Home Course.

Everybody who plays disc golf has or should have a home course. the course you have played a million rounds and could play with your eyes closed. My home course is Kentwood Park in Raleigh, NC. It is a great little park mainly used by NC State students on the weekends but great for early morning rounds. it is a short course, but works for me because I do not throw very far yet. I want to have a Kentwood shirt so I designed this, with my Forest Walkers Bear on the back. Keeping a NC State color theme, hoping to make these shirts someday. Enjoy and let me know if you are interested in getting one.

Tree Man Sketches

Okay so the most important part of being an artist is being able to create new images and ideas. I am always sketching and sometimes I get a winner, at least in my book. This is a pencil sketch of the Tree Man. I am working on him as a t-shirt design for Forest Walkers. I have spent enough time on this today I have to get back to the drawing board. Please tell me what you think, I honestly love to be critiqued.

2015 PDGA World Championship Disc Contest

Being knew to the disc art game if I see a contest I'm going for it. When I saw a chance to design the 2015 PDGA World Championship disc I got pretty amped up. The tournament is being held in the Pittsburgh area and of course a black and yellow theme came to mind. Pittsburgh being a steel town and know for some cool bridges. I saw a concept already online with a bridge theme so I chose to go steel worker. I gathered some reference did a few sketches and completed a Black & White, as well as a full color version and submitted them. When the decision was made the winner was that initial bridge design slightly modified for the better,that I saw before I even started. It was created by Ricky Normandeau, he also won the PDGA Ace & Birdie club design contest in 2012. I love is style. Well back to the drawing board for me, I have to work harder and create designs that can not be denied. Here is Ricky's winning design, his Original design and my concept as well as my inspirations.

86it Disc

Because the disc golf community is full of great people, events like the Trashy Doubles takes place. At both Kentwood and Cedar Hills events were held to clean up the parks. Play one round clean up the park, scores adjusted by how much garbage you can collect. Sponsored by the 86it campaign. Mike DeCellis from the Triangle Chain Posse asked if I would do the layout for the disc, of course. The basic design was the 86it logo on a trash can, so piece of cake for a great cause. Thanks to Mike for letting me help and to all of those who took part, thank you. I do love a clean park. Here is the digital image and a printed disc. Enjoy.

Forest Walkers the dream is born ...

I have a friend who does not like his name everywhere so we will just call him Buck. So Buck and I go way back all the to High School in NJ. Buck tells me try this game I think you will like it. Okay I say I'll give it a go. I play my first round of disc golf at Cedar Hills in Raleigh, NC. I was horrible but hooked. I owe Buck everything for showing me this game. About six months later we decide there is not enough apparel options in the disc golf world and hatch out a logo and a company is born; Forest Walkers Disc Golf. We have huge plans, started with a few friends wearing our shirts, the word is spreading and everyone seems to like it. I am very proud of the look we are creating and the direction we are going. Forest Walkers is not a full time business yet, but hopefully we can take big strides in 2015. Here is the first run of Forest Walkers T-shirts and Sticker.

2015 Mooky's Cup Not Yours

Sorry there was not a post yesterday, but I will put up two today. The first is some pics from the icy and treacherous conditions at Mooky's Cup. In High Point, NC yesterday at the Johnson St. Disc Golf park 70+ brave players took on the slickest course I have ever seen. There were some great scores considering the ice and cold, and a couple of Aces. As usual I met some great people as well as playing with old friends. Survived the day without injury and managed to cash AKA merch. I got a chance to chat with the Legend Barry Shcultz, who offered up some great advise for me personally. It was a long day but always worth it. Special shout out to Ken Martin, he is a great guy and he knows why. Thanks Ken. I have a couple of weeks before my next tournament, so practice, practice, practice is what I will be doing. Here are some pics from Mooky's enjoy. I will have an art post tonight, the birth of Forest Walkers.

Forest Open Disc design

Tournament disc number two was for the 2014 Forest Hills Open in Durham, NC. This is one of the coolest tournaments of the year. A temporary course built in Forest Hills Park. Check out some of the videos it is a great place to play. So Matthew Gill who runs the tournament gives a shout and is a fan of the vector art style I have been displaying and wants something classy and crisp. I have a few options in my mind but Mr. Gill really wanted a bar stamp and the result was very well received. The best part was that players were getting me to sign there discs. That was a huge high. This tournament was also Bull City Disc Club event, these guys are the best. Enjoy the art.

Big Valley Challenge 2014

My first tournament disc was made possible by the the great people in the Bull City Disc Club. A new logo with the Durham, NC skyline was mentioned, and I was off and running. I offered up three finished designs and I was happy with all three. The winner was used on tournament discs and the trophies. It was such a thrill to no that all these players had a disc in there bag that I designed. The response was great and confidence was very high. I also proposed a t-shirt but they did not get made. I still want to see the shirt some day. I am currently working on the 2015 Big Valley Challenge disc and it is going to quite a contrast from the 2014. Thanks again to everyone at BCDC, especially to Tony and Lindsey Ivey who put this tournament together. They are also huge supporters of my work. Enjoy the art.

The PDGA Ace/Birdie Club contest

The PDGA has a contest every year to create new logo for both the Ace Club and the Birdie Club. I come across this on the PDGA website, and off to the sketch book. I wanted to win both for the big prize but that was not meant to be. The stars were aligned for my Birdie Club design. Winning this contest was a huge thrill and opened my eyes to the fact that I can create designs the Disc Golf community are interested in. Now that Disc Golf has become such a passion for me, I love that I can also bring my art into this new world. Here are both designs that I submitted. The Ace Club design was never a great design but I ran out of time. this year I have a unified design idea for both logos. The third image is the actual disc printed with my design. Enjoy the the images.

Disc Artist for Hire!

My name is Benjamin Hopwood and I am a graphic artist and an illustrator. About 2 and a half years ago a very good friend introduces me to the sport that would change my life; Disc Golf. Instantly I was attracted to the art on the discs, but felt that I could improve on some. I always think I can come up with a better idea. That's obviously not always the case when I found the disc art of Les White. His art is fantastic and inspired me to step up my game. I have done a couple tournament discs and T-shirts, but winning the PDGA Birdie Club contest for 2015 is getting me some real attention. In this blog I will be posting my disc and disc golf apparel designs for everyone to see. I will also post art from some of my peers that has to be seen to believe. Do not let a lack of ideas stop you or your disc golf club from reaching out to me or any of the talented artists who love to create for the disc golf community. Just remember a few things when designing a disc; do not copy something that is already out their let the artist push the envelope. We need fresh ideas not cookie cutter designs we have seen a thousand times. Another thing to remember is to be willing to pay for quality art. Negotiating is hard but make sure both parties are happy and want to work together in the future. There are a lot of artists that want and can help, but please don't take advantage of them because they make it look easy. it's never easy talent comes from hard work. I will try and post regularly and keep it interesting. Please leave comments and tell others if you like my blog. Thanks and enjoy the art.