About Cloudy Collection

The Idea

I have been wanting to make letterpress prints for years, ever since I found out that a college friend of mine was running one of the best-known, most respected modern letterpress shops in the country. Recently, I’ve also been amazed and inspired by so many contemporary illustrators, cartoonists, designers, and other artists, many of them friends and acquaintances I’ve met (in real life and virtually via blogs, email, and twitter) in the last ten years or so.

These two ideas mated one day at the beginning of 2009, and the concept for Cloudy Collection was born! I figured it would be a lot more fun to make letterpress prints with some friends (and people I’d love to get to know better!) so I invited six artist friends to take part in the inaugural Cloudy Collection print set themed “Cloudy Characters”, and the rest is history!

The ongoing plan for this project is that I will continue to invite some friends, new and old, to help me make small collections of prints as often as possible. Stay informed about each new release by signing up for the mailing list.

The Environment

Our printer, Boxcar Press, is run on 100% wind power, and they print with all vegetable-based inks. Furthermore, the prints in the Cloudy Collection are made on paper made from bamboo, which regrows incredibly fast compared to cotton or trees, and consumes far fewer natural resources. You can read more about the sustainability practices of Boxcar Press on their website.

Inspired by Boxcar’s efforts, a percentage of the sales of the Cloudy Collection print sets will be donated to The Nature Conservancy, an international organization devoted to saving wild, untouched, and rehabilitated natural places for future generations. The Nature Conservancy does their work by hiring and funding scientists who are actively working to understand and solve issues related to climate change, wild fires, fresh water, forests, invasive species, and marine ecosystems.

And even this website is run on a carbon-neutral server.

The Economy

I’ve always believed in the democratic nature of printmaking in that these images created in multiples can be remarkably affordable. The cost of printing and paper and mailing is not insignificant, but spread out across a limited edition of 100, each set of prints can be yours for not a lot of money.

To make a set of seven prints, we print them all on one sheet and cut them down to size. That’s why the entire set is all the same set of colors. And of course that’s also why it doesn’t cost as much to make so many prints.

Keeping these same practical thoughts in mind, most prints are made at 4"x6", a standard photo frame and album size, so you can display your prints from our collections without breaking the bank. You shouldn’t have to spend more on framing than you do on the art, especially if the art is meant to be affordable!

The Project’s Proprietor

I am David Huyck, and I am the instigator of the Cloudy Collection. I am an illustrator, designer, artist, and more, with over a decade of professional experience. You can read more about me in my bio.