Tom Veiga

Tom Viega is a Brazil­ian graphic designer and poster artist with a flair for vibrant col­ors and shapes. His mod­ern and vintage-inspired designs beau­ti­fully evoke every surfer’s dream – the per­fect wave. We join Tom and ask him a few ques­tions about his work and his life.

What was life like grow­ing up?
I had a very good child­hood. I was born and raised in Curitiba, the cap­i­tal of Parana state, a place with a good qual­ity of life in Brazil. It was a city with no beach, but with lots of nature. A great place for grow­ing up.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
My dream was to be a foot­ball player. I played for 4 years in the youth team from the cap­i­tal, but ended up hurt­ing myself. When I stopped play­ing foot­ball did not know what I would do in life, but I was inspired and encour­aged by my brother who is an illus­tra­tor Dirceu Veiga. I knew noth­ing of cre­ation, com­mu­ni­ca­tion, but he was helped me get started work­ing in design.

Where did you inter­est in surf­ing art come from?
In 2003 I became inter­ested in surf­ing after I stopped play­ing foot­ball. Even before surf­ing I began to delight in the surf cul­ture, the lifestyle of peo­ple liv­ing in that envi­ron­ment. Life on the beach, travel, and always close to nature is some­thing that had begun to intrigue me.

What is the Serie Waves?
The Waves series name comes from the idea Serie, some­thing still is not some­thing that has an end, is some­thing that is always in motion. A surfer dreams of a series of large waves break­ing and tubu­lar, and Serie Waves has this idea and con­cept. It is a series of waves in var­i­ous styles, col­ors, fea­tures. It is some­thing that always has some­thing new – a wave, a new work of art com­ing. It is also some­thing mov­ing – a new swell of creativity.

What is your process when cre­at­ing your art?
My cre­ative process varies widely, draw­ing inspi­ra­tion for a wave can come on a trip with his fam­ily to the beach, watch­ing a surf­ing mag­a­zine, watch­ing a DVD of surf­ing, drink­ing cof­fee, walk­ing down the street, any­where or even doing any­thing. I always walk around with a pen­cil and paper, because when it comes to the idea. I’ve already spent the time to put it on paper. I scan the sketch and start to trace the basis of art in illus­tra­tor. Finally, I work out the col­ors, shad­ows and details in Pho­to­shop to fin­ish the design.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
I trav­eled a lot, but not out­side Brazil. Here in Brazil I have encoun­tered fan­tas­tic places, the best was Garopaba, located on the coast of Santa Cata­rina, a fish­ing vil­lage with a quiet beach for fam­ily, a beau­ti­ful place and made a big dif­fer­ence. I had a lot of inspi­ra­tion in those days see­ing all those beau­ti­ful beaches, waves and land­scapes. I do have this idea of trav­el­ing with the fam­ily to see such as JBay, Mentawai, Cal­i­for­nia, Pipeline, and Fiji.

What are you grate­ful for?
I very much appre­ci­ate the fam­ily that God gave me and my fam­ily. I am inspired by God who fills our lives and made us, and that also in the moti­va­tion to help peo­ple who are around us to make life more beautiful.

Who/what inspires you?
My inspi­ra­tion comes from what God has done – He cre­ated waves per­fectly, each with a dif­fer­ent fea­ture, dif­fer­ent col­ors, dif­fer­ent shapes. Also the surf­ing com­mu­nity has inspired me. Waves, travel, mag­a­zines, dvds, surf sites, any­thing resem­bling a wave inspires me.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
I wish I had known more of surf cul­ture before I started with football.

What are you most proud of?
I am blessed and proud to have a family.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing has many ben­e­fits to a per­son, it brings us closer to nature, the beauty that God cre­ated, every­one who gets involved with a sport, a cul­ture like this cre­ates a change in lifestyle. Leave an urban cen­ter to go to a beach, either to rest or to ride or spend a week­end and just stop and admire the sea – It’s so great, so full of waves, it makes you appre­ci­ate your life.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
I have peo­ple I admire very much in the world of surf­ing. They are the artists, surfers ama­teur and pro­fes­sional photographers.

What’s your favorite meal?
Baked fish.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
At the moment I just lis­tened to POD, Tom Cur­ren, and Dominic Balli.

What causes/ projects/ orga­ni­za­tions do you sup­port?
I now work for a dig­i­tal agency, work­ing as art direc­tor, and in his spare time do free­lance design work and also in WAVES SERIE. I am also involved in social work at an orphan­age and also other social project that helps peo­ple have more hope in life. I work with peo­ple who have done drugs, have addic­tions and help them so they might have a bet­ter life.

What’s next Tom Veiga?
I want to be more involved with the surf­ing world. Part­ner­ing or even work with surf brands, work with my Sur­farts for events, and being in art exhi­bi­tions. Also work­ing on the project Sur­farts to doing that which is inspired by the waves of the WCT. And my dream its some­day live on the beach with my family.

More infor­ma­tion about Tom Veiga and his work can be found here.