“As long as you have a vision, a goal, you know, and you have the will to persist, and really make it happen, you’ll make it happen.”

• When he was 12, he saw a skateboarding demo in his neighborhood and he took up skating.
• From there, he developed a love of snowboarding, which led him to take a job as a lift operator on a mountain.
• He’d dropped out of high school in pursuit of this dream, so even when he got so poor he had to sleep in a tent, he kept going.
• Two years after moving into the mountains, he got a sponsorship from Volcom.
• An accident blew out both of his knees and he had to stay off his feet for six months; he took up painting as his new hobby.
• Was commissioned to design two snowboards, then the next year he got four jobs, the next year it was eight, etc.
• He went to Europe to continue his self-education; a French artist told him his paintings weren’t art, they were cartoons.
• That comment humbled him, but also inspired him to get creative and start making his own work, rather than only working on commission.

By Bebe