Amsterdam Based Creative Entrepreneur Vratislav Pecka Talks About PosterLad & Life As An Artist

You are a renowned digital artist now. We would love to know more about your work. Please elaborate on the same.

What I do is that I create abstract colorful posters. What I am trying to achieve is a perfect balance in terms of colors and layout as that is something I consider the most important thing for any visual product. I am running a successful business with my posters. I get orders from all around the globe and was awarded two major design awards for my posters.

What inspired you to create PosterLad?

I used to be a pretty classic graphic designer who works 9–5 job (even as a freelancer) and became fed up with the fact that all I do is work for my clients. One day I started the PosterLad Instagram account and made a random poster that I posted there. That was more than 4 years ago. The account has grown significantly since then and I am happy to say I am about to reach 100.000 followers soon. Of course, the project is not just about my Instagram. Not at all. It is my main channel, where I communicate everything about my work with my community.

We are sure you must have worked with some fabulous brands and companies. Would you like to tell us about some of your most memorable collaborations?

It is true that thanks to my poster work I have collaborated with many brands on things like apparel design or brand development. To pick some interesting ones — thanks to a collaboration with agency Known Unknown I was able to be part of the team that worked on Hewlett-Packard or Pringles brands redesign. And thanks to a partnership with Chinese art development agency Artoken I am now selling my posters all over China. There are some very exciting collaborations that I am working on at the moment that I can not mention yet.

Creative entrepreneurs have to go through their own share of ups and downs in their journey. How did you overcome challenges?

I have had my ups and downs too. There is not much one can do to prevent them, in my opinion. I can remember I was stuck with my work at the beginning of last year. I did not see any progress in what I am doing anymore. The key to overcoming this state was to try completely new things. Things I have never tried before. The new designs were not great in the beginning, but over time I finally saw some progress. The most important thing I experienced is that I had fun making these posters again. And I promised myself I will always try new things. Just to keep things going. One more method to overcome the “downs” is to stop for a while. You don’t have to deliver every day. Just take a couple of days off and start again with a clear mind.

What drives you to create every day? What boosts your creativity?

The main thing for me is to have fun while designing these posters and deliver the best possible outcome every single time. It does not always work out, but I know I did my best that day and also had fun. What boosts my creativity — browsing design pages, looking around myself wherever I go, thinking about different layouts and color combinations. It almost became an obsession to observe different things as a potential inspiration for what I do next.

What services do you usually offer to your clients?

I offer my posters as interior prints at www.posterlad.com.There are two different sizes customers can choose from (50x70cm and 70x100cm). My posters are being printed on thick matte museum quality paper. I am also open to collaborations. Anyone can reach me on my email.

What else can we see coming from your creative genius in 2021?

I will keep doing what I am doing. Hence making more posters! I would like to start a Youtube channel to share more about my process, thinking behind my work, and to open more to the public than before.

Where can our audience find your work?

You can find me on Instagram and Facebook as @posterlad. My online store and all information about the project can be found at www.posterlad.com