Roskopp Face 3

NHS, the parent company of successful local brands such as Santa Cruz Skateboards and Independent Trucks, has made many extremely savvy business decisions over the decades. It could be argued that topping that list has been their employment of father-son artist duo, Jim and Jimbo Phillips, whose collective creativity have produced globally recognized graphics that have brought NHS tons of sales over the years.

Along with designing the classic, “Red Dot” Santa Cruz Skateboards logo, Jim was responsible for the creation of the iconic “Screaming Hand” graphic, as well as the Independent Trucks “Matese Cross” logo. When Jim developed a studio to task fresh-faced artists with creating their own unforgettable designs, it was his own son, Jimbo, who showed the most promise. At the young age of twenty-years-old, Jimbo had already spawned two of his own iconic, and best selling skateboard graphics, the Roskopp Face 2, and the Natas Kittens.

The original Roskopp Face, which depicted a stretched-out, ghastly, ogre-like, grimacing face, was created years previously by Jim Sr, but Jimbo’s second phase of the graphic brought things to a new level of disgusting fun. The already creepy visage gained a hideous, wart-laden tongue, a gouged-out eyeball hanging by it’s connective tissue, and increased facial decay in the form of sores, rot, and even exposed brain-matter.

Both iterations of the Roskopp Face remain iconic to this day, but recently, Jimbo had the opportunity to continue the series in a disturbingly-fun final form which turns the already stomach-churning gore level up a few more notches. Now, the decay has left the face a melting mess that is pure nightmare-fuel, complete with maggots, exposed bone, and even some metallic, cybernetic additions. Personally, I love it! The humble artist was so stoked on this new graphic that he agreed to give me an in-depth breakdown into his artistic process for taking an already boundary-pushing skateboard design into increasingly graphic territory.

It’s always an honor to get the time and attention of this soft-spoken savant, so I, as should you, feel very fortunate to have been afforded a behind-the-scenes look into his latest and greatest artwork, that of the Roskopp Face 3.

This is artwork is for a skateboard graphic for Santa Cruz Skateboards called Rob Face 3, it’s the latest addition to the Roskopp series of boards my dad started in the 80s. The original Roskopp face is one of the most iconic skateboard graphics ever made, so it was my honor to do the latest version in this classic series.

When I was a teenage kid, I drew a face on a blank skateboard I had. My dad saw that, and the next day I came home from school and he showed me the sketch for the Original Roskopp Face board for his street model board. Needless to say, I was blown away! Then later when I stared working with my dad around 1988, I came up with the idea for the Rob Face 2, which was the same face, but decaying with the eye and tongue hanging out, That was one of my first graphics I ever did, so this series means a lot to me and has been a part of my life for many years.

The subject matter is the evolution of a decaying and mutated face. What started as the whole face has melted away to expose the skull and robotic parts that make up the under elements of the face. It also has insects coming out from under the skin in the form of maggots, centipedes, and worms. It’s a graphically-detailed illustration of a gnarly, thrashed up face!

I started out with a pencil sketch on paper.  Then, I drew over my sketch on a new piece of paper with fine ink pens and brushes. Then I scan the image into my computer to clean up any messy parts and add colors to make it pop and bring out the details of the artwork.  The art is then printed onto heat transfers which are applied to the wooden skateboard decks which are sold around the world.

For tunes, while I create, I’ll usually start the day with some reggae like Steel Pulse, Bob Marley and Ras Midas, then later in the day I will put on some more rockin’ tunes like Fu Manchu, Alice in Chains and Black Sabbath, Later in the afternoon I like some punk rock like the Misfits, Bad Brains and Pennywise, Then maybe some Thrash like Testament and Slayer, then after dinner, some times I will work late, so for the night shift I like super heavy Music like Gojira, Obituary and Cattle decapitation!

The most challenging part, sometimes, is coming up with cool new ideas that havent been used yet, so I sketch a lot of ideas down and sometimes come back to them later when Im looking for something specific. Also sometimes the computer stuff gets crazy, but most of the time I really enjoy all the steps of the creativity and art process. From time to time I will do an acrylic painting or paint a skateboard to get out of the digital stuff .

The most enjoyable part, to me, is the sketch phase, because it’s the most creative. You come up with new ideas and compositions and you can be loose and not worry about if things are perfect. I also really like seeing the finished product, whether its a skateboard, helmet, or T-shirt, I love to see it when it’s fresh off the press, and seeing people around town wearing or riding artwork that I created is awesome!

I am so stoked to be able to do art for a living. I always dreamed of it when I was a kid watching my dad do it, and now I have been doing it for 30 years! I been able to raise my kids  creating art along with the help of my beautiful wife Jenni.   My son Colby is working at a tattoo shop, learning how to do tattoos, so get your bare skin ready for some ink! And my daughter is a photographer and works for O’Neill Yacht Charters!

You can follow me on instagram @jimbophillips and hopefully I’ll see you in the water! Stay Rad!