Seems like every time you open a surf mag all you see are super human surf stuntmen chucking their boards above the lip line. As one commentator at the recent WQS contest said, "the air reverse is the new cutback." Interesting.
The other thing you may notice is that most of the artwork is done on the deck of the board, and particularly in the back 2/3 of the board. Reason? Well, admittedly we're all followers of fashion in a sense, and what the pros ride is what the kids want. But there is also a bit of function to the direction of color design.
One, the fresh white canvas of the nose area allows the sponsor's logos to be seen clearly (important, because they are paying the bills). Two, all that color between the surfer's feet flashes brightly as they go through one of their tail chucking turns. Judges like that and the big turns get rewarded accordingly (also important, because good results mean the sponsors keep wanting to pay the bills).
Where is this going? Let's get back down to earth. The folks at Del Cabo Surf Shop asked me to do a batch of shortboards and were wondering if I would do the color work too. "What would you like?" was my question. "Something the kids like" was the reply.
Hmm. I might have an idea. The one thing about the youth movement is that anything goes. And that's what made doing these loose and simple sprays so fun. This batch will also have the WCS logo offset to the right side so the kids can put all their cool stickers up on the nose.
Post script: Stress Test
The most stressful part of my week is loading up freshly shaped and airbrushed boards and driving them to the glass shop. It's similar to running an "egg in a spoon" race across a prairie dog town - land mines everywhere. Traffic and road construction is all part of running the gauntlet.
Not until after the boards are all safely lined up with work cards and decals can I take a deep breath and relax. Now let's go surfing.