Who is BackPocket?
HEY MY NAME IS RICHARD ANDERSEN.
Throughout this time I got into photoshopping cars. This was way back in the early 2000s when it was cool to have big sound systems, fat chrome wheels and with the The Fast and the Furious movies and shows like Pimp my Ride.I was hooked! Magazines like Speed and Sound would have photoshopping competitions that I entered. I did every online competition I could find. Eventually I found a website forum called Autemo [Check out my profile] That is where I found a community of like minded people who really pushed and challenged me to get better that is where I had the first idea that I could maybe make a living out of customizing cars.
After Art College I went straight into the working world although, I always wish I could have studied some more or done some internships it would have help out a lot. My first job was at a print and copy shop and it truly was the worst, however, I was only 18 at the time so I had a lot to learn about the real world and I'm so thankful to them for teaching me so much. I eventually got a job at a small design studio where we would work on motocross cross jerseys. Once again I had a lot to lean and I'm super thankful to my boss for being so patient and teaching me so much. I loved how you could take something 2D and make it 3D and also I loved all the restrictions in Motocross Jerseys, such as you can't have the design line up on the seams as the design changes slightly for different T-shirt sizes. This is where I fell in love with vehicle wrap design.
I had always been doing some simple wrap designs on my photoshopped cars so it was an easy transition and for me wrap design just made sense it just clicked. At that time there wasn't as much wrap design content online as there is now. So the only inspiration out there were these weird airbrushed / 3D / Hot Rod / Fast and the Furious Style wrap designs so I knew there was a gap in the market for something fresh and having my art background really helps. Check out my Pinterest boards for some inspiration
About that time my family moved to New Zealand and we ended up in the small town of Hamilton. I struggled to find a design job as I did not have enough qualifications or experience. However, I still had faith that wrap design was my calling so I ended up on 99Designs. [Check out my profile] It was the worst! I think for the first year I made about 400 logos and wrap designs. It definitely taught me a lot about dealing with customers and slowly got me into working with wrap design shops. From that I slowly started getting a few direct customers so I started my own company and instagram page for my custom work @RA_Graphics [Check out my work] one day I write up the full story about it.
Thanks to the support from my amazing village and customers I was blessed with some crazy opportunities to work with some of the top wrap shops in the world. As I did not study business I had to learn (and still am learning). That is where I started working with and learning from wrap shops. I would help install local cars wraps just to lean what the wrap shops needed and the challenges they have dealing with their own customers and other wrap designers.
Throughout this time I started BackPocket, my stock graphics company, that also used to be called RA Graphics (which got a bit confusing). Over the years I've slowly grown BackPocket to what it it today and now I am full time on BackPocket and my full custom work is on the side.
I worked with another stock graphics company before and I loved the challenge so I knew I wanted to do something similar but for the Wrap Design Industry.
It started off with my customers always asking for the same style wrap so I thought it be easier to sell it as a Stock Graphic rather than me having to make the same thing over and over.
I came up with the name BackPocket because as a designer you always need something in you BackPocket to "Wow" your customer with and give that little extra spice to your design to get it across the line.
Over the past 13 years as a designer I have always made all my own elements from scratch. Firstly, it is because I am cheap and if I ever did download some stock graphics they were alway way to complicated, not made in the correct way and I end up spending more time cleaning them up so I end up just remaking it from scratch anyway. Also the scale of the design never really work out well for wrap design. Not a lot of people understand but that is why a lot of my elements are so simple and bold. When you use my elements in a design they work really well. They may look simple but I spend a lot of time thinking about each element and testing them out on wrap designs.
Here are just a few pics of our amazing talented and creative customers who have used BackPocket Stock Graphics and taken then to the next level. we alway love to see what you you guys come up with so please send us some pics of your work.
Thanks for taking the time to read my little story. Please leave a comment and let me know if you have any question about my story.
