Interview with Jim Phillips, Legendary Santa Cruz Artist

Designboom has published an interview with legendary skate and surf artist, Jim Phillips, who is responsible for some of the most iconic skate graphics in all of skate history.

Here's a short excerpt from the interview:

DB: what do you know now that you wish you knew when you were 21?

JP: when I turned 21 I was attending art school and naively studying fine art. in later years I had wished that I studied commercial art so that I could actually make a living. it was very difficult to learn advertising and commercial art on my own. after art school I went back to working at the surfboard manufacturing trade that I learned as a teenager, and was applying my art to surfboards. from that work I was offered a job in an in-house art studio for a motorcycle company, and I received advertising training on the job from the art director there and the demands of the work. after that company abruptly went belly-up I started my freelance art service doing the art for which I am known such as the skateboard work. but in hindsight my fine art training was invaluable and became a key to my success in commercial art.