Santa Cruz Skateboard Art by Jim & Jimbo Phillips

Back in the day, I was an avid skateboarder and I would always buy Santa Cruz boards. I remember when I walked in my local skate shop and first saw the ‘Rob Roskopp Face’ deck, I just knew that is what I wanted.

The main attraction I had to these decks was the truly detailed, brilliant, grotesque and colourful artwork that adorned them. Any skater will instantly recognise these trademark skate designs by the father and son talent of Jim Phillips and Jimbo Phillips. It was always kind of heart-breaking, that after a few months the decks artwork would be scratched or damaged due to some serious skating!

Jim Phillips started at Santa Cruz in 1975 as Art Director, where he went on to create thousands of deck, clothing and stickers artwork. Jim Phillips is responsible for the iconic Santa Cruz ‘Screaming Hand’ logo. Jim still works for NHS inc/Santa Cruz, continuing to create special edition deck designs and various other products for the skate, snowboard and surfboard markets, and you can see a great collection of his work in the book ‘Surf, Skate and Rock Art of Jim Phillips.’

Jimbo Phillips started out an early age in the late 80’s helping his father design the graphics for skate companies and in the early 90’s started his own graphic design studio. He has won numerous awards not just for designs for the skateboard industry, but also for companies like Toyota and Nike. You can purchase some of Jimbo’s amazing art products from his online store.

Claus Grabke

Rob Roskopp

Claus Grabke & Jason Jessee

Corey O’Brien

Jason Jessee & Jeff Grosso

Rob Roskopp & Jeff Kendall

Jason Jessee & Slasher

Salba

Eric Dressen & Jeff Grosso

Jeff Kendall

Natas

The Screaming Hand

Hosoi

Emmanuel Guzman

Tuck ‘n’ Rolla & Mudder

Claus Grabke & Alex Maul

Rob Roskopp & Emmanuel Guzman

Jimbo Supper

Flo Marfaing & Slick Stick

Sid Melvin & Speed Face

Hosai & Awilhelm Scream

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