Can you give us some background about yourself?

I was born in a small town in New Jersey and moved to South Carolina when I was 9 years old. In my childhood, I was always creating art alongside my passion for extreme sports. My dad was a very handy man and me and my two older brothers were always building stuff and tinkering in the garage with pops. As we got older, we were into pretty much everything “extreme” (snowboarding, skateboarding, rollerblading, BMX). We always had ramps and rails in our driveway and dirt jumps in the backyard - we loved it. In college in Charleston, South Carolina, I found wakeboarding through a club and that’s when I found the sport that clicked with me the most. I was always decent at skating and snowboarding but after I started wakeboarding and found rail riding specifically, I absolutely fell in love and couldn’t think of doing anything else. After I graduated college, I put my degree in my back pocket and started traveling around to different wake parks, filming, dropping edits, and linking up with homies. I’ve always been into art since I was young and I graduated with a studio art degree alongside my business degree from the College of Charleston. Art and shredding have always been a part of my life.

Can you tell us about how you came to start working with Slingshot?

I had been riding for a few years and I’ve always loved Slingshot boards. They were the only brand that were making flat based, snowboard like boards and in my opinion were the best for rail riding. As my riding got better, I started getting some flow from them and I did my absolute best to represent them the best I could with content. As my relationship grew with Slingshot and Team Manager, Jeff Mckee, I mentioned to Jeff that I was an art major and it had always been a dream of mine to do board graphics. A year later he let me do the Supergrom graphic for 2016. After that, I started getting more involved with the brand year after year and doing more and more graphics. Now, I do about half of the wake graphics each year and also help with boot and board R&D. I absolutely love it.

Can you tell us a bit about some of your recent designs such as the Space Raider, Super Grom and Coalition boards?

It’s a dream come true to have a pro model board with Slingshot. And now with the brand “Space Mob” that me and the homies at Valdosta Wake Compound have built. We have two boards and a boot with Slingshot. For the graphics, I’m always inspired by anything space and alien related. I love conspiracy theories about our planet and beyond. It’s so fun to imagine what is really going on and to draw graphics with my own theories about aliens and such. For the Super Grom graphic, I always draw some variation of an animal with some funny human characteristics. This is always a super fun graphic to design and it usually turns out to be one of my favorites in the line.

Can you tell us a bit about the Space Mob?

The Space Mob is a community of like-minded individuals who want to push the boundaries of board sports. From tricks, rail designs, where and what you can ride a wakeboard on, new board shapes and technology, and ultimately spreading the stoke for all board sports and shredding. We are boarders, it’s who we are and it’s what we will do our entire life. The Space Mob is not an exclusive club or gang, of course we have a small circle of SM OG’s but we are for the people, and aliens. We love riding, filming, and making edits that we hope inspire others.

Can you tell us a little bit about your design process?

When I start a graphic, first I look for inspiration then I start drawing very small thumbnails of the board and start filling it in. Once I start seeing a direction, I draw a little bigger and bigger until I have a full concept. Then I’ll start working on the full-size render. I used to work solely with paper and have recently switch to Procreate on the iPad and I absolutely love it. The iPad gives me the freedom to create without boundaries. It allows me to experiment, duplicate projects, and work in detail that is impossible with just paper. Not to mention that when it is time to submit graphics, I can do it with a simple email instead of struggling to get a high-res scan of my artwork or mailing my originals to HQ. (It is terrifying rolling up originals and shipping them.)

What are some of your most memorable projects?

Drawing the graphic for my first pro model “The Coalition” was a process and result that I will cherish forever. Also, every movie that we have produced has been unforgettable. The filming process, worldwide trips with homies, riding in places where wakeboards have never been ridden before, waiting years to drop clips, the extensive editing process, watching rough cuts with the homies, it’s all a process that I never want to stop doing. We have made three movies in total thus far, The Coalition The Movie, The Coalition The Movie The Sequel, and The Coalition The Movie The Trilogy, which all can be seen on the Space Mob YouTube.

Can you tell us about any other projects you’re working on currently?

We have some very exciting things in the works with Slingshot and I plan to shoot another movie next summer in Europe. Along with some more hype webisodes from Valdosta Wake Compound.

Can you tell us about your artistic influences?

I get a lot of influence from the skate and snow industry as well as my everyday surroundings. I’m always screenshotting and taking pictures of things that catch my eye in everyday life.

How would you describe your artistic style?

I think playful and precise. I love making lighthearted art that can be interpreted fairly easily. My style is typically realistic with solid lines and colors.

How would you say your work has evolved over time?

Since I’ve been working with Slingshot, I think my work has progressed a lot. Making board graphics always challenges me to deliver my best work. And doing this over the years I think has helped me grow as an artist.

Where do you see your work headed in the future?

I hope I can work with Slingshot for as long as possible and get even more involved with the artistic direction of the brand.

Do you and Sina collaborate on projects?

We have talked about this many times but we haven’t done it yet. She has CopyCatsClub and I have Space Mob. So we want to do a Space Cats collaboration but we haven’t found the right opportunity yet. But it will happen eventually.

How did you and Sina meet?

Sina was visiting Valdosta Wake Compound with some friends from Germany and we connected there. It’s pretty sick because we can bounce ideas off each other and help each other with inspiration or whatever. Not to mention we can shred together, that’s the sickest.

Can you tell us about how the outdoors has influenced your work?

The outdoors and shredding is my life. I’m sure it has influenced my work but I don’t really know how. It’s been who I am for so long it just feels like a part of me. Art has also always been a part of my life but Slingshot really gave me the best outlet for it. It’s really a dream come true for me and I’m so grateful. I look forward to continuing to share my brain with the boarding world.