Breaking In with Rick
“Future Later” Cooney
Rick Cooney
US
June 2026
‘When creating, I picture Ottawa Canadian skater and artist Rick Cooney with a mischievous grin carved into his face as he thinks to himself, “Wait till they see this shit.” From boards, to shoes, and even cartoons, Rick’s knack for adaptability with an archivist’s mind for skate history has given him the opportunity to design for various brands over the years like Lettuce Skateboards, Blank Stare, Street League, and even DGK. Step in the fantastically designed shoes of this multidimensional artist.’ – Chuck Harp
How did you get into skating?
Growing up in the 80’s, skateboarding was always on my radar with stuff like Ninja Turtles or Marty McFly in Back to the Future. My first boards were more like toys; a yellow California Free Former when I was five or six, and an old-school complete from K-Mart. It wasn’t until 1997 that I finally got my first real skateboard, a used Powell ‘Banner Dragon’ slick complete I bought from a kid at school for $10. A lot of kids at my high school decided to quit skateboarding around that time, so I got by riding a few really cheap used completes until I was able to save up to buy my first new complete.
Were you creating art before skating, or did skating lead you to it?
I was always interested in art, but I don’t think I had any natural talent for it when I was younger. It wasn’t until I was in high school that I started to put in some time learning and practicing more regularly, which was right around the time I started skateboarding too. Some of my first sketches in grade 9 art class were of skate shoes and they are pretty terrible!
What was the first board design you ever did?
My first deck design was for a promotional skate jam collaboration between Neal Bearings, a small Canadian skate bearing company I was working with, and a local Tim Hortons franchise owner. They gave some guidance on what they wanted and I tried to create something visually interesting from that, but in the end they weren’t completely happy. Instead of scrapping the idea, they paid me for the design but asked if I could come up with a few new concepts entirely my own. I sent them a batch of new designs and they were stoked on a few of them. They ended up picking a symmetrical design that focused equally on both brands. The lesson I learned from that is when a client’s vision doesn’t seem like the strongest direction, it’s always worth pitching additional ideas.
‘Seeing something I created being sold at skateshops around the world was a dream I’d had since I was a teenager’
I love the DGK board you did for Josh Kalis. How did that come about??
That started as just an exercise for fun. I always loved the original design by Don Pendleton, so first I recreated the original. Then I flipped it and changed all the branding from Alien Workshop to DGK. I created a winged lion silhouette to replace the Pegasus, then I inverted the blue and red. I was hoping to create an homage that would look at home hanging next to the original. I was happy with how it came out so I took a long shot and messaged Josh Kalis about it. Josh had reposted a couple of my Kalis pro model illustrations before and I figured I didn’t have anything to lose. He was really stoked and sent it off to DGK and it was approved within a few hours. I was shocked. I didn’t really expect a response at all, so to have everything approved shortly after reaching out was pretty amazing. Big thanks to Josh for making that happen. Seeing something I created being sold at skateshops around the world was a dream I’d had since I was a teenager and I’ll always appreciate that he was super approachable and easy to work with.
Recently you’ve interpreted various pros in different cartoon styles. How do you choose which skaters to draw?
I like to pick from the skateboarders that were my favorites growing up. I pull a lot from my favorite skate videos: Transworld Feedback, Girl Yeah Right!, Shorty’s Fulfill The Dream and others. Those classic videos still stick with me today, so I like being able to express that I’m still stoked on the work done by these legendary pros. Beyond nostalgia, I also like to choose people who have a unique individual style that is easy to pick out when translated.
How does it feel to have Jeremy Wray share a print of your Bart Simpson piece that honors his infamous water tower ollie cover? Are you two artist pen pals now?
I was pretty surprised that he reached out to me, I always assume I’m off most people’s radar. He offered to trade a set of signed prints from the deck series he did for Enjoi in exchange for one of my mash-up prints, and I was more than happy to make the trade. I wouldn’t say we’re ‘artist pen pals,’ but it’s been cool to have that connection and I’m always grateful for his support. I’ve been a Jeremy Wray fan since the 90’s so knowing he was stoked on something I created meant a lot.
Besides these characters you also drew up plenty of shoes. What is it about skate shoes that warrants you having to illustrate them?
It probably goes back to being an impatient teenager who had to wait months for my mail order shoes to arrive from CCS. I would flip through my skate catalogs for weeks studying shoes and wondering if I had made the right decision. I started to notice all of the aesthetic and functional design choices that went into each shoe and appreciate the way designers could blend the two together. Then as time passed I started to feel like those groundbreaking original designs that I appreciated so much were largely forgotten. Meanwhile, there were tons of great sneaker artists paying homage to all of the great basketball sneakers that released over the years. I wanted those designs from skateboarding’s history to get that same level of appreciation. So I learned Photoshop and Illustrator. I thought skate shoes would be a good place to start to learn digital design because there are tons of models to choose from. I’ve also got an archive of tens of thousands of images of skate shoes that I’ve been cataloging since the late 90’s so I didn’t need to do much research for classic skate shoes.
This might be difficult, but what’s the best shoe design of all time?
I’d have to choose the éS Accel, it’s a timeless design, it has some basic tech features, a toecap, a double layered ollie pad with a rubber underlay and it would break in quickly compared to some of the bulkier tech shoes back in the day. You could always count on the Accel. If you slim them down you sacrifice their durability and if you add more tech they tend to become bulkier and stiffer. For me, the Accel sits right in that sweet spot. For aesthetics, I would have a hard time choosing between éS Muskas, éS Creagers, Emerica MJ1s and the DC Kalis OG.
‘I like to pick from the skateboarders that were my favorites growing up.’
Have you designed any shoes for a brand as of yet? Is there a brand you’d love to design a shoe for?
I haven’t, but I feel like I’ve been preparing for it for a long time. If given the chance, I would love to work with éS or DC in particular. They both have a rich history of iconic designs and being able to contribute something new to that legacy would be incredible. In the meantime, I’ve experimented with sneaker templates, creating themed colorways, and collaboration ideas just in case an opportunity comes along.
Where do you hope your art takes you next?
My big dream right now is to do a deck series, I’d love to do something that spans multiple decks. With skateboarding being in a bit of a downturn right now I’ve been doing fewer decks than ever, so it might be a while before I can cross that one off my list. A skate shoe project is high on that list as well. I’m always coming up with ideas for skate shoes that I would love to see happen in reality. But really, I’m looking forward to any project that gets my work into skateshops and into the hands of people who love skateboarding.