The textures in this series of letterpress mockups by Hydro74 (aka Joshua Smith) are almost tangible.
His story of becoming an artist is pretty inspirational, too:
Before I discovered illustration & design, my life was filled with tragedy, abuse, foster care and forced to figure out how to finish school when my family kicked me out because they were not getting money from the government to support me living with them. Instead of going back into the foster care system, I struggled to find places to stay just to finish school and start college. It wasn’t till a dark moment in my life that all hope came forth, it as a moment of self discovery and that moment of defiance. not defiance towards people, but towards my past and what was expected. I was never meant to be where I am, but because I found this hope in wanting to become rather than be defeated, I pushed forward and found meaning for a life that I wanted to give up on and the hope became the realization that it is only me that can change tomorrow. So Defiance was born and became a foundation of never giving up and knowing I can do better than yesterday. Thank you for taking time to read this.
• Letter Press Exploration (via Instagram)