Sam Cody made his entry into the surf culture in the early 60’s in the Ocean Beach area of San Diego. His interest in the craftsmanship of surfboards began in high school, when he began refinishing his old boards to trade them in for new ones. Over the years he has worked professionally for Olympic, Gordon & Smith, Channin, and Evolution Surfboards, finishing boards with artistic finishes that compliment the shape of each individual board. His reputation is known throughout the surfboard industry as one of the finest craftsmen in the field of precision color designs.

As a surfboard color designer, Sam became very familiar with polyester resins, tints and pigments in the application of color stripe designs on surfboards. By experimenting with the bright colors and fascinating ways of merging together, Sam has developed a unique form of resin art. Sam has worked with these polyester resins for over 35 years, 25 of which he has been applying to his resin and ink paintings. The resin paint, which magically creates the liquid feel of the wave, is overlaid with photo-realistic stippling (dots), producing a powerful overall effect.

 

In 1980 Rusty Preisendorfer influenced Sam in the art of airbrushing. Airbrush became the new medium for Sam to express himself and his love of surfing. His airbrush art work developed into creating designs for fabrics, t-shirts and surfboard graphic panels. Sam’s current medium of acrylic paint has expanded to large and small scale color designs, depicting popular surfboard shapes of past and present. His current creations have been shown in art galleries and have been enthusiastically received!

Sam continues to make his way into the water to surf 3 to 4 days a week, rain or shine.