May

Yoga Poses Take This Optical Illusion Out for a Spin

by Janine Boylan on May 6, 2013

creative process for human motorcycle optical illusion with yoga poses

Progressive International Motorcycle Shows ad campaign
photo © Holland Norkoski

The Creative Process Unlocked

What do yoga and motorcycles have in common?

San Diego advertising firm, i.d.e.a., brought the two together and added a bit of paint. Presto! Human motorcycles.

Oh, I see the optical illusion! Do you?

But how did they come up with the concept of a human motorcycle?

Forming the Plan

i.d.e.a. was given the task of creating an ad campaign for Progressive International Motorcycle Shows. They wanted to represent the different types of bikes at the shows but in a modern and racy way.

Ryan Berman, i.d.e.a.’s founder and Chief Creative Officer, reflects on the first part of the creative process, “The concept really stemmed from us trying to get in the mindset of the people that actually go to the Progressive International bike show and why they hit the floor.”

Julie Messing of Advanstar Powersports adds, “When we began brainstorming on this, we didn’t make a conscious decision to make something edgier, but this is what evolved, and this is what we thought would work.”

The Harder Part

Thinking of a creative idea can be hard, but executing the plan can be even more difficult. i.d.e.a. had a great concept, but without the right team they were just spinning their wheels.

Berman credits body painter Trina Merry for bringing life to this sculpture.

Merry researched bikes and motorcycle culture. She sketched several ideas, but then “It got to a point where I felt like I couldn’t sketch it. I really needed to work with my hands, and so I called up my friends and said, ‘OK, let’s see if we can make a motorcycle.'”

The creative team had yoga gurus ready to form the vehicle.

Yoga models practice the poses before being painted.
photo © Holland Norkoski

What about the rider?

Event host and motocross reporter Erin Bates shares, “I had kind of thrown it out there that I wouldn’t be opposed to being body-painted myself….I didn’t really know what I was signing up for, but I just knew that this was a once in a lifetime experience that I really didn’t want to pass up on.” And so she became the human motorcycle’s rider.

painting during the creative process of human motorcycle optical illusion with yoga poses

Trina Merry paints Erin Bates.
photo © Holland Norkoski

The 18-hour photo shoot began with practicing the human sculpture but then became a series of posing, painting, and photographing in six minute cycles.

As you can imagine, positions like the tail pipe were so tricky that the model could only hold it for ten seconds at a time!

Bates, who also rides bikes, helped get the details like handlebar postion just right while Merry transformed the models with her exhaustive paint jobs.