Skateparks, spraypaint, good hip hop and good people make for some badass art. Grateful to be a part of it.

The show is Saturday July 21st. 2012
7 to 1AM.

Unit B studio. 2040 S. Yale Santa Ana ca.

Hope to see you there.

This is a combo package I did for Josh Burger of Burgerbeat dub step productions. The original request was for a logo, but I decided his project needed a little push beyond just a logo and threw the illustration in just so we could see the actual direction his branding was going. Over all, I think it turned out fantastic and my client got more than expected, which is always important to me. I look forward to working with Josh in the future. He is a gifted artist and I see many good things for him in days, months and years to come. Keep grinding Josh. Best, J.

From the sketchbook

I was commissioned to do a limited edition t-shirt for Fresh ink clothing this week. The design was largely influenced by the recent activities of the occupy movement and the general state of the global currency crisis. I really liked the sketch and worked through it in multiple states using vellum, Photoshop and illustrator. Vellum has a fantastic drawing surface and seems to really compliment my loose line style. I have been employing it for revisions and an overall looser feel to my drawings and designs that drawing paper simply doesn’t do the job for. All of my splatters and paint designs are done by hand; I don’t buy any of my vector art. The background for this illustration was made with some house paint on a pizza box, photographed and imported through Photoshop, turned to a bitmap, then turned to a vector in illustrator. This design will premier at local raves and party scenes in CA. I think that Fresh ink does most of their marketing at these events, although I am sure they will be available at local retailers like One world Costa Mesa and other retailers in Southern CA.  I am working on convincing them to make the background luminescent as we now have silkscreen ink that is glow in the dark. I will keep you posted as soon as it’s printed. Hope you like, best, J.

Detail. Top middle of deck

Snowboards overhead. Top/bottom. From left to right

Description/Specs

About six months ago, I received a call from an eastern area code. I recognized it instantly, the area code. I grew up on the east coast and have lived in many eastern states as I stumbled the country trying to not only find myself but a receptive community for my art. I figured it was an old friend of mine, which was unusual, it was too early for drunken call from old friends, too early even for them. “Hello,” I answered cautiously, I didn’t announce myself, (this might be an electric bill from a long time ago). I was wrong on both speculations; the call was from Dave Tran, co-founder and owner of Monument snowboards. “We were talking to our Japanese distributers and wrote up a wish list of artists that they would like to see on our boards and your name popped up.” He explained. This was more Eastern that I had thought. Monuments home base is in Washington DC, but they work closely with distributers in Japan and even have a large production partnership going on over there. Japan has an avid snowboarding community, more importantly they love crazy art. My friend Yoshi, had plugged me in and I was very excited. I had wanted to put my designs on snowboards for quite some time, I was just having problems trying to figure out how to make it happen. I could make my own, but that would open a whole new bag of worms in terms of budgeting and marketing I was hesitant to even open, I was just starting to get the hang of dealing with retailers for my shirts. So after some negotiations, six months of wondering whether or not this whole thing would happen I got a last minute call for the designs. The deadline was in a week and I was in the middle of moving apartments. I moved everything out except my computer and a lamp and got to work. The results of that work are seen above. I dealt with lot of stress in this project due to the circumstances but made deadline. I think they turned out lovely and really couldn’t be happier with them. was really glad to have the creative freedom to express myself on the project. There was no limitation on what I wanted to create and that always makes for better product as far as I’m concerned. There’s a big difference between illustration and art and I’m happy to say that these boards are art. I made them just like I would for myself. I hope the snowboarding community enjoys them as much as I enjoyed creating something unique for the global marketplace. I think artistic integrity is something the industry is falling short on. I give thanks to Monument, Dave Tran, and Yoshi Josef “too much” for giving me the opportunity to create without limits, as well as get myself into a marketplace I’ve been really itching to bust into. Cheers! Hope you like. Best, J

For more info on Monument snowboards, my decks available next season or retailers that carry them, Please visit Monument HERE

MNMNT FVK 155 2012/2013 test ride sneak peak from Thomas Baxter on Vimeo.