Saturday, May 14, 2011

Deon's Custom Skate Art Deck

My good friend Deon and I met through collecting Star Wars toys and for many years he put his drawing skills on the back burner but now he's back as Jumpsuit Art, kicking huge butt and taking names!


I threw a gig/party/live art thing at a local club for my birthday and asked 6 people to customise some old skool inspired (flat and unrideable) decks I made from leftover 6mm plywood. I was particularly enamoured with Deon's one, especially since he took into account where the trucks would go and he used the space well. When I saw the drawing taking shape, I offered to top any bid. Little did I know the crafty gent had been planning to give it to me all along! Feast your eyes below.


The full deck showing the start of a gentlemen's duel. This is my kind of fish! It would make a hardy rider, with space left for a jawbone and tailbone. Click for a larger view (recommended).


I really dig how the photocopy-proof blue pencil sketching is still visible up close. As an illustrator myself I have to marvel at the perfect balance and poise of these dandy dudes.


Oops! Offence has been taken and sword-cane's are drawn. You can see in this closeup how crappy the plywood is - it must have been a nightmare to draw on using markers.


I'm stoked to have such rad stuff to draw attention to my crappy little blog. I'm sure anyone who's made it this far has been pleasantly surprised to find two posts with absolutely no whinging about scratching the Slasher or how wonderful Speed Demon Gooeys are! Stick with me, there's more to come. Cheers, BB.

Sam's Custom Skate Art Deck

How lucky am I to have such rad friends?

For my recent birthday I received not one, but two customised decks as a gift, amongst many other rad but non-skate related stuff. The first is a KFD deck sanded down to natural wood then painstakingly handpainted in gouache by my good friend Sam Breakspear aka Soopashy (she of the custom Slasher Munny last birthday). The subject of the artwork is kind of an inside joke but at least you can appreciate the ridiculously tight lettering and insane layout.

The full deck. Click for larger view (all pics).

The tightness of this hand lettered logo and the "Ozzie's Café" signage is font-like in it's crispness.

This little guy is so cool, and he's so stoked on his Santa Cruz! Look at the detail and authenticity of the logo and hardware - even the distress on the board and helmet. Insane.

No detail left out - even the typical sneakers–on–a–wire have become Vans Half Cabs!
Just one of two bits of stoking artwork to be uploaded today. Check out more of Sam's work here. I'll sign off on the next post.