STREET KING

Here's the 3rd in that Artist Series Stephe did with Zoo York. This one, by far, wins the award for being the ugliest... I bet no one is gonna be turning this into a girls graphic any time soon.

  Originally, Stephe made this as a giant alligator, but the powers that be asked him to change it into a rat.... go figure.  Maybe rats have been proven to have more selling power than alligators? They're probably more "city iconic". Gators are sort of southern things, righ?  I wish it was still an alligator though, cause the rat is just kind of... too ugly.  Stephe could've done a nicer looking rat, i guess.  But the sketch of the alligator looked really cool. (check it out after the jump.)

CHAZ ORTIZ

Comicboard1ortiz, originally uploaded by Stephen Halker.

Of the series, I think this is my My favorite. I can't say if it's the best looking of the group, but the process of making it was so fluid, I never got sick of it. Usually, in every illustration project, about half way through, I realize that I have no idea what I'm doing, and feel trapped in a cage I can't get out of. Then I try all sorts of options to fix it. And then usually i end up realizing that there wasn't a problem to begin with, I'd just been staring at the drawing for too long. With this board, I never had to go through that. It was just a strait shot. Wind in my sails the whole time. So, why, you ask, is this the Chaz Ortiz board. Shouldn't it be obvious, The dude is a king among beast concurring tricks faster than humanly possible. Hey Chaz, what do you gotta say? "Just skate hard, skate your best, and don’t get yourself down. Just go out there and skate how you know how to skate, make sure you have your run planned, and just have fun."