Sticking it to the Man

For more nearly 15 years, artist Todd Francis has applied his skills to skateboard decks, snowboards and has even illustrated a children's book. His work is nearly as ubiquitous as the Golden Arches. OK, not quite, but Francis' portfolio has become more expansive. Next month, his first ever design for CreditCovers, "Blood Sucking Financial Institution", will debut.

CreditCovers are for anyone tired of the boring designs on their credit, debit or ATM cards. The simple skins liberate the prime visual real estate from the banking establishment, allowing consumers to personalize them with a variety of designs.

Francis was intrigued by the subversive nature of CreditCovers and decided to join the revolution begun by CreditCovers inventor Anthony David Adams to cover the world's credit cards.

I recently discussed with Francis why he thought CreditCovers was a good platform for his art, what inspired his design and whether he has CreditCover'd his own plastic.

How did you get involved with CreditCovers?
When Anthony approached me to do a piece for CreditCovers, I was skeptical (I'm usually skeptical when strangers approach me with freelance projects). He emailed me with a link to the company's site, and after reading up on the concept, it got my mind cranking.

Why did you feel CreditCovers were a good canvas for your art?
What struck me the most with CreditCovers is the subversive nature of the idea. Obscuring the names of the bank or credit provider and commandeering the space on your plastic for your own means is just great. Couple that with the fact that every person out there has a bank card or credit card on their person, the demand for this is limitless. I'm looking forward to doing a serialized series of graphics for CreditCovers, releasing a few a year, because these things are fun as hell to work on. Plus, being given a blank canvas to spew all sorts of negative crap. How could I resist?

What inspired the "Blood Sucking Financial Institution" design?
I just liked the idea of smothering a financial institution's imagery with something that attacks it. Plus, I wanted to create something that from a distance looked sort of federal and American, but when you get up close you see how nasty it really is.

Will or have you CreditCovered'd any of your plastic?
As egotistical as this sounds, I'm going to use the design I did on all my cards. I do like the Mexican flag CreditCover as well, I might use that one as well....but I'm holding off until my first design comes out.