ENTER! #SaveTheWaves surfboard up for grabs

An eerie skeleton turtle staring straight at you, fishing line wrapped around his head, rubbish caught in his bones, trapped in a deadly plastic bottle.

This is the winning design of the Ballito Pro Save the Waves surfboard design competition, created by Dustin Scott, who took to his pen with the mission to tell the honest, ugly truth.

The Ballito based graphic designer/illustrator said he wanted to move away from the usual pretty ocean picture and highlight the devastation happening underneath the blue blanket.

“I wanted this design to drive the “Save the Waves” message home and what is more sad than a harmless sea turtle suffering because of human negligence?”

Scott has been a graphic designer for about 13 years and said he got his wake-up call to make a difference when his son, Eli, was born in 2015.

“Before my son, I was just your average creative, working to play, but not really going anywhere. Eli has changed my focus and has driven me to take my life direction in my own hands and it is already taking me places,” said the 34-year-old mellow guy who runs his own business now.

“I am tired of boring. I do not just want to create a design to sell a product. I want to be a bridge between art and marketing, creating designs that will connect with people.”

Scott has always been intrigued by animation and has stepped into the niche illustration market.

“As a kid, I always wanted to do old school, hand-drawn animation, the way Disney used to be. Aladdin was my favourite movie – the genie (played by Robin Williams) blew me away. When I started studying animation in Johannesburg, 3D animation was the big move, which is not my vibe. I branched into graphic design coupled with illustration.”

He is passionate about the local talent and is continuously inspired to create.

“Wherever I go, I see potential art space – walls that would make great canvases for street art – and my hope is to one day have a creative community hub which will keep our innovators here instead of exporting them to Cape Town and Johannesburg.

“We have so much potential and so many opportunities that just need to be used to create something amazing.”

Little pen winner

The little folk also took part in the competition and Dylan Austin came out tops.

The eight-year-old boy entered two designs featuring a friendly dolphin and an angry octopus.

“I love drawing animals – be it real or imaginary creatures – and complicated adventure scenes,” said Dylan who lives in Ballito and would really like to learn to surf.

The Umhlali Preparatory School pupil loves art and design and has built up a portfolio of designs that he wants to print on t-shirts, caps and surf apparel and sell on an online store.

Dylan’s designs won him a surf lesson with Ballito Surf School’s Janek Ferrandi, who will give the young artist a feel for life on the surfboard.

Competition

Visit The North Coast Courier gazebo at Willard Beach (home of the Ballito Pro) from today until Sunday and take a selfie with the Groundswell surfboard wearing the winning #Savethewaves design and comment on the competition post on The North Coast Courier Facebook page with your surfboard selfie to stand a chance to WIN the board!

The competition opens on Monday and the winner will be announced on July 9.