Dubuque Elevator Postcard by Bozz Prints
Check out this postcard of the Fenelon Place Elevator, better known as the Fourth Street Elevator!
Bozz Prints is a creative powerhouse founded by John Bosley (Bozz) in Des Moines, IA back in 2015. Specializing in prints, posters, and shirts, John grew Bozz Prints from its humble beginnings in his basement, to a full blown brick and mortar shop in West Des Moines’ Historic Valley Junction.
Inspired by a love of travel, architecture, and the scenery that surrounds us, John is all about making timeless designs to honor the places and landmarks we all know and love.
Everything is 100% designed and illustrated by John. He screen prints all of his poster designs by hand on a vacuum press he built with his Dad, and his small prints are also made locally using USA made materials as often as possible.
"After graduating with a Fine Arts degree from Iowa State University, I bounced around a bunch of boring/non-art jobs until ultimately becoming the lead designer at RAYGUN back in 2009. It was during my time at RAYGUN that I learned everything I know about screen printing and how to design goods for commerce (an incredibly useful skill!). I loved working there and came up with a ton of best-selling designs while I was at it, but I was really itching to do my own thing and spread my illustration wings a bit more. Thus, Bozz Prints was born. I soon decided to quit my steady job of nearly six years (scary feelings!) and haven't looked back since. Fun fact: My BFA was with an emphasis on Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking. Ironically I only ever took one actual printmaking class in college and it wasn't even screen printing. Crazy, right?!"
"Whenever I get an idea for a design, I usually start researching and sketching to figure out the look I'm going for. This part usually takes the longest. Once an idea/sketch is settled on, I'll start drawing the final art using Adobe Photoshop on my Cintiq graphics tablet. From there I'll export my art into black layers that can be turned into films which are "burned" on to screens. I then screen print the design onto precut paper stock using colors that I mix by hand. Each print is placed on the drying rack and I repeat this process for each color until the print run is complete. I know I'm making screen printing sound a lot simpler than it actually is but hopefully you get the picture. With the poster printing, I'll occasionally outsource my larger jobs and client work to a great screen printing shop in KC by the name of Vahalla Studios. All in all, most of my designs are made from start to finish in about 1-2 weeks depending on the complexity."
"I just love creating designs based on well known places, landmarks, and streetscapes. I started making Des Moines designs first and then I gradually expanded into other cities as I grew. Traveling to new places has always been my biggest source of inspiration and my goal is to make a print/design for every city and state on the map. Simply put, these "travel" posters are my small way of paying homage to the great geographical and architectural history that surrounds us. Combine all that with my love of illustrating, printmaking, and design and you've got a pretty good understanding of what gets me out of bed every day."
