Behind the Scenes of Being a Snowboard Graphic Artist | “Graphics right now are super fucking boring.”
Snowboards wouldn’t be snowboards without graphics. They bring back memories of legendary old footage and pro riders as well as get you stoked to rip when you look down at your feet. Now meet Dave Banks who has made many of the best graphics over the last few years by forever keeping it creepy.
Sample:
Do you think there is a general trend in snowboarding that is either a good or bad thing?
Graphics right now are super fucking boring. I see a whole bunch of companies just not really taking any risks, it is all kind of mass market driven, so there is less content in the graphics, there is less reason for a purchaser to turn one way or another. I would love to see that change, to see a little more forward thinking shit out there, but right now it is kind of boring.
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Do you have any good stories from working with Bode or another rider on their graphics?
Jed and his Salomonder. It was probably the first season I had to work with him, and we went up to Govy, the team was at the house for a session or something like that. We were spitballing ideas, and it turns out there are actual salamanders in Frog Lake. So Jed’s all hyped and he’s like “Dude, we should collect a bunch of salamanders, and we’ll cut them up and photograph them, and it will be like guts everywhere and it will be super gory and super sick” So we went up there and swam around and collected a bunch of the salamanders – and they are super cool looking, like their hands are moving and their eyes are blinking. And I am talking to Jed so I ask him, “Are you ready to cut these things open?” And he was just like, “Dude, I can’t do it. These things are too cool, there is no way I can cut one of these up.”
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