Jim Phillips is a graphic artist who is best known
for his surf and skateboard art. Born in San Jose, Ca., he's lived most all
of his life in Santa Cruz, Ca.
Jim’s first published work was in the spring 1962 issue of Surfer Quarterly,
his “Woody” a pen and ink illustration was a winner of a 1961
surf car cartoon contest held by the magazine. Soon Jim’s surf art began
to appear in the major surf magazines during the 60’s and beyond. His
earliest jobs were in local surf shops that were manufacturing surfboards,
where much of his work was applying art and designs to surfboards. In 1965
and 66 Jim studied fine art under a scholarship at California College of Arts
and Crafts in Oakland, California.
Phillips became sole artist and art director for NHS Inc. during their early
years in the 1970’s and 80’s where he created thousands of decks,
t-shirts, stickers, product illustrations and skateboard magazine ads. In
1988 he founded Phillips Studios where he trained young skateboarding artists
to create designs for NHS. Jim’s art has grown even more popular in
his later days and NHS currently markets his work in 80 countries. In 2016
– 2017, The Screaming Hand, an NHS art exhibit tribute to Jim Phillips’
art, travelled to 25 art venues worldwide, invited 50 world class artists
to join, and broke all attendance and membership records at the eight month
exhibit at MAH, the Santa Cruz Art and History Museum. In 2020 NHS will be
presenting a similar traveling art show based on Jim’s art and advertising
for Santa Cruz wheels, and will culminate a world wide exhibit at the MAH
in the spring of 2021.
PO BOX 2512, Santa Cruz, CA, 95063-2512