I had the pleasure of making a series of illustrations for the seven page article Requiem for Raimondas written by Frank Heinen for the 22nd edition of —the very attractive— cycling magazine Bahamontes. The article writes about the compelling story of British composer Laurence Crane and his peculiar relation with the notorious cyclist Ramondas Rumsas, third finalist in the Tour de France and later known for his abuse of Epo. In 2017 Raimondas became a suspect for the case of the sudden death of his son Linas.
I'm a bit of a sucker for melancholical stories like this one. Because of this, instead of focussing on the facts of the dopingscandal and the death of his son, I rather wanted my illustrations to truly embrace that mood. I wanted to make a series of illustrations that were more intimate and personal, that show the struggles of this troubled man in a more metaphorical way without appointing blame.
Laurence Crane became fascinated with the tragic history of Raimondas, and wrote and dedicated a cello composition to the life of this man. I chose to use his enthralling cello piece as the starting point for my illustrations, and in a way I wanted my illustrations to be a visual translation of it, to visually compose a kind of requiem of my own.
A background colour was then chosen for the lay-out, to visually set the article apart from the rest of the magazine. I made one large landscape image to be used as an opening spread for the article, and two half-page vignettes to be used throughout the text.
