Bitcoin Sign Guy: The Everyman

This cartoon was commissioned by Coindesk for their year-end Most Influential People in Crypto 2017 feature. Check out their interview with Bitcoin Sign Guy here.

The anonymous hero who photobombed Janet Yellen with his handwritten sign became an unexpected symbol for the rambunctious armchair revolutionaries that rallied around Bitcoin this year.

I struggled with the concept for this piece, and in fact, finished a completely different treatment before hitting on the Sesame Street concept you see above. The Coindesk folks already had a pretty strong idea of what they wanted for Bitcoin Sign Guy and we went back and forth for awhile on this one.

I’m including the first draft here for posterity. (Mild pun intended.)

The inspiration for the final cartoon came mainly from Feist’s “1, 2, 3, 4” music video, as remade with the Muppets. I knew that I wanted something silly but really impactful, in much the same way that our hero was, and it’s probably my personal favorite from this Coindesk series.