Behind The Design: Nick Thompson AKA Thumbs
We originally collaborated with Thumbs on the 686 x Slash x Looney Tunes collection in 2022, meeting through the guys at 686. Getting to know Thumbs better, we realised he was a lifelong snowboarder, growing up with his parents owning the Halfpipe Snowboard store in London, and Nick was naturally a big Gigi fan. Our first meeting IRL was at the London premiere of DRIVEN by The Pirates in 2021, where Nick fortuitously won Gigi's pre-used Vertical snowboard in a raffle. We continued the relationship and our second collab is here. We had a chat with Nick about his art, his relationship to snowboarding and more.
Tell us how long you've been illustrating.
It’s something I’ve done for fun most of my life, but it’s only when I started working in a skate and snow shop that I was exposed to more graphics and art that resonated with me. It allowed me to see that the kind of art I was trying to create, could be used in a world where I might be able to make a living from it. Before that I didn’t really think art was something I could pursue as a career. I wasn’t overly fond of art class at school, being told what to draw and how to draw it didn’t allow me to explore my style. So seeing incredibly diverse graphics on skate and snowboards lit a creative fire within me and while working at the shop I started creating art and putting it on stickers and tees. So to answer the original question I’ve been a full time artist since 2017.
When did you first hear of Gigi?
Working in the snow shop since I was 16 I grew up watching snowboard videos. So many cool video parts and amazing riders. When we stocked Burton, Gigi had an Uninc board and I remember we got some promo materials with his stickers. Of course when the “Nike: Never Not” video was released I was blown away by his part. I met him at the after party and we had a beer together but it was a fleeting meet; just a chat about the part and snowboarding in general. I always like that about the snowboard industry, it’s not cliquey. It’s pretty open and people are just about having a cool time and meeting cool people. There’s not really an ego, whether you’re a pro or a beginner everyone has a mutual respect for the learning curve.
Fast forward to years later though, I’m doing art full time and I got introduced to Mike West from 686 as he needed an artist on board for a Looney Tunes x 686 collection (shout out to Jasper Wong for the intro). I was excited to get involved and although it wasn’t a paid gig, I was fairly new to the game and just hyped to build my portfolio. Plus you never know where things might lead. And I was right! The 686 collection was expanded to the Slash Snowboards range for a limited release and Gigi reached out as they wanted my input on the board layouts. Of course I was more than happy to help! This led to Gigi checking out my art online and before I knew it he was hitting me up for a Slash x Thumbs collab! Beyond stoked to work with such a cool guy and brand.
Tell us about the first Slash artwork you did...
I mean talk about a “full circle”. Doing artwork in a snowboard shop, dreaming of doing art for a snowboard brand, to actually meeting a snowboard legend and doing a piece for one of his brand's boards! Absolutely stoked to get the call from Gigi. Before I take on working with a brand it’s always good to check out what they’re about and see how my artwork might fit in their range. My art is totally different to the rest of the Slash range so it was important for me to offer their customers something they might not usually see. Snowboarding to me is all about fluidity and freedom. Gigi gave me all the freedom to create whatever I wanted and I really wanted to express that with the graphic for the Happy Place. Not to mention the name of the board really brought up a lot of connotations of freedom and expression. So I just went wild with the graphic, I had on snow videos and soundtracks from Art of Flight (which is a banger) which really helped let the ideas flow.
And now tell us about the latest collab.
The latest collab took a similar approach to the last. It’s all about having fun with your art and just letting your imagination run wild. Life is all about following these rules and following those rules, you can do this and can’t do that. With art, there aren’t any rules so I wanted to create a piece that encapsulated that.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Mainly music and colours. I listen to a pretty eclectic range of music and sometimes a lyric or song title will just stick in my mind. I can draw so many ideas and concepts just from a powerful song lyric. For me also, I tend to use a restrictive colour palette in my work. Never using more than 4 or 5 colours, it really allows me to get creative with how my work is seen and how it looks. At first glance my art can sometimes appear as colour blocks but the longer you look at it the line work becomes bolder and the piece is more clear. I love creating what could be chaotic pieces but really simplifying them by merging it together by using a minimal colour palette. It’s quite challenging sometimes but I find it really therapeutic.
Any final words for the internet?
Do you what you love and think hard before you say no to something - you never know where that opportunity might lead. The amount of things I’ve said “yes!” to and then immediately been like “fuck, why did I say yes to that? I’m way out of my depth”. But then you bite the bullet and just go for it. I always think, if it goes wrong, the worst that will happen I’ll just have a funny story about how I fucked up. But on the plus side, things could go really well and open up more doors.
The first time Gigi & Thumbs met IRL, Nick coincidentally won Gigi's used board in a raffle at the premiere of DRIVEN in London.