Damian Fulton
Damian Fulton is an American painter, cartoonist and film director based in the Greater Los Angeles area. He is known for paintings depicting the surf culture of Los Angeles' South Bay combined with urban and pop-culture imagery, and as the creator of the BMX comic strip Radical Rick, which ran in BMX Plus! magazine.[1][2][3]
Early life
[edit source]Fulton grew up in Irvine and Fountain Valley in Southern California, and was first exposed to surf culture at Huntington Beach, where he and his brother would ride their bicycles to the beach to surf.[1][2] He studied art at California State University, Fullerton.[1][2]
Radical Rick
[edit source]Fulton created the Radical Rick comic strip in 1979, after a riding friend who worked for BMX Plus! magazine introduced him to its editors.[2] The strip, following a young BMX rider and characters such as MX Mug, ran in BMX Plus! from 1979 until 1993, and later in reruns, comprising more than 150 episodes.[4][5] The character became a recurring figure in 1980s BMX culture, and Fulton later collaborated with Haro Bikes on a signature Radical Rick bicycle.[6]
Advertising and entertainment career
[edit source]In 1984 Fulton moved to Los Angeles to join the advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather, where he became a creative director and worked on campaigns for brands including Hot Wheels, Barbie, Kraft, Pepsi, Chevron and Toyota, receiving industry awards including a Cannes Lion and a D&AD award.[2] He also served as vice president of creative development at Marvel Productions and as a senior designer for Disney, creating commemorative artwork for Disneyland's 50th anniversary.[1][2] Early in his career he designed a poster for the Op Pro surfing contest and created other comic strips, including The Shred Brothers, as well as comic material for Snowboarder magazine.[1][7]
Fine art
[edit source]Fulton's paintings depict scenes of Los Angeles surf culture that combine beach subjects with city, motorcycle, hot-rod and pop-culture elements rather than idealized coastal landscapes, an approach Surfer magazine termed his "urban surf art".[1][2] Writing in Easy Reader, Rachel Reeves described his work as "elaborate, highly interpretable stories about the motorcycle, car, and surf cultures of the coast that incubated him".[2] His paintings have been the subject of features in surf publications including Surfer, The Surfer's Journal and The Inertia.[1][3][7] His mural work has been covered by the street-art publication Brooklyn Street Art.[8]
He is among the thirty surf-graphic artists profiled in the anthology Surf Graphics (Korero Books, 2012).[9]
In July 2014, La Luz de Jesus Gallery in Los Angeles presented "Rad!". The exhibition was also covered by the cycling-culture publication The Radavist.[10]
Film
[edit source]Credited as Damian X. Fulton. He directed the 2025 Christmas film The Great Christmas Snow-In, starring Joey Lawrence and Amanda Fuller.[11][12]
Personal life
[edit source]Fulton lives in El Segundo with his wife, with whom he has four children.[2][3]
Exhibitions
[edit source]- Rad! (35th anniversary of Radical Rick), La Luz de Jesus Gallery, Los Angeles, 2014[10]
References
[edit source]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Slater, Stefan A. (22 April 2014). "Fulton's Urban Surf Art". Surfer. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Reeves, Rachel (21 August 2025). "Where the Water Meets the Land: The fantastical far coast of Damian Fulton". Easy Reader & Peninsula Magazine. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- 1 2 3 Spoor, Nathan; Escalante, Greg. "Dark Down the Lightness". The Surfer's Journal. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- ↑ "Through The Lens – Creative Minds: The Creator of Radical Rick". BMX Union. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- ↑ "Brad Parker & Damian Fulton". La Luz de Jesus Gallery. 5 July 2014. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Radical Rick Creator – Damian Fulton – HARO BMX". DIG BMX. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- 1 2 Haro, Alexander (24 May 2021). "3 Surf Artists You Should Know About If You Really Love Surf Art". The Inertia. Retrieved 5 July 2026.
- ↑ "BSA Film Friday 01.15.16". Brooklyn Street Art. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ Pinto, Luís M. "Surf Graphics". Surfertoday. Retrieved 2026-08-19.
- 1 2 Watson, John (28 July 2014). "Damian Fulton's Radical Rick Exhibition Looked Rad". The Radavist. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "The Great Christmas Snow-In". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 22 July 2026.
- ↑ "Check Out Damian Fulton's Story". VoyageLA. 20 November 2025. Retrieved 22 July 2026.