations, but that “maybe some opportunity will come of it… who knows?”
So far he has published 20 illustrations to his “Portlanders and their Bicycles” series and plans to add new ones daily.
Check out the gallery and see if you recognize any of the subjects.
[Thanks for the tip from Aaron Tarfman via the Shift email list.]
Thanks for reading.
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That really is Noel! Cool.
I recognize a few of those characters . . . beautiful work.
I really enjoyed these portraits, particularly the one of our friend Jean and her dog Betty riding the old Stumpjumper I gave her years ago. Tragically, however, Jean died two weeks ago, so seeing her in this group of portraits was bittersweet. She\’ll be missed by all who knew her, and this is a good way to remember her.