Freedom From Want

Flat Out Book Teaser : Model A

2011-12-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

This is another teaser image for my book Flat Out: The Story of the Birth of Hot Rodding.

Bye For Now

2011-12-02T10:57:00.000-08:00

*** I found this 4 year old draft of a post that never was, so I'm-a post it today!***
It's been a long, heartfelt decision to finally come to grips with, but the roadster project is going to have to wait for now. I've decided to up and sell my project of the last few years. So long to those parts and components that took me on many adventures and missions: high-desert drag strips, misty morning swap meets, getting lost, finding my way, scrounging the bins on eBay, sifting through old car mags, making friends and connections, shooting the shit, de-greasing, cleaning, learning, planning, paint scheme dreaming, walking cold fields of North Dakota and Montana with my uncle, taking pictures, coming up short, friendly donations...I look forward to doing it all over again. Soon I hope.
In the meantime, recouping my investment from the roadster project will get us out on track with completing about a dozen other projects I have going as of late. Mostly home-related. I'm calling it "The Dirt Elimination Project" as we have plenty of empty dirt patches at the ranch waiting to get green.

Flat Out Book Teaser : Modified 5 Window

2011-12-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

This is a teaser image for my book Flat Out: The Story of the Birth of Hot Rodding. It will be illustrated and written by my self. A labor of love.

First Kill...

2011-11-07T20:05:00.000-08:00

2011-2012 Nitro Pro Decks

2011-10-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Some Pro deck graphics for Nitro I did last year... for this year! They are out now at your finer snow shred shop! Photos by Passi on Eero's board and Kooley's are by Mark Welsh!

Ironworkers Local 584

2011-10-12T08:56:00.000-07:00

Campaign logo for my buddy Mike running for Office at the Ironworkers Local 584 Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Hellboy Ink Sketch

2011-09-23T11:07:00.000-07:00

ELECTRIC VISUAL Tees

2011-04-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

A few designs from Spring and Summer 2011 for Electric Visual.

LOSER MACHINE Spring 2011

2011-04-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Some of my newer tee designs for Loser Machine. Order them here!!!

Prepper Pickles

2011-03-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay... I have been prepping, pickling, and mini-golfing.

Hank III

2011-01-13T08:51:00.000-08:00

Blue, you're my boy!!!

2011-01-11T08:39:00.000-08:00

This is Patrick Crenshaw. He was "Blue" in the movie Old School.

The Best Bone-Less E-V-E-R- (period)

2011-01-08T23:46:00.000-08:00

Let Them Hate... So Long As They Fear

2011-01-06T23:12:00.000-08:00

Let me assure you all that I am in no way famous or vain enough for a "Co-Lab", "Designer X Company", or "Super-Limited-Exclusive-Flavor of the Month"... so please excuse this, but L1 Outerwear is graciously doing a feature on me in their upcoming dealer catalog for 2011-2012 and producing a coaches jacket with my artwork on it. You can bet that we will have them on hand for occasions when such conditions permit... product image forthcoming. Best fitting snowboarding duds on the market, by the way... just my opinion.

2010 in Review

2010-12-23T19:51:00.000-08:00

Just a snapshot of some of the stuff I have been blessed to create for others.

Chief

2010-12-07T18:22:00.000-08:00

Flat File Treasure

2010-12-03T09:35:00.000-08:00

Found these in the old flat file today and thought they might like to get out for a bit. Two pieces for Vans and one from Forum Snowboards I did way back when.

Preferred Parking

2010-11-30T16:37:00.000-08:00

Who needs a parking permit when you have one of these? Thanks Dave!

Duane Ballard Shirts!

2010-11-24T14:23:00.000-08:00

The Limited Edition Duane Ballard Custom Leather T-Shirts fresh from the screenprinters and off to the Mooneyes Yokohama's!

They Drew Fire

2010-11-16T09:09:00.000-08:00

Great title, an even better documentary and highly recommended viewing.
They Drew Fire - Combat Artists of World War II

Beauty Parade

2010-11-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

A few pin-ups from a few years back.

Moon Eyes Yokohama 2010

2010-11-03T16:17:00.000-07:00

Wish I could attend this show, but instead my artwork will via Duane Ballard who will be selling a t-shirt I am working on for him especially for this event. I will post the artwork as the event draws near, so stay tuned. Also, if you need a custom leather motorcycle seat, wallet, belt, or anything else that is hand made out of leather and 100% bad ass, give Duane a call! His bike, the Pink Taco, will also be at the show and is all the rage with the Japs!!!

2011 Raiden Charger

2010-10-22T23:43:00.000-07:00

Catalog season for 2012 Nitro and Raiden product has begun and had me thinking about all the stuff I worked on last year that should be on the shelves in stores right now, this minute, at your local shred shop! Photos: Mark Welsh Photographry

2011 Raiden Lynx

2010-10-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

2011 Raiden Deco

2010-10-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

Inspired by graphic versatility...

(Corinne Mayer Lan franco graphic hook-up)

2011 Raiden D.I.Y.

2010-10-22T23:16:00.000-07:00

Entry-level kids binding with just a sprinkling of branding. Just enough to get 'em started...

2011 Raiden Strike

2010-10-22T23:10:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Mark Rogowski, throwing dart flight graphics, AC/DC and bitmap dot-fades...

2011 Raiden Wizard

2010-10-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Toxic Skateboards, POWER Edge Magazine, and the film Seven...

October Art Pile Up

2010-10-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Needless to say there has been a lack of updates here on the FFW Innerweb Blog Space, so here we go today with some images of completed and in-progress after hours projects that have been keeping me busy and away from posting. Enjoy.

Flat Earth Motoring Club

2010-08-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

Skaterbuilt Pre-Orders!!!

2010-08-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Breaking news from friend, neighbor, and fellow skate-dad, Dave-O of Skaterbuilt. Check it out!!!

Vintage Destroyers

2010-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Big props go out to Brandon "Tern" Parrish for un-earthing these images and dispatching them to our secure location at FFW-HQ. Each illustration served as the main graphic image for each of the five decks in the 2004 Destroyer Series I worked on during my stint at Forum Snowboards from 1999-2007. In 2001 the Destroyer Series was spawned (as a cast-off name for Peter Lines Pro Series for that year) and continues to be staple in the brands hardgoods line up to this day. This series was a blast to work on every season and definitely helped shape the brand and myself as an artist.

SK8-EAT-DRINK-PUKE Flyer/Invite

2010-08-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

Lowrider Machine

2010-08-04T22:01:00.000-07:00

New wordmark logo for Loser Machine Company. No, it is not a font...

ZERO Trainwreck

2010-07-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

Alex "Trainwreck" Gall - Headless Horseman (full and mini). I had done a few logo-driven shop decks prior to this, but this was my first fully illustrated one.

ZERO Stained Glass

2010-07-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

ZERO Decks

2010-07-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Been meaning to post these decks I did with ZERO for a while now, so here they are. Woah!!! I just checked and these were done back in 2001! I'll have some more up soon...

NERD ALERT!!!

2010-07-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

Rescued the comic book collection from the sweltering heat of the garage and filed them neatly away in the bookcase for future reference. 4 shelves worth. Bagged and boarded mind you. Not the largest collection by any means, but a collection none-the-less.

Studio Randomness...

2010-07-14T16:05:00.000-07:00

Loser Machine Tees!!!

2010-07-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

Just finished up a few t-shirt designs for Loser Machine Co. and will be available in the Fall. I am really pumped to be working with them.

Pilots Breath

2010-07-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Preliminary sketch for a new painting entitled "Pilot's Breath". 9" x 12", Prismacolor and Conte on 64 lb. Strathmore Tinted Charcoal Paper.

Josh Mills Nitro Graphics

2010-04-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

Un-used board graphic for Josh Mills, 2011 and his 2010 pin-up graphic, which is out now. Career sidelined temporarily by a chronic knee injury. Get well soon buddy.

Shawn Barber Workshop

2010-04-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

Photos from a SD Barber oil painting portrait workshop I attended last month. In progress...

Seattle Pow Wow

2010-03-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

Meeting with the Nitro crew this weekend at the Seattle Design Office to plan our 2012 assault. Great weather for a change!

Freedom From Want X Atwater Collection

2010-03-27T14:49:00.000-07:00

From the Fall 2009 Atwater Collection.

Tactical to Practical

2010-03-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

While this post is not something "art related" I thought I would share something else of interest here at FFW-HQ. The very cool iPhone case by Magpul. Barely on the market and just shown at SHOT they are already on back order at most dealers. Just ordered two however. One in Flat Dark Earth, the other in Black. Photos by Stickman.

MISFITS Art

2010-03-10T14:41:00.000-08:00

The brand new Misfit series available this season from Nitro featuring a die-cut fabric top-sheet with iron-on transfers featuring these hot rod monsters and creepy custom lettering! Ink on paper, 10 1/2" x 15".

Thanks LOSERs!!!

2010-03-09T15:51:00.000-08:00

A good bunch of folks, doing things right. Loser Machine Company. Support them. Oh, and thanks for the gear!

Hope & Union Coffee Co.

2010-03-05T07:59:00.000-08:00

Late last year my good friend, artist, designer and now entrepreneur, John Vergel reached out to me with a project he needed my help with. The result is the whimsical "Floating Goat" logo you will see conservatively branding coffee cups at the newly established Hope & Union Coffee Co. in Charleston, South Carolina. More info here. If you are in the area, please stop by for a cup.

Jon Kooley Tattooed

2010-03-04T11:05:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure to work with one of my favorite snow shreds this past year on his latest Pro One-Off Deck for the Nitro 2011 collection. The praying hands image was illustrated using photo reference of Jon's hands, tattoos included. The topsheet image speaks for itself. Watercolor and Ink on paper: 14 1/2" x 18"and 18" x 24".

Gross Out Kids!!!

2010-03-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Recent "Gross Out Kids" Pro-Series for the Nitro 2011 Collection. These will be out next season. Acrylic on Illustration board, 10" x 15".

Neko Nomads

2009-02-19T10:47:00.001-08:00

Found a cool Air Force souvenir jacket on the interwebs from the unit my dad was in while he was stationed in Japan during the early 70's. Maybe late 60's. I have this patch too.

Nose Tech

2009-02-18T09:12:00.000-08:00

Gun's 'N' Wankers

2009-02-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

From way, way... I mean way back. This was for Rudy/Hot Skates Company in Orange, Ca. 2001

Have A Nice Life

2009-02-06T13:30:00.000-08:00

My good friend Dean Bradley / Atwater Collection hooked me up with a few black POSCA pens, so I gave them a test spin this morning by inking a tribute to one my favorite movies of all time, Stanley Kubrick's FULL METAL JACKET. Thanks buddy!

Bombers For Days

2009-02-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

Inglewood, Ca was a lot cooler back in the forties. That's for sure...

Lopez Biker

2009-01-15T12:31:00.000-08:00

Sketch of an Adrian Lopez graphic for Zero I found in the archives. He hadn't turned into a motorcycle guy yet and the graphic didn't pass Jamie's credibility test, so it got pushed to the back burner.

FFW Recon Cycle

2009-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

A few shots of the FFW Cruiser used for park, library and post office recon. Mods include: custom front/rear reflective tape on fenders, top-tube "Invasion Stripes" and Bullet Cap Valve Caps (not shown) by owner.

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-01-08T11:48:00.000-08:00

Today is "Elvis Day" at the FFW HQ. All Day. Thank You.

New Trims

2008-12-20T17:12:00.000-08:00

I love new trims.

Montana Wilderness Part 2

2008-12-20T17:01:00.000-08:00

I Love Bunny's

2008-12-05T12:58:00.001-08:00

Montana Wilderness Part 1

2008-12-04T09:01:00.000-08:00

Just waiting for my uncle Irv to broker the deal with the landowner to start pulling vehicles off the property. The Chevrolet should be first. Location: Montana

Preventive Maintenance Monthly

2008-12-02T09:19:00.000-08:00

Love this stuff!

Keith Weesner

2008-12-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

Good stuff going on over at Weesner. Big fan, big fan.

Another Way to Play Army

2008-12-01T07:02:00.000-08:00

If I order from Ebbets now, I might just have one in time for X-Mas.

'63 Unibody

2008-09-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

A neat '63 Unibody that I was almost mine... if only it had the Streamline Go Kart! I spied this one day driving down the street with $1500 scribbled on the back window with white shoe polish. I immediately made a swift U-turn and followed it to its destination not far away and negotiated a test drive. Real sweet. Ran and drove great. Three-on-the-tree. All original. Everything was there. What soured the deal was hat someone had hacked off the "cool" peak of the roof-line at the rear of the cab and did a hasty bondo job to fill it in. Bummer. Would have been a steal.

Show and Go!

2008-09-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

Just a nice vintage model kit of a '63 F100 Unibody I found on the eBay.

Sneak Peek!

2008-09-05T13:37:00.000-07:00

SAV< BOOBS X Skaterbuilt X FFW

2008-09-04T21:25:00.000-07:00

Freedom From Want: '65 F100 Custom Cab

2008-09-03T20:01:00.000-07:00

The newest addition to the fleet.

S. BUILT BUCKY Pro-Model

2008-09-03T15:20:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to do some graphics for my neighbor, Dave-O who is the Owner/Operator of Skaterbuilt out of his secret board-shaping lab a stones throw away from my house. Well he and Chris Meinerz (aka Bucky, who is a friend of Steve Alba) , got the O.K. from the Screaming Lord himself and had me knock off the S.ALBA BEVEL Re-ish from Santa Cruz for his Pro-Model. The "Dream Deck". They made a super limited run of these so they are probly sold-out by now. It was a fun little project to work on in the middle of everything else going on. Thanks guys!

FFW is fucking Down With People

2008-06-04T15:43:00.000-07:00

Down With People!!!

FreedomFromWant has teamed up with Justin and Pierre to wreak havoc on the snow-shred-video scene for next year...just wait. They are gonna put some salt on people's game!!! Real snowboarding... you don't have to be 'head-to-toe' to have fun and make a fun movie about fun shit. 'Sup now?

It has been a long time coming for Justin and I to collab on a project. We met in the late 80's at the Tustin Tiller Days when he was tryin' to sell me a pair of Tracker metals (Tracker Trucks with metal baseplates) at a makeshift mini-ramp a bunch of us made out of foldable lunch tables. Needless to say, I passed on the trucks. I'm an Independent man myself. (The police had shut down the wall ride & jump ramp sesh.) It was more of a makeshift 'ditch', if you catch my meaning. We struck up a loose affiliation from there and then things really hit the fan when we took it to the mountains in the the early 90's. J-Rock always had the Hi-8 and was ready to bonk, build a jib, or film the hit. The rest is history. Thanks guys, for the opportunity to be a part of something so rad like this.

Van Jones

2008-06-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

Been Jones-ing for a van lately...yes, I am partial to Fords.

Bloody Roots

2008-04-22T15:28:00.000-07:00

Been pumping the Sepultura pretty hard in the studio this week. This one goes out to Brand-tern and his very head-banging locks of doom.

That's right folks!!!

2008-04-11T12:05:00.000-07:00

Go Forth and Kill

2008-04-11T11:59:00.000-07:00

Things have been getting really weird here at the FFW/HQ. Peep this Sean Connery gem.

The Holy Mountain

2008-04-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

One of my daily web visits/to-do's before tackling the days tasks is Erik Brunneti's blog on the fuct™ site. Needless to say I have been a huge fan of Fuct™ since the early 90's. And the band SLEEP as well... basically it's the trailer for the 1973 film "The Holy Mountain" set to a Sleep tune. It will blow your mind...

See the film's trailer here.

Join the Rebellion

2008-04-04T08:40:00.000-07:00

The Master

2008-04-03T14:35:00.001-07:00

So Good...

2008-03-20T13:22:00.001-07:00

Busy Days

2008-03-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Been busy these days working on the Nitro 2010 collection. Really excited to be drawing again. Dusting off the cobwebs in the 'ol wrists and keeping those pencil tips sharp!

Apologies to Pink Floyd

2008-03-11T21:30:00.000-07:00

Freelance piece for my friends over at emerica. More to follow...

Bomb Drops

2008-03-05T08:58:00.000-08:00

Here's a little logo I did for Forum a little while back and some of the things it got put on.

Todd Francis

2008-02-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

It's nice to be able to put a face to the work of someone I have admired for some time. Todd Francis has been doing skate graphics for a number of years now for companies like Anti-Hero, Real, Stereo, Spitfire and has a new series out now with Element. The "Old Bones" series breathes some life into some old pros and look really nice too. Come to find out I have a Natas deck he did tucked away in the garage which I will have to put up in the office. Check out the piece they did on him here. It's rare that people get to see the inner workings of how graphics come together.

Superfortress!

2008-02-23T08:27:00.000-08:00

Been thinking a lot lately about my Grandpa Brown from some "conspiracy talk" this past week. He happened to be stationed at Roswell in 1947 when all that alien stuff supposedly went down. He was from the old school. Stern. Set in his ways. He never spoke of it. Only once did he offer up a story that they might have been testing nuclear delivery devices and other bombardments using high altitude balloons... but, that was only to put an end to our inquiries, I suspect. He Crew Chiefed B-29's from that time up until he retired in the late '60's. Not to mention he was an original member of the AVG!

Where My Dogs At?

2008-02-19T15:47:00.001-08:00

One of the last things I did for Evan at the program was this illustration for the Cobra Dogs hot dog cart. They're (Forum) gonna "unofficially-like" sponsor the deal for the season and wrap the sucker up with some digitally printed vinyl sporting these illos. Enjoy!

Oh, and I quit working for Forum after 9 great years. I'll be posting some random artwork from my time there. Actually, I already did! Those black-and-white jobs below down there, yeah, there, were from the Youngblood series I did back in '04 or '05... something like that. Bonus points of you can guess the heavy-metal bands associated with the art.

2008-02-18T12:47:00.000-08:00

Randoms

2008-02-01T12:21:00.000-08:00

Thought it was a bout time to post something. Been busy lurking at ASR and SIA Tradeshows and whatnot. Most of these photos were form recent travels to Tokyo, Boston, and NYC. Thanks to Sean B for showing me around Beantown and the Apple!

Miraculous Day at the Park

2008-01-11T11:12:00.000-08:00

Had a great time at El Dorado Park the other weekend with Ava and wifey. Picnic'd and played on the slides and swing sets. Weather was perfect. Even found a cool little R/C Airplane area where a bunch of old crusty dudes with their insane little Sunday hobby set-ups were parked. Kris though I would fit in perfect there! I need to get a plane.

Public Intrest Test

2008-01-10T21:15:00.000-08:00

PBR Weekend..

2007-04-30T21:51:00.000-07:00

Complete Birthday Weekend Update coming soon...including Quarter Pipe Build, Gift Guide Synopsis, and Black Label Sidewalk Sales loot!!! Stay Tuned yo!

RAT LAND

2007-02-26T07:34:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I found myself at the G-Dub Swap. AKA Super Junk. (The Golden West Swapmeet for you laymen.) I met up with some fellow fans (co-desk jockey Sean B and clan inlc.) of refuse and hit the aisles of debris, dodged Mexi-mullets, haggled a bit, and found some treasure along the way. The only rules were "If you didn't walk around the trach can at the end of an aisle, it didn't count and you would have to go back an do the aisle over. Needless to say there was a lot to sift through. What I though would bea mellow hour to hour and a half, turned into a 4 hour stoll through some of Orange County's finest junk I haveseen in a while!
The catch:
Tales From the Crypt Issue #1 (come to find out it was an early 90's re-ish...oh well)
Ray-O-Vac Sportsman flashlight
Horseshoe
Cast eagle ( with deterirating brass plating)
Pulled all that outta there for $19 bucks. Not too bad. I'm bringin' a wagon next time...

2007-02-02T09:07:00.000-08:00