I read Sean Clivers’ ‘Disposable‘, a skateboard art history book a while back when it first came out. He mentions how M. C. Escher was a huge influence on Vernon Courtlandt Johnson. If you look at MCE’s ‘Dragon‘ and then look at VCJ’s Powell Peralta 1980 Steve Caballero deck, the influence is especially noticeable. However, VCJ ran with it. That style of line really art lends itself to screen-printing on skateboard decks with a clean yet very edgy esthetic.

I’m not sure if Durer was ever mentioned in the book, but one day I stared at Durers’ ‘Revelation Four Riders’ for a long time and then went on to play World of Warcraft. As I was playing I was inspired and doodled on a piece of paper thinking of this style of line art and how cool it was.

Then Voetsek had to go on their 2008 tour and they needed a new shirt design. Scotty walked in my room and saw one of the doodles. He liked it so much he said, “That one! That’s the shirt”. They went ahead and had the shirts made and it was the best seller on that tour. It sold out before the tour was even over!

Since the shirt did so well on tour they decided to have it available through Warlord Clothing. You can order it here.