The History of the Art for The Liquid Force TRIP Wakeboard

05 Sep The History of the Art for The Liquid Force TRIP Wakeboard

Drew and the 2011 Trip Series Original Painting

Here’s the great thing about having long-term relationships with clients:  You develop a history over time, and before you know it, you’ve created many cool projects over the course of almost 2 decades.

That’s how it’s gone with Drew and Jimmy Redmon at Liquid Force Wakeboards.

Drew said he loves working with Liquid Force because “they aren’t scared to do something wild or different.”

And as Jimmy Redmon told me, he started working with Drew because “Drew was creating stuff that no one else was.  His style was unique.”

They’ve always allowed Drew to go crazy with the artwork, and as all artists know, when you have the freedom to paint what lights your fire, you can create awesome, radical art.

Drew’s first design for Liquid Force was in 1997 for their revolutionary Trip series (Liquid Force was the first makers of the multi-fin board – they changed everything in wake boarding!)  That was almost 15 years ago!

The first Trip in 1999

HISTORY OF DREW’S ARTWORK FOR THE TRIP:

• 1997  Liquid Force commissioned Drew to create art for the first Trip.  It was painted on masonite in the living room of Drew’s San Clemente apartment.  The artwork is trippy with mushrooms, heaving waves and a huge, grinning sunshine.  The style is Drew’s classic signature of high energy and bright colors.
• 1997 The first Trip wakeboard was released at the X-Games in San Diego in June.
• 1998 Drew did the art for the Trip Series, which had grown to four boards.
• Then Drew did the artwork for two seasons of the Mini-Squirt, which was The Trip for kids.
• 1999 Drew’s dolphin painting became the artwork on the hull of the women’s Diva model.
• 2007  Liquid Force re-introduced the Trip – Drew’s original art from 10 years earlier was screened back to create a monochromatic tribute to the first trip.
• 2009 The Trip series grew to five boards and Drew did a crazy, original painting that spanned across all boards.  (You can watch a video where Drew shows the process of creating the wakeboard art here.)
• 2010 Drew created a new “water style” painting which covers the entire family of Trips for 2011 line.

2009 The Trip Art by Drew

2008 Trip Original Painting by Drew

For the new 2011 line, Drew and Jimmy decided to utilize Drew’s new “water painting” abstract style instead of the classic Drew style.

It’s a huge departure from what Drew’s known for.  He had a lot of fun making the canvas and then using many different mediums to come up with a unique view of water, coming to life.

Jimmy Redmon wrote about working with Drew on these projects:

“Back when the first Trip was designed, I knew this was a shape that was going to change people’s perspective of what a wakeboard should be.  I had met Drew while getting a board at …Lost, and was blown away by the art he was putting on boards.  It was original, fun, and full of life and color.  Drew’s first trip painting covered the entire hull of the board, and was unlike anything our industry had ever seen.  It was a great success, waking everyone to take notice.  As the series grew, Drew’s art covered the family of boards.  When we reintroduced the shapes years later, Drew was the natural choice to celebrate the boards.  And again this year, Drew has created another masterpiece to bring the Trips alive.  Thanks! “

No, Jimmy, thank YOU!  It’s been great, and I hope we’ll continue to team up to push the limits on wake boards!

Below is a slide show of the painting of the TRIP 2011.  For more info on the Trip 2011, stay tuned into www.liquidforce.com!