Vectortuts has a gallery of vector-illustrated skate decks. You make vector graphics with programs like Adobe Illustrator. Vector illustrations are scalable, – that is, you can make them bigger or smaller without degrading line quality. So, if you need to use an illustration in a bunch of different sizes and shapes, vector is a good way to go. They scratch up just as easily on the bottom of a deck, though. A better look at those designs after the turn. The Vector tuts site has a great list of skateboard graphics resources too.

I mean really… at least as far as different types of terrain goes. Hood River is definitely becoming Lincoln City East. My hat’s off to whoever is running the show over there. Good job. Mike Estes sent in eight shots of the new snake run-ish feature that looks like it wraps around hte back side of the park. There’s a shot from Carl Warren too. Actually, Carl also has a ton of earlier construction shots up as well. Hood River is a good place to be a skater.

Tiny scene report. Pier Park was jumping yesterday – old guys skating the bowl, young guys skating the street section, a young concrete rodeo type flipping units in the mid bowl, parents and their kids, neighboorhood urchins yelling threats and obscenities at one another down in the pipe. Grover had both of his kids with him. Probably the first time I’ve held a bottle for a feeding infant while riding to the skatepark. I snapped this one with my phone on the way out.

Stephanie Murdock sent in some pics of La Caverne from back in 2006 before it was what it became. Mostly interesting from a historical standpoint. I don’t know if everyone else appreciates the “in progress” type shots as much as I do, but I’m going to keep posting them anyway. Is it just me, or does this look like a stage set for the next Johnny Rad gig?

I can remember being stoked when Poweredge first came out in the late 80’s. It seemed like a little bit of Thrasher and a little bit of Transworld. More importantly, it was something different, and it seemed fresh and authentic and not just something cobbled together by outsiders jumping on a bandwagon. I remember meeting a couple of the Poweredge staff at a few of the higher profile skate events in the Midwest, and they were all friendly and without attitude. Needless to say, Poweredge folded in 1991. but like R.A.D. before it, Poweredge has shown up online. Right now it’s just some history and selected parts of the first issue. The interface is a bit wonky, but sometimes it’s better to forge ahead instead of waiting for another five years to pass while you make everything perfect. Believe me, I’ve been there. Check out Poweredge Magazine online. And on another note. The site has been relatively inactive lately because I’ve been ill and I’m finally recovering, so expect the pace to pick up. Thanks to everyone who contributed in my absence.

I came across a Brasillian blogger site when they posted about on one of my comics. They also linked to a YouTube video of Steve Caballero explaining the fakie 360 ollie, also known as the Caballerial. Who knew it was so easy? Stevie’s voiceover is pretty stiff but his fakie ollie is rad. Video is embedded after the turn.

The Pine Log – The Independent Voice of Stephen F. Austin State University reports that student there have formed the second collegiate skateboard team. The team is looking forward to competing with UNC, the first University to have a skateboard team, in the spring.

I’ll use any excuse to pst a picture of Annabella Lwin, including colored sugar balls stuffed inside a hollow plastic skateboard. There are at least two versions available, the invert espousing “Loose Bearingz” and the more succinct “Rad.” Pics and bonus vid of Bow Wow Wow’s version of “I want Candy” after the jump.

“…It was rad as hell, kinked as f#@k, rough as an alcoholic tongue, but it was our spot!” – an anonymous creator of La Caverne In Marseille, France there lies a dark, dingy abandoned warehouse beyond the view of the common people. The telltale graffiti and discarded trash of society’s undesirable class littered this area, and as a result the former site of productivity seemed more like a cave than a building. It is no surprise that skaters, who are often associated with the mantra “Skate and Destroy,” would create a place to express their styles without the regulations of a system that failed to understand them. La Caverne’s beginnings operated in a similar fashion to the Grimm Brothers fairy tale “The Pied Piper of Hamelin;” the rat catcher enticed the rats.  The abandoned warehouse attracted artists from all over France, and a tagger by the name of Nours, who also skated, told his friends about it and the work began.

Success Magazine did a short piece on Tony Hawk. Chairman of the Board Maybe the print version includes skate photos. I could drop by a dentist’s office and check the waiting room.