Bikepacking Basics

A colorful illustration of a cyclist riding a bikepacking bike toward the viewer on a dirt path with a grassy hill in the background.
Brightly colored illustration of a person peering in through a glass window at a selection of tiny bicycles. One of the bikes is shining.

Goal

Create a series of illustrations to accompany Adventure Cycling blog posts covering the basics of bikepacking. Build a consistent color palette and style to draw readers in.

Role

Illustration, Design

More Info & Credits

Bikepacking is no simple feat, it requires knowledge from so many different areas. Adventure Cycling set out to help guide new bikepackers, and I illustrated the imagery to accompany.

Credits

Direction: Adventure Cycling

Illustration: Levi Boughn

Design: Levi Boughn

Back to Bikepacking Basics

The illustrations in this series centered around a bold color palette and a recurring theme of creatively-sized subjects.

A bright illustration of a person laying in the grass and picking icons out of a big tree, they have a small bicycle leaning against their side.An illustration of different types of bicycle routes. The types shown are out and back, loop, lollipop loop, point to point, and figure 8.An illustration of three people moving around and interacting with comically large objects like a compass, cell phone, and pencil.Illustration of what appears to be a building-sized bikepacking bike. There are small people the size of the chainrings assembling it with cranes and other equipment.Brightly colored illustration of a person peering in through a glass window at a selection of tiny bicycles. One of the bikes is shining.Illustration of a person laying on their stomach and drawing a map on the floor using a giant pencil.An illustration of a person standing atop a giant cellphone and looking out over a vast field with small illustrations related to bikepacking.An illustration of a map, cellphone, and other bike touring and map making equipment.An illustrated diagram comparing the four types of metal used for bike frames: steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, and titanium.

Process Sketches

These illustrations would live across a variety of mediums, so I built them with vectors to offer the most flexibility on export. Each complex vector illustration is built atop a rough digital sketch.

A digital sketch of a cyclist riding a bikepacking bike loaded with gear on a dirt trail.A black and white digital sketch of a person picking things out of a tree while laying down.A simple sketch of a person standing on a giant cellphone looking out over a field.A simple sketch of a selection of mapmaking equipment.An black and white sketch of a bicycle being built by tiny humans.A simple line sketch of three people interacting with oversized bikepacking related equipment.