Natan Florence, Slab Tour Release 001

If the artwork looks familiar, that’s because it’s from renowned artist Phil Roberts, who's done some incredible work in surfing over the years (including many projects with SURFER) but got his start creating iconic movie posters for movies like National Lampoon Christmas Vacation and The Goonies.

When you’ve been honing your craft for decades, the opportunity to recreate something for a surfer like Nate, the execution comes naturally. Roberts said, “When I got the call from Nate, and he explained what he was looking for…I was like, ‘Man, I’ve already drawn this!’ This project was everything I’m good at—I nailed it in one drawing. We didn’t even need to do a second one.” 

Nailing it first try is impressive itself and, the more we learned about Robert’s approach, the more we love this collaboration. 

“I still do everything by hand. That’s the way. The original Lampoon art was hand-drawn, so I wanted to stay true to that. I did the final pencil drawing to size, all by hand, because that’s how you capture raw energy. It feels alive—kinetic.”

As for creating together, the two had fun bringing it to life. “From the get-go, we clicked. I’ve been doing this long enough that I know the right questions to ask to get the best images out of someone…this is his sense of humor spilled onto the canvas.”

Although Robert’s history with surfing runs deep, he said this project was special. “It’s a full-circle moment for me. I live a dual life. I’m from Melbourne, Florida—a lifelong surfer. I started airbrushing boards when I was 15, but by 19, I was already illustrating movie posters for surf films. The cover I did for Surfer Magazine in 1982 is a Shirley Temple story. I found that poster on a newsstand, and it gave me my first start in Hollywood—beating out even some of the artists from Mad Magazine. The movie business was seasonal, so in between projects, I worked on surf art—mostly for Surfer Magazine. To have this moment where my two worlds intersect, it’s incredible.”