{"id":315681,"date":"2021-02-23T10:35:06","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T10:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nocomplynetwork.com\/?page_id=315681"},"modified":"2023-06-01T08:20:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T08:20:33","slug":"jeremy-wray-fully-illustrated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nocomplynetwork.com\/jeremy-wray-fully-illustrated\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeremy Wray: Fully Illustrated"},"content":{"rendered":"

@atibaphoto<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Jeremy Wray is a legendary pro skater and artist known for his death defying feats, his utterly next level Ollie pop, board flipping control and standout ability to handle the pressure of overcoming the biggest obstacles on his board. <\/strong>Throughout his career, his eye for design and lines has consistently extended beyond skateboarding itself and entered into several intriguing artistic, creative dimensions. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you look at his library of illustrations, graphics, photography, sculptures, catalogue of skate shoe designs or even just his unique flick on his Frontside Flips, there’s always something different and well-considered to his approach<\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jeremy has been a No Comply Member for a while and it has recently came to our attention that although we\u2019ve asked him about some of his most well crafted tricks, including his iconic Water Tower Ollie, that we have never took a deep dive into the history of his artistic output. <\/strong><\/p>\n

During lockdown, we finally found the time, so we had a chat about his art, design, creative approach and his most recent work but of course we had to ask him about some of his most memorable skating, video parts and skate career moments too.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Read the Jeremy Wray Fully Illustrated interview below to find out how he first picked up a skateboard and got into his art, designs, illustration, his first skate crew, first Pro Board, Blockhead, Dr Seuss, Skating for Plan B in the Golden Era, filming with Mike Ternasky, Second Hand Smoke, The Carlsbad Frontside Flip, how he gets inspired to create and skate, his creative skate platform – The Skate Art Connection, The Adio Video – One Step Beyond, The Red Rock Spot,\u00a0 Josh Stewart, The Barcelona Backside Ollie, getting on Element, doing the first ever Ollie down the San Diego Triple Set, 411, big stakes skating, Milton Martinez, the key to FS 360s, making the most of lockdown and his favourite tricks, photos, spots, skaters of all-time and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Jeremy, Ollie Over Dan Rogers: Photo Shot by J. Grant Brittain<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s your full name?<\/h1>\n

Jeremy Buck Wray<\/a><\/p>\n

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Where did you grow up?<\/h1>\n

I grew up all over the place. Born in Carmel, California at Fort Ord. Every couple years our dad, Buck who was in the army would get stationed somewhere new. So after that we moved to Indianapolis, then North Carolina and Florida before moving back to California for good.<\/p>\n

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When did you get a board?<\/h1>\n

I first saw a skateboard in our neighbourhood in Orange Park, Florida. One of our neighbours had a yellow plastic banana board and would bring it out for all of us to try out every now and then. It wasn\u2019t until we moved to California that I got a board of my own.<\/p>\n

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How old were you and what board was it?<\/h1>\n

I got my first board on my 8th birthday and it was a Valterra Shattered model.<\/p>\n

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Who was in your crew?<\/span><\/h1>\n

My brother and I learned how to skate in Glendale, California and met some other local skate kids.<\/p>\n

Some of the early skate friends included Danny Fustar, Brian Woodruff, Matt Markus, Danny Aldrich, Travis Pafford, Dave Osborne, Phil Toselli, Mat Mac, our neighbour Ryan Banderay and the Roney brothers.<\/p>\n

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What kinds of art did you make growing up?<\/h1>\n

I drew and painted a lot. I have stacks of doodles still from my childhood. In the very early days it was drawings of things I saw on TV. Like the Dukes of Hazzard jumping their car over a ditch, football players getting tackled or scenes from the Disney movie Robin Hood with the fox.<\/p>\n

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How do you inspire yourself to draw things?<\/h1>\n

I used to just sit with a blank page and draw whatever came to mind in my free time.<\/p>\n

Sometimes even just getting a new pen or marker would inspire a whole new style just by the difference in line weight.<\/p>\n

These days my free time is a bit more limited so when I do make time to create something, it usually has more purpose to it.<\/p>\n

I do like mixing it up quite a bit and not getting stuck in one style or using one medium for too long. It keeps things fresh and challenges you more to keep trying new things. Exploring all possibilities for making art.<\/p>\n

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Jeremy, Nosegrind Up a Handrail: Shot by @atibaphoto<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Do you make mostly hand drawn or digital work?<\/h1>\n

I still do a lot of stuff by hand. Especially at first when I\u2019m starting a new project. If it\u2019s a design that is going to be used for a product I will run it through the computer and clean it up and get it print ready. When it comes to lettering though I will still do it by hand.<\/p>\n

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Which do you prefer?<\/h1>\n

Both have their place depending on the goal of the final product. Sometimes a rougher line and a less perfect look is just right. On other projects you might need to aim for perfect symmetry or cleaner edge.<\/p>\n

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How did you get into making bronze sculptures?<\/h1>\n

I had been taking art classes at Fullerton College just for fun and started off in the drawing and painting classes.<\/p>\n

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Then printmaking, photography, expressive drawing and even figure drawing. Figure drawing lead to the sculpture classes.<\/p>\n

My teachers recognised an ability in me that they thought would lend itself well on the 3D side and I found out they were dead on.<\/p>\n

Sculpture came very naturally to me and I really enjoyed working in 3D.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s the best way to hit you up for a commission?<\/h1>\n

Anyone can reach out to me on through my Instagram or even email me directly at jeremywrayart@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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What is the Skate Art Connection?<\/h1>\n

Skate Art Connection<\/a> on Instagram is a page strictly dedicated to skateboarders that do art.<\/p>\n

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Why did you decide to start it?<\/h1>\n

I wanted to create a hub to not only bring skate artists together as a community but also give potential buyers, collectors and clients a data base of extremely talented skate artists to choose from when considering future projects.<\/p>\n

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Why did you decide to start it?<\/h1>\n

I realised that there was nothing like that out there and thought that someone should really create a place like that for everyone to share and sell their art. Then I realised that I may be the one that has to get it started myself.<\/p>\n

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What is the ethos of it?<\/h1>\n

Just to bring together skate artists from all over the globe. A place where they can share their talents with the skate art community. We have shared a wide variety of styles, mediums and approaches to making art. It\u2019s a great page to visit to get inspired.<\/p>\n

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Plans for the future of the Skate Art Connection?<\/h1>\n

I recently got a little overwhelmed keeping up with my own pace with the weekly artist features and it got more difficult to curate the weeks through the holidays, COVID lockdown and homeschooling my kids.<\/p>\n

So the future will be coming up with a good way to balance it all out and schedule out the features further in advance. A refocus is definitely in the works and I will do my best to streamline the process for the artists. I do everything for the page myself right now, so it can be tough at times to get everything done, but I\u2019ll work it out and try to keep pushing forward.<\/p>\n

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What was it like filming for One Step Beyond?<\/h1>\n

Filming for One Step Beyond was unlike filming any other video I had ever worked on. They had a pretty strict and structured filming schedule. They would have it written down that you would be filming on the triple set in LA on Saturday and the gap to rail in La Habra on Sunday.<\/a><\/p>\n

I had never skated on any kind of schedule like that before. Before the Adio video I would always just go with the flow of wherever we were skating that day and get what I could. I definitely prefer the more freestyle approach of just going out and getting whatever comes to you that day.<\/p>\n

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Favourite thing about filming with Josh Stewart?<\/h1>\n

I\u2019ve only really worked with Josh Stewart<\/a> on that one project for the Adio One Step Beyond video. I didn\u2019t know him well before that. We worked well together and always got good footage together He had his quirks but was easy to get along with and always down to get the job done.<\/p>\n

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FS Ollie: Shot by Lance Dawes @lanced<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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What was it like skating at that Red Rock Spot?<\/h1>\n

I had found it years earlier on a road trip with some friends. It looked skateable, but I wasn\u2019t 100% sure it would work until we got there with the whole crew and tried it out.<\/p>\n

Everybody was wondering what the hell I was getting them into taking a mile and a half hike down a dirt path to go skate something, but in the end they all saw why we were there. Such a rad spot and completely untouched.<\/p>\n

We went back more recently for the first time since that Adio trip.<\/p>\n

This time it was Bob Burnquist<\/a> and his friend Italo that wanted to skate it and Ty Evans<\/a> and his crew were on board to film it all. We had a great time and got to skate it for a little longer. I even got my Kickflip I always wanted there.<\/p>\n

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Favourite trick you filmed for One Step Beyond?<\/h1>\n

Probably the Ollie over the quadruple set and rail. You had to go Mach speed and Ollie as big as possible.<\/p>\n

It was one of the bigger stair sets I had skated. I landed on a few Backside 180s there that day too, but never got that clean roll away. The footage has never been seen, but maybe it\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

All of the LA marble triple set stuff was fun too<\/a>. That spot was always a mission to dodge security and get your trick in one or two tries before they caught on to you.<\/p>\n

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How did you originally get sponsored by Element?<\/h1>\n

Plan B went out of business and it left everyone to fend for themselves and find new board sponsors.<\/p>\n

Kris Markovich rode for them at the time and I thought it would be rad to be on the same team with him again.<\/p>\n

We had been teammates on the short lived Color Skateboards together. Around that time a rumour had started that I already rode for Element. After that Johnny Schillereff<\/a> gave me a call and we made it happen.<\/p>\n

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What was it like skating for Element?<\/h1>\n

Element was a rad company with a really solid team back when I got on.<\/p>\n

Kenny Hughes and Reese Forbes were both complete powerhouse skaters. A pleasure to travel and skate with.<\/p>\n

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The super long backside 180 Ollie in Barcelona over the long gap off the thin stage was amazing, how many tries did it take?<\/h1>\n

Element had sent us not knowing it was the dead of winter over there.It was freezing cold the entire time. I got that Backside 180 on one of the last days of the trip.<\/p>\n

I had seen the gap years before, but when I had suggested ollieing it everyone just looked at me like I was from Mars or something. Maybe it didn\u2019t look possible to anyone else, but I could see it.<\/p>\n

The day I got the BS 180 I had to Ollie it first. The Ollie was tough, but after I got it, I knew the BS 180 was possible. Getting the speed on the narrow and wet ledge was the hardest part. But once I got enough speed, I knew I had it.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t remember exactly how many tries that one took<\/a>, but that BS 180 came quicker than the Ollie for sure.<\/p>\n

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In your later video sections your skating became more low impact, what started the movement for you to get more technical with your skating?<\/h1>\n

I\u2019ve always done technical skating and manual tricks, but whenever it was time to shoot a photo for an ad I always wanted something that would stand out or wanted to push myself to do something bigger.<\/p>\n

I wasn\u2019t a fan of those tiny, video grab, super tech sequences in magazines. I\u2019d rather see a stunning still photo of a roof gap or a high stylish Ollie on something. The spots I\u2019m skating have a lot to do with who I\u2019m skating with at the time.<\/p>\n

During those Adio days I ended up skating with Kenny Anderson and Joey Brezinski a lot, so we would film together on ledges and mannys regularly.<\/p>\n

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Backside Noseblunt, LA High: @atibaphoto<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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What has been your favourite video part to film?<\/h1>\n

By the time we got around to filming for the Plan B videos, I was really coming into my own. I was getting a little bigger and stronger. I was able to skate bigger obstacles and get more speed. Filming for Second Hand Smoke was a very special time for me<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We skated all over California for that one. San Diego spots, Orange County, Downtown LA and even some San Francisco spots too. That part is the one that people tend to ask me about the most.<\/p>\n

But to be honest, I\u2019m more proud of the part we put together for The Plan B Revolution video. Lots of my best skateboarding was documented around that time and the couple years to follow<\/a><\/p>\n

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You filmed amazing footage for 411. How did you end up featuring in so many issues of the series?<\/h1>\n

My brother Jonas<\/a> and I had been shooting photos with Chris Ortiz<\/a> a lot right before the time that they started 411 VM<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So when they needed footage for the new project, we were already in the mix filming and shooting. We just kept at it and I ended up being featured in the first issue of 411.<\/p>\n

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