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Brooklyn, NY – -(Ammoland.com)- For the past several months, a professional researcher and graphic designer have been working together to produce A Visual History of Firearms, a beautiful print that traces the evolution of portable guns from past to present.
The striking design features 106 hand-drawn illustrations of the most iconic, technologically groundbreaking, and historically significant firearms of all time.
In order to get this printed as a 24’’ x 36’’ poster, a crowdfunding campaign is currently live on Kickstarter.
This project is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based researcher Alex Fernbach, who works in the field of data visualization and is seeking to bring high quality, historically conscious artwork to firearm owners and enthusiasts.
“What makes this design so special is that it can be appreciated from both an informational as well aesthetic standpoint,” says Fernbach.
So how exactly did we get from the muzzle-loaded muskets of centuries past to the modular weapons systems and other technological wonders of today? Guns experienced their first pivotal spike in development and production with the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the nineteenth century. From then on, progress continued at an exponential rate with rapid advancements in propellant composition, barrel construction, cartridge design, and a variety of other components. International conflict has, at various points, also been a driver of innovation—this is particularly true in regard to the developments made during WWI, WWII, and the Cold War.
Asked about the challenges associated with a project of such large scope, Fernbach pointed to the time-consuming nature of the illustrations and the imperative for accurate data:
“On the design side, we realized pretty quickly that in order to convey the level of visual detail we were hoping for, we would need to commit to a timeframe of several months. Research-wise, an especially difficult task was finding high-resolution reference imagery for some of the more obscure firearms. The very first Colt AR-15 model, for instance, is obviously a landmark gun, but only a few hundred were produced—as a result, it took a bit of clever searching in order to get an accurate idea of its appearance. I’ve got to give a special thanks to the NRA’s National Firearms Museum, which proved to be an invaluable resource throughout the research process.”
Backers of the crowdfunding campaign can get a signed and numbered copy of the print for $35, and additional options include receiving the print mounted on wood panel or framed.
Notably, the entire project is being made in the USA from start to finish.
If all goes according to plan, this will be the first of many firearm-related design projects for Fernbach:
“I’m kicking around some different ideas right now, and I’m really excited at the prospect of creating more prints for this market. I’ve been doing some research on military firearms in particular, but my priority at the moment is getting this off the ground and shared with as many interested people as possible.”
Support A Visual History Of Firearms efforts on Kickstarter. : https://tiny.cc/u7e74x
