| |
If you're even a
little bit of a skate history buff or are an... um... an... "aging"
skater (or both), mention of the name Marc Mckee might evoke fond
memories of the early 90s when World Industries, 101 and Blind
dominated the skateshop wall and when you and most of your friends
could barely wait for those companies to tell you what board you wanted
to focus next. Between the releases of the videos Rubbish Heap
and Love Child, Marc created for those 3 World brands some of
the most interesting, controversial, memorable and now collectible
boards of all time. His career has now spanned just shy of two decades
and he's created more than just the gems mentioned in the time frame
that Video Days lied smack dab in the middle of; after 18
years he's still creating graphics for boards that the current wave of
young skaters might be bidding on ebay for once they reach that "aging"
bracket themselves. He's a living legend in the world of skateboard
graphic designers, and here are his top ten boards that he's done along
with his thoughts on each of them.
101 / Natas / Devil Worship / 1991
One of my favorite things about this board is how the graphics were
screened on the board upside-down. I think it really helps make it look
more evil. Also the “666” was intentionally positioned under the
trucks, where it would be safe and never get scratched off. That would
be cool to see one of these boards that’s been skated and thrashed to
the point where everything is scratched off except that.
World Industries / Mike
Vallely / Animal Farm / 1989
This was was my first skateboard graphic. One clue to that is how I
signed my name way too big.
World Industries / Randy
Colvin / Velvet / 1991
I love how this board had real fuzzy velvet flocking applied to it like
the kind of black light posters it was parodying. The deck printers
silk screened glue on each of the boards and then sprinkled the
flocking stuff on by hand.
World Industries / Randy
Colvin / Censorship / 1991
Back in the early days at World Industries we would decide to go ahead
with graphics a lot of the time based just on the initial
concept. In this case it was a board protesting censorship. The
decks came sealed in black bags with warning stickers on the outside
saying, “Censorship is Weak As Fuck.” The ad in Thrasher for this board
was fucking awesome -- just three boards in all black bags, with the
1st Amendment printed across the center of the photo.
Blind / Jason Lee /
American Icons / 1990
On its first print run this graphic had a colorful Warhol-inspired
stained glass pattern in the background with the American flag printed
much smaller on the tail. Jason suggested dropping the background
pattern and replacing it with the flag, which I think made the message
of the board come across a lot better.
Blind / Mark Gonzales /
Skull & Banana / 1990
Of the three boards in this series, I would say the Jason Lee Dodo
Skull is probably the funniest (and therefore the best), but because
this is the one and only graphic I ever did for the Gonz that makes it
my personal favorite.
Blind / Jordan Richter /
Jerkin’ Jordan / 1992
The most fucked up of the Fucked Up Blind Kids series.
Blind / Guy Mariano /
Accidental Gun Death / 1992
Like the racist imagery in some of the other early graphics I’ve
done, this one presents some really shocking and graphic subject matter
to get you to think about things and why they are the way are. One of
my favorite parts of the graphic is the little white picket fence
visible through the doorway at the edge of the lawn.
Blind / Jordan Richter /
Safety Gear / 1993
I copied this graphic directly from a safe sex pamphlet that showed how
to use a condom. I think it works well aesthetically and on top of that
it’s the only board I know of that shows full penetration.
Blind / James Craig / Lake
Show / 2007
With this graphic I was trying to return to the kind of stuff that came
out during the mid 90s that I did for World and Blind (and also the
graphics Cliver did for 101) that would show a whole scene and kind of
tell a story. So here you have the dream scenario of James Craig
sitting courtside next to Jack, watching Kobe and enjoying his favorite
beverage.
RELATED
LINKS:
World Industries
DisposableTheBook.com/MarcMckee
ArtOfSkateboarding.com/MarcMckee
|
|
|