Whether or not the art you collect is “good”, however, will be entirely up to you. We’re not here to judge, we are here to provide examples of what may be the kind of “good” you seek to acquire. - WB News Guy
Before getting into the meat of the beat, let’s enjoy a moment (2min8sec) of solidarity with our skate-bruhs.
You shouldn’t be drooling over deck graphics any more frequently than you’re actually riding the board (Pacific Northwest, you’re excused because rain) but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be stoked about the imagery depicted on the underside of your favorite deck. What it does mean is that the craftsmenandwomen in the art department should receive proper recognition for their efforts, especially so since the graphic won’t last very long if you’re doing it right. Kaya Donaj-Keys is the Graphic Designer and screen print master at Comet Skateboards and is responsible for the magically delicious artwork on the 2013 Comet Ethos Series. Kaya prints the graphics on the all Comet decks by hand at Comet’s headquarters. (Please note the use of the word “all” in the previous sentence.)
In case you’re just joining in: Kaya Donaj-Keys (1) created original artwork and (2) screen-printed it by hand (using several hits/screens/layers/colors of ink) on to plywood for your consumption. If that doesn’t sound like modern art at its finest, I don’t know what does! (Or perhaps it’s post-modern? Art kiddos, come at me!) There are many well-known artists whose medium-of-choice is screen-printing —coughWarholcough— but I would like to submit to the panel that the various artworks of Mr. Donaj-Keys will be of the most value to you or I in our line of recreation. Not only does the artwork at hand serve the purpose of keeping your street cred high, the artist creates it knowing it’ll be indistinguishable within a matter of days, provided the “canvas” is used properly. There’s a message in there somewhere… And I think that message is something along the lines of go skate. (If you’re one of the aforementioned art kiddos who’d like to give the “actual” message a shot, the comment box is below.)
If you’re on an iceberg of procrastination take a look below for a peek at Kaya’s printing process. (No guarantees it’ll help with that iceberg…)
There are also some more descriptive bodies of text — along the same lines as what you’ll find below — at the Comet website. You can also grab a 2013 Ethos for yourself while you’re there.
As artists create imagery for Comet boards, each work of art is shaded, colored, sized, and cropped to fit its respective board shape through refinement and collaboration with Comet Graphic Designer Kaya Keys. Comet has pioneered methods over 15 years of laying graphics down on skateboards, that are safe for our workers and the environment as well as look awesome. Our inks are made in the USA and are so safe, they’re used in nursery schools. Each color in the graphic is individually silk screened by hand. As the screen printer skillfully mixes and swirls layers of ink into the final image - each board is individually unique, like our riders.
