Eric Dressen, what can you say? Easily one of the most influential skaters ever. Legendary speed, strength, and steez for decades. Eric D was one of those guy you used to imagine being in your head while you were skating and it actually made you skate better. The LOP is honored to have an original Dressen board in our collection. Hand stained with applied graphics, this board reflects Eric's second passion in life, the art of tattooing. Peep his Indy's if you catch him skating, and you'll see what he means when he claims True Love.

Jiro is a tattoo artist at Routes, a skateshop in Little Tokyo LA- the same shop where Eric D. has been apprenticing. It was through Eric that I met Jiro, and when he offered to paint a board I knew it was gonna be serious. Some real Japanese steez, delicate brush strokes, a full golden dragon that jumps off the board. The picture really doesn't do it justice, this deck feels like it's going to slip out of your hands and kill something. I predict a showdown over this one.

Donny Barley is a director at the LOP, and brings his professional skateboard experience to the project along with his artistic skills. Donny hooked this one up. A triptych of boards so you get 3x the love, and if you look closely you'll see some interesting details that speak to the heart through the eyes and the ears. Simple and powerful, this one is being made into a limited edition tshirt that will be available at the Experiment in Progress show at Brooklyn Projects on December 11th. Get some.

Rich Jacobs introduced me to Tim Kerr, and a friend of Rich is a friend of the LOP. You may recognize Tim's name as he played guitar in seminal skate rock band The Big Boys, and has made numerous contributions to other musical outfits and art shows. He's a super nice guy, and his board reads: "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music! It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music." Yeow.

I had never met Jahmal before, but I'm from the East Coast and have known about his skating for a long time. He rips. He makes art too, and when I gave him a call he didn't hesitate to offer a board for the LOP project. He wanted to make a sculpture, but the LOP is a board company and we sell skateable boards, so I asked if he could just send something painted for this particular show. This board has been in another show, and will be available now for auction, proceeds going to the LOP skateboard foundation. Thanks, Jahmal.

Rich is an old friend who skates and makes art and is the nicest dude you ever met. I visited him at Sam Velde's house and he drew this board on the spot, then handed it back in his modest, mellow, Rich Jacobs way. It was nighttime, and I walked back to the car looking at it in the street lights. Beautiful, that's all I can think to describe it. Cosmic, that too. Rich was on his way to Japan the next day, where he was having a show. His natural lines are well deserved of the attention, and he just keeps getting better and better. The top of the board has the title and Rich's signature in his patent scrawl.

This is the first board Aryeh painted for the LOP, and he's painted several since. He skates for real and busts up a lot of boards. The painting is amazing, it goes from abstract to cartoon to psychedelic before you even know it. I remember Aryeh handing over this board and just being all stoked, like he couldn't believe it. He didn't know he had it in him. Aryeh has an interview, skating, and some footage he shot in the upcoming "Experiment in Progress" short film, and he recently released his full length skate video "Heart Still Pounding". He only just got outta high school- good luck out there, AK.

Bart is down. Check out his site and you'll find the man responsible for the skate/tattoo doc' "Skinned Alive", as well as other video projects and tons of art and illustrations. I first met Bart in Venice years ago, but when I visited him to pick up this deck he was at his place in Topanga. He's building out an insane mini ramp and spending time with his wife and son. Talk about the Land Of Plenty, B is keeping it real and real nice. This board was painted in homage to the kind of skate-crazed drawings we all used to do when we were stuck at a desk in school dreaming of murdering transitions. I can really relate to this one. Signed on top.

This is one of the first LOP board exchange decks, and it remains one of my favorites. Amika dropped this one with zero pretense and I personally think there is something really heavy going on with the Lion. That's no ordinary Lion. I'm not saying you should, as this is clearly has some wall hanging potential, but I think if you skated this board you might witness something major beneath your feet. I don't know Amika all that well, but I know he is super funny and rips and is a very passionate skateboarder. He's still in high school, it will be interesting to see where his talents take him. Check his part in "Heart Still Pounding" for the throwdown.

Bret Banta! Bret is a rad artist and super sincere, and he's fun to skate with. I've sessioned with him and his brother Bayard at Glendale on many occasions, and we always have a good time. Bret does skateboard graphics, most recently cranking out some series for Rasa Libre, but hasn't really exhibited a lot of his work. So the LOP boardshow is going to be your first opportunity to pick up an original Banta, and this one is choice: a typical bummer doorman harshing your whole shit. A simple message we can all relate to, and it's even got some mixed media in there for bonus. This board you will get on the list plus one, son.

This board is tight. Jack knows what he is doing, with confidence in his art, and is well on his way to establishing himself as a professional. At the same time, he's just out of high school, skates gnarly shit, and breaks boards. This is how the LOP works, you see, connecting elements and contributing to the creative process. It's all about momentum. Anyway, this board is fully legit, and you wanna keep an eye out for Jack Greer. Get on it.

Ekwain had been designing a shoe, so when he got the opportunity to paint a board he drew the shoe on the board. Genius. Resourceful. Then he went the next step and drew this Dude checking out the Image shoe, which just puts it over the edge into complete epicness. Ekwain is super nice, quiet, ripper. The last time I skated with him he broke his board ollieing the Wilshire 15. If you jump down 15 stairs on the regular, you are gonna need some boards.

Yohei is gnarly. I saw footage of him do a fs flip down a huge stair set, land on the board upside down, slip out and crack his head so hard it looked like he was dead. But he wasn't! He's skating again, although I think he moved from Los Angeles out to Vegas. He's also a mean artist, and man was I stoked to come up on this board. Gruesome. Clean. Bloody samurai swords and skateboarding go hand in hand, in case no one already told you that.

This is the third board in a series of five. The first one was air, but that got given away to Sam Appel after he helped out building the mini ramp. (Sam was not only one of the first recipients of an LOP skateboard, but was featured on a homepage- see archives). The second one was water, and this is the third one, wood, aka balance*. I've got two more to go, fire and emptiness, and I'll probably go back and paint another air board so you can see the whole package. Big ups to the ancient peoples who developed various elemental systems and understanding over the years.