NEW SKATEBOARD GRAPHICS

1) Who are you? I am a professional skateboarder and owner of Toy Machine Bloodsucking Skateboard Company.

2) Where are you from? Huntington Beach, California.

3) How did you get in to art? Seeing Europe for the first time in 1990.

4) What were your earliest influences? My grandmother’s arts and crafts, Egon Schiele, old books.

5) What media do you work in? For skateboards, I work with Paper, Ink, Scanners, and Photoshop and Illustrator.

6) What are you looking at now? Middle school yearbooks. But clouds with contrived drips are the next big thing in Skate Graphics.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? In 1990 I was offered to go pro, and I decided early on that I was gonna do all of my own graphics. So that started it off.

8) What companies have you made work for? New Deal, Foundation, Black Label, Toy Machine, Emerica shoes, RVCA clothing, Thunder Trucks.

1) Who are you? Ruben Sanchez.

2) Where are you from? Madrid, Spain.

3) How did you get in to art? Through graffiti I guess.

4) What were you earliest influences? Mediterranean colors, poker card graphics, stained glass, flamenco.

5) What media do you work in? Computer graphics with illustrator, pen, spray, acrylics, collage…

6) What are you looking at now? The finals of the football Euro-Championships: Spain vs Germany.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? Alai skateboards gave me the chance. I was working in a studio in Barcelona and I wanted to start as a freelance since I never arrived on time at the office, so my friends at Alai were one of my first clients, I began to produce the graphics for the decks and clothing, website, catalogues, etc.

8) What companies have you made work for? DC Shoes, Alife, Adio, Eastpak, Sony, Lego, Honda… and a lot of Spanish companies I’m sure you’ve never heard of. Some works I enjoy more than others but we all have to eat, right?

Here's our first bonus 14 Questions with ex-Crailtapper/Art Dump guy and current Crownfarmer/Club Mumble impresario, Bob Kronbauer. We weren't able to use any of Bob's work in New Skateboard Graphics cause timing was no good but he was instrumental in getting a lot of people involved. And for that we are ever grateful. You can check out Bob's art and design at bobkronbauer.com.

1. Who are you? I'm a father, an artist and a trout fisherman.

2. Where are you from? I was born in a small town in British Columbia. Right now I live in Vancouver.

3. How did you get into art? When I was a little kid my family was forced to eat dinner in the kitchen every night for about five years because the dining room was home to a beast that my mom called The Activity Table that she had set up for my sister and I. It was covered in tons of different types of paper, felt, pipe cleaners, egg cartons, thread, glue, googly eyes, crayons, and all sorts of recyclables and other stuff. My sister and I would sit there for hours just crafting and inventing shit. It was the best.

4. What were you earliest influences? Definitely The Activity Table.

5. What media do you work in? Art direction, photography, film making... but lately I feel like I've just been putting together puzzle pieces. I think that's what I might be best at, but I'm still trying to figure it out.

6. What are you looking at now? I'm looking at getting a new used Jeep because my old one completely broke down and it's going to be camping season in no time.

7. How did you start doing skateboard graphics? Andy Jenkins hired me on at Girl Skateboards in 2001 to help with production on Lakai Footwear design stuff and to head up Crailtap.com. I basically just started pitching ideas for board graphics and eventually some of them stuck. I've never been a really good designer, my strength is in my ideas and somehow they've made their way onto the bottoms of some boards and t-shirts and stuff.

8. What companies have you made work for? A bunch. My favorites have been for Girl and my presently-slumbering t-shirt company, Crownfarmer. I keep a digital journal of stuff that I've done at BobKronbauer.com.

1) Who are you? Andrew Groves.

2) Where are you from? I’m from a small seaside town on the south coast of England.

3) How did you get in to art? I guess just by drawing and making things all the time...it just happened.

4) What were you earliest influences? Super Mario, Jim Henson films, comics, skateboards and so many other things.

5) What media do you work in? Most of my work is created on the computer with Illustrator, but I like screenprinting, painting and making things a lot too.

6) What are you looking at now? Right now? My computer screen. But I often look outside.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? I had posted up some mock-ups of skateboard decks on my website,stating that I’d like to do some graphics for skateboards if anyone was listening. About a month later I got an email from the artdirector at Foundation saying, “I’m listening.” It all just went from there.

8) What companies have you made work for? For skate companies, just Foundation Skateboards.

1) Who are you? I’m an artist and graphic designer.

2) Where are you from? Denver, Colorado.

3) How did you get in to art? My parents are both artists, I just grew up with art around me.

4) What were you earliest influences? Children’s books probably. I really like the books by Richard Scary, the drawing style is great and there are lots of complex scenes with all sort of things to look at.

5) What media do you work in? For commercial work, skateboards and stuff I usually do drawings in black and white, then scan them and add color in Photoshop and Illustrator. For my fine art I draw with india ink, paint with gouache and acrylic. I also make woodblock prints and intaglio prints.

6) What are you looking at now? I’m really influenced by Antonio Frasconi, he’s one of the greatest woodcut artists ever.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? I was working for a snowboarding company and my work caught the eye of Andy Jenkins and he asked me about doing skateboard graphics for Chocolate. I grew up skateboarding and drawing so it seemed like my perfect job.

8) What companies have you made work for? I’ve done work for Volkswagen, Target, Pioneer, Merrell, Burton and a few others.

1) Who are you? Jahmal Williams: Artist/Professional Skateboarder.

2) Where are you from? Boston, currently reside in Brooklyn NY.

3) How did you get in to art? Drawing my favorite Star Wars ships, and looking at Norman Rockwell calendars.

4) What were you earliest influences?Early Japanese cartoons from the late 70’s early 80’s like Force Five and Gai King.

Drawing, Painting, Sculpture and lately Photoshop and Illustrator.

6) What are you looking at now?Jacob Lawrence and The Migration Series.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? I was sponsored by a company called T.V. which was owned by Ed Templeton and Mike Vallely and they did all the creative work. They encouraged me to make my own board graphic which was my first ever pro-model.

8) What companies have you made work for? T.V., American Dream.

Kelly D. Williams is the man and something of a renaissance man at that. Painter, designer, musician, family man, and sometime Slap/Club Mumble contributor. He also Art Directs at Analog Clothing and Creative Directs the Distrikt Collective. Disclosure: Myself and The MVA have both benefited from our relationship with Kelly D. but thats not why he's in the book.

1) Who are you? A science spy.

2) Where are you from? I grew up in Snake River, Idaho. I like the trees and the mountains.

3) How did you get in to art? From skateboarding. Skateboard decks are the ultimate canvas for cool art because they were not intended to be so conducive to creativity.

4) What were your earliest influences?  Dudes like Gonz and Ed Templeton were the ones that mainly inspired me to make a living from art. As far as artists, I always like the work of Basquiat and Stella.

5) What media do you work in? I paint a lot and do gallery installations.

6) What are you looking at now? I’ve been making silent records.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? My friend and killer pro Gareth Stehr was kind enough to let me do a pro model graphic for him, which is the one included in this book. That wasn’t the first graphic, but ever since then I have tried to do more because I love it.

8) What companies have you made work for? The awesome ones.

Ben Horton is the mastermind behind $lave, the newest company to come out of Jamie Thomas' Black Box distribution (home of Myster, Zero and Fallen). He somehow manages to take the age-old anti-conformity attitude and breathe new life into it. No small feat.

1) Who are you? Still not sure...

2) Where are you from? East County, San Diego, CA, USA, North America, Earth

3) How did you get in to art? I don’t think I was ever out of art. Been drawing since I can remember.

4) What were you earliest influences? The kids around me in school, cartoons and my Fathers drawings of his 1970 Chevelle SS.

5) What media do you work in? Ink on Paper. Acrylic paint on wood or canvas. Mixed Media. A Computer.

6) What are you looking at now? A photo of a little girl staring at a Silverback Gorilla staring back at her.

7) How did you start doing skateboard graphics? Not really sure. Just kept drawing and skating.

8) What companies have you made work for? A handful.