Mr. Austin can do this with any vehicle, make, and model. His lines are clean, and the ability to draw each car from every angle is astounding. Steve, is an artist that follows closely in the steps of Ed “Big Daddy” Roth (RIP), Ed “Newt” Newton, and Dave “Big” Deal (RIP). These were artists who were able to create a career turning cars into works of art. In my honest opinion there are very few people that can create art at this level. Joe Borer is another such person. What separates his work from the previously aforementioned legends is that his cars are always in the middle of the action. They have weight, they have movement. The tires are glued to the road, at the same time the rubber is separating from the wheels. Even when his cars are standing still they look like they’re ready to peel off the page.
Mr. Borer approaches his vehicle art in the same way an animator does characters. They have to be fluid, dynamic, and filled with personality. Joe is able to “stretch and squash” his cars with the ease of the best Disney cartoonists. For anyone not used to cartooning trying to make a car look flexible is very difficult. After a lifetime of drawing it’s something that I cannot do easily. That was the thing about the artists that I grew up studying. They made everything look so amazing. One of the most underrated artists in my book was Shawn Kerri. She was an impeccable cartoonist, but also an accomplished painter. She could render realistic scenes, as easily as she could caricature people. Sadly she died young, but not before producing some of the best CARtoons issues ever.
In the action sports world there was only one other artist that I could compare to Ms. Kerri. His name is Damien Fulton. He is the artist behind the comic strip Radical Rick, as it appeared in the pages of BMX Plus magazine. Damien had very expressive cartoons, but whose BMX bikes, and races were rendered with a bit of realism. When he painted his characters, sometimes for the cover of the magazine, they were beautiful works of art. I would try my best to emulate Damien’s attention to detail when drawing BMX bikes. His poses, his understanding of the culture was super deep. Studying his panels made me a better artist. It helped me understand the history, and movements behind BMX. The same lessons went for every cartoonist I followed.
Not all of the artists I enjoyed studying were as prolific as those in the pages of CARtoons magazine, or BMX Plus. Some of the art was seen sparingly, like VCJ’s designs for Powelll Peralta. Only when a new skateboard was released, perhaps a few a year, would I see a new rendering by VCJ. I poured over the designs in the skateboard magazines, as I couldn’t afford to actually buy the decks. Other art that inspired me was seen on soft goods, like tee shirts, hats, and the occasional sticker. Pop fashion for the early, and mid ‘80s was a mix of action sports culture. Surf, skate, and BMX all had a hand in influencing the look, and feel of the generation. Colors were bright, and some of the hottest labels had created their own mascots. Surf line Maui and Sons had a shark man mascot. Other brands like Airwalk, Rip Curl, Billabong, and Gotcha worked hard to create their own branding as well.
Mascots on ‘80s clothing became very en vogue. It turned out that Disney, and Warner Bros. did not have a monopoly on the market. Arguably the king of the era was an artist named Steve Nazar. A company called Town & Country Surf Designs, out of Pearl City Hawaii was looking for an artist. In the early ’80s Steve showed them his original cartoon characters, many with a heavy surf vibe, and the rest as they say was history. Steve’s original characters, including Joe Cool, Thrilla Gorilla, the Kool Kats, and the tiki-headed Wave Warriors were instant hits.
Nazar’s designs, went on the brightest shirts imaginable. These mascots were often seen in many humorous situations. Their shirts, stickers, and other goods were sold, and seen, seemingly everywhere in the decade. I don’t remember a time when I didn’t see the art in magazines, at school, the playground, or even at church through the ‘80s. This repetition of imagery in multiple shops made sure that the brand was becoming recognizable in every market. It was a win-win for the small company out of Hawaii, and the artist just trying to pay some bills. The characters were not only popular with the surf crowd, but with just about every demographic. Anybody could wear the shirts, and everybody knew who Thrilla Gorilla was.
The mascots were so well known that LJN created a game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Think about that for a moment. The majority of early console games were either ports of an existing arcade game, or they were based on a sport. Licensed games came from comic book, or movie franchises. This title was based on the art from tee shirts. The game was well received by most audiences. It let players compete in both skateboard and surf competitions. The control took a little used to, but before long most were able to breeze through the courses, and perform some radical tricks. The game demonstrated that a solid idea, with great visual storytelling, could be enough to get a video game made. Although Steve Nazar didn’t program, or animate the game, his characters were as well received as the biggest mascots of the era, including the Mario Bros. and Mickey Mouse. T&C would end up getting a sequel, called Thrilla’s Surfari. This game was more of a platform adventure, where Thrilla had to fight angry natives, and giant weird monsters in order to save his girlfriend Barbi Bikini. He still surfed, and skated, just not in competition.
Just as the characters had hit the big time the partnership between Mr. Nazar, and T&C would end less than amicably. The parent company in Hawaii decided to take their art in a different direction. Since they did not own the rights to the characters they went with other, more generic, surf looks. The characters were sadly without a home for 30 years. Many would ask T&C why they didn’t have a line of retro shirts, but they never wanted to revisit the era that really helped put them on the map. A few years ago Nazar decided to bring back all of his designs, and launch a small company called Thrilla Krew. He reprinted just about all of the classic characters on soft goods, and stickers. He was very careful to remove the trademark T&C yin-yang symbol from his new products.
Which actually takes me to some designs that I have been working on over the end of the summer. Since the pandemic started I have been very busy, at work, and at home. My job has me working out of the house, and at the same time I have been taking care of a few family issues. I have had zero time, to write, record, or post any new blogs. As you can tell. I’d hit a creative road block, as the pandemic, and political climate were draining. I looked back at the artists, and movements that inspired me. I remembered Steve Austin, Joe Borer, and Shawn Kerri. I longed to see new art from Damien. But more than that I was missing the mascot characters from T&C Surf Designs. I was wondering what would it be like if they had a new video game. How would their levels work out? What new challenges could I come up with.
As I was planning out a sequel to the game I began sketching out ideas for monsters attacking the characters out of the surf. That in turn inspired me to create tee shirt designs that were in the style of Mr. Nazar, and those early designs that I fell in love with. After several weeks of illustrating little bits at a time I finally completed these drawings. I may still do more in his style, featuring his characters, but for now I’m happy to bring you these cartoons.
I want budding game designers, artists, and creatives to remember the power of storytelling. When people can see great art, including cartoon characters, and imagine a narrative then you're doing something right. If you're struggling with a piece, or are having some writers block just look at what your influences did. See how they made things work. Take it apart, and try to emulate it. You'll then have a better insight on how visual storytelling works.
Whether you’ve never heard of these characters, or whether they are like old friends I’d like to get your feedback. Is there an old video game that you wish had a remake? Would would you like to see if you were the producer. Or how about this if I were to design tees like these would you be interested in buying them? Would you like to see me take another crack at cartoon art? Are there long lost characters that you’d like to see get a come back? I’m interested in hearing from you!
