With an Olympic bronze medal in BMX, five World Cup DH podiums, five Queen of Crankworx titles, and countless podiums in enduro, DH and 4X, Jill Kintner is best known as a competitive mountain biker. What you may not know is that art is a major part of Kintner's life and that she studied illustration and design at school in New York and San Francisco. Today, Kintner is releasing 'Bandit Hill', a project that showcases her riding while creatively telling a magical little story about the critters on her Red Bull helmet coming to life.
This isn't the first time Kintner has combined her passion for art with her career as an athlete. In addition to designing her custom Red Bull helmet, she's done various apparel collaborations, and worked on poster and web designs, vehicle wraps and much more. Kintner has also used her drawing skills to create the elaborate course maps that she's used throughout her career to visualize her race runs.
A closer look at the artwork on Kintner's helmet.
Kintner and her team spent the past three years building this project. While the idea for the project started well before Covid hit, it turned from “just another fun project” before the pandemic into a creative pursuit that helped keep mental health in a positive place.
In 2020, Jill launched the Mind Maintenance project, encouraging her fans to express their creativity and take a mental health break with her colouring book templates while they were stuck at home. Kintner says that Bandit Hill is woven into the characters of mind maintenance and is an extension of her journey, blending artwork into biking.
A trio of Kintner's favourite woodland critters that she incorporated into the Mind Maintenance templates star in Bandit Hill: Squirrel, Fox, and Snail.
| Being from the Pacific Northwest you see these critters all the time in the forest. They’re kind of like my little friends and being outside with them is my happy place. These drawings all started as random thoughts and ideas in my sketchbook. That’s where the idea for Bandit Hill came from. I thought it would be so cool to bring my helmet to life and try to experience their world. |
And the character templates from Bandit Hill.
The video stars Kintner and a trio of her favourite woodland critters: Squirrel, Fox, and Snail.
It took nearly three years for the world of Bandit Hill to come to life. Kintner sculpted an acorn "snack" out of clay, developed multiple sets for various scenes and spent months perfecting the tiny details of every little design element.
It took nearly three years for Kintner, director and lead Filmer Scotty Carlson of Juicy Studios, animator Owen Rixen of the 2D Workshop, and writer/producer Lacy Kemp to develop the narrative, characters, and the world of Bandit Hill.
| Seeing everyone’s touch and the combination of everyone’s skills totally exceeded my expectation. We had daily briefs for months with the crew to see animatics, talk, redraw. What our whole team collectively brought to this project was incredible.—Jill Kintner |
Kintner says that Bandit Hill the film is just one piece of the puzzle. She has also created merchandise that is for sale on her
website that showcases Squirrel, Fox, Snail, and other characters from the story. Kintner says that a children’s book is forthcoming, and her long-term goal is to create immersive events that kids and parents can attend on their bikes and ride through Bandit Hill themselves.
Bandit Hill CreditsDirected By: Scotty Carlson
Starring: Jill Kintner
Written By: Lacy Kemp
Original Artwork: Jill Kintner + Catherine Morley
Director Of Photography: Derek Frankowski
2D Animation: The 2D Workshop
Drone Photography: Sky Shillhammer
Production Assistants: Bryn Atkinson + Oliver Parish
Executive Producers: Rob Pursell + Chris Worden + Aaron Lutze
VFX: Jeremy Kenning + Scotty Carlson
Post Production Sound: Keith White
Audio Voice Over: Penny Ryder
Photography: Bryn Atkinson
Produced By: Juicy Studios
Red Bull
I rode over a large rat a few years ago, your question gives me shudder-inducing flashbacks...nighttime commute along the waterfront, rolling 12mph and THUNK THUNK double-tagged what appeared to be an 18" rodent...I screamed and sprinted out of there (easily 16mph), haunted. Ugh. It made a noise, that rat did.
YT, how about a 2 hour ominous film featuring a dude dresses as goaty version of Donni Darko's rabbit?
@notoutsideceo
Be safe be well,
Incognito Robin
That was excellent!!!