Hannah Eddy x Gnu Velvet

Hannah Eddy Santa Cruz Mural
Hannah Eddy all the way up on a Santa Cruz sea wall.

Hannah Eddy on the Gnu Velvet

Hannah Eddy has been a creative force inside snowboard culture for many years. Her unique style and refined techniques expressed through board riding, baking, music and most commonly visual art; spreading a messages of positive flow across all variations of canvas. We under with this prolific artist / shredder about her process and what went in to this year’s Gnu Velvet art.

How did the radical plant theme develop between you and Naima for the GNU Velvet?

Naima came to me with her idea for a visual representation of a “Plant Based” snowboard to highlight the sustainable manufacturing of the GNU boards. Not many products allow for an actual image of a plant to be on the base of it, while also using eco/plant based materials in the product itself, so it was a fun concept to get creative with. Hopefully we can do more with this concept and keep it going!

Gnu Snowboards Velvet Women's snowboard
The Velvet, a “plant based” board!

What is the creative process like working on an illustration?

I draw pretty much everyday, both for myself and for clients, so I have tons of concepts and sketches and designs that I work with and pull from. For something like a snowboard, I’ll draw a bunch of ideas on several board templates to get the basic ideas out. I use my iPad a lot because I draw so much that it’s nice to not just have tons of paper stacking up in my small house. Once I get approval on a concept and rough design, I’ll often look back through other drawings to pull certain elements (plants in this case) and ideas. I’ll then make a clean version to vector in Adobe Illustrator and get approval on final linework before I start to play with color mockups. It’s such a fun process because I get to picture someone ripping around on my artwork once it’s all done!

Naima Antolin on the Gnu Velvet Women's Snowboard
Naima with some “ripping around” at Brainbowl. Pic: Tim Zimmerman

The colors you work with are always well thought out. What inspires you when picking a color pallet?

I love the process of coloring my art. I have a handful of colors that I love using and incorporating in most of my work, but then it’s fun to play off of that palette and throw in some unique colors for certain projects. For this GNU board, both Nai and myself wanted a clean color way that would still pop in snow and look fun, but be super classic and work with most styles of riders. Sometimes it’s just as fun to have a little restraint in a color palette as it is going wild and crazy, I like to bounce between both.

Gnu Velvet Women's Snowboard
Gnu Velvet’s subtly, wild, clean, poppy and velvety colors. Pic: Tim Stanford
Hannah Eddy snowboarding
And yes, she rips! Follow @hannaheddyart ! Pic: Andrew Miller
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