Throughout our 30-year history, we’ve had the good fortune of working with illustrators from around the globe.
One of our favorite projects is our annual holiday greeting card. Each year, the ongoing theme is “peace” and we collaborate with a chosen artist, featuring their interpretation of the theme on our card. This partnership has become an important way for us to promote a unique message of peace and to highlight the work of artists with different aesthetic backgrounds from around the globe.
This year, we worked with Thomas Campbell, a California-based visual artist, filmmaker, sculptor and photographer with a deep-rooted history in the surf and skate world.
Prior to Campbell, our seven-year-old tradition has brought us together with a number of other talented artists, all of whom we were honored to work with. Let’s take a look at the roster.
Instagram: @thomascampbellart
Emil Kozak, Spain, 2009
The Danish artist was the first to collaborate with us on our peace-inspired artist holiday card series. Kozak’s pursuit of graphic design was inspired by his lifelong love for skateboarding, which has led him to work with well known action sports brands such as Vans, Nike, Hurley, Burton, and Element Skateboards. Since 2003, Kozak has run his own design studio out of Barcelona, while also heading a surf and apparel brand.
Instagram: @emilkozak
Nate Williams, Argentina, 2010
Illustrator and designer Nate Williams created a two-toned graphic illustration conveying the message of peace. Now based in South America following an agency and corporate career in the U.S., his illustrations come to life with layers of organic shapes that express ethnic influences, hand-drawn type, and engaging characters that combine to make for pleasing imagery.
Instagram: @n8w
Andrew Holder, Los Angeles, CA, 2011
The current LA resident, Andrew Holder, is a mixed media illustrator whose work is very much centered around nature and animals. He attributes this influence to his experiences of the world being primarily indoors and seeing nature through the glass of windows. He explains his work process as a repetitive, well thought out design with little left up to chance.
Instagram: @_andrewholder
Jolby, Portland, OR, 2012
Jolby & Friends is a collaborative design and illustration studio under the direction of two principals, Josh Kenyon and Colby Nichols. The pair met at the Art Institute of San Diego where they aligned their talents to tell a memorable story through creative expression. Since the company’s inception, they have worked with big-name clients like Patagonia, Nike, Google, and The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf.
Instagram: @jolbyandfriends
John Antoski, Encinitas, CA, 2013
John Antoski spent his childhood snowboarding the mountains of British Columbia. His hometown of Calgary boasts the very first snowboard shop in Canada, which served as a direct inspiration for the snow and surf culture he encapsulates in his graphic illustrations.
Instagram: @johnantoski
Brian Steely, Atlanta, GA, 2014
Last year we enlisted Brian Steely—known for his unique logo designs which use a minimal color palette and simple line art—to create our peace-inspired illustration. We translated the design across multiple mediums to amplify Peace On, our social good campaign benefiting clean water initiatives. His current portfolio includes work for Element Skateboards, The Decemberists, Monster Children, Mumford and Sons, Josh Ritter, and various music festivals.
Instagram: @briansteely
