Star Power, XXL Style

Artist Levi Whitpan really likes the XT Nova. It’s been a staple in his bag for nearly 5 years. But one thing he noticed that the putt and approach disc was lacking was a good visual representation on the stamp.

“Many other Innova molds are named after and attached to animals, creatures, or the icons we all know, so I wanted to bring some life to the Nova name,” said Whitpan, who does disc designs and other art when he’s not working as a screen printer or playing disc golf.

Here’s Whitpan, who lives in Seattle, in front of the USDGC Champion Roc Museum at the Innova East Warehouse in Rock Hill, S.C.  

With that in mind, Whitpan got to work. After a few early sketches he said he knew he wanted to go with big, bold vertical letters spelling out Nova in the center. Then with the rest of the usable space, he captured the sudden burst of light and energy associated with a nova in space.

More about the XT Nova disc: Straight to the basket without much skip – that sums up the Nova nicely along with the grippy disc being used as a reliable putter as well. Though this is Whitpan’s first XXL design, his work is no stranger to the DGU Store. Whitpan designed the Hole 17 scene used for several 2018 USDGC discs including the Glow XT Nova. In 2017, he also did designs for the USDGC Thrower Roc and the USDGC Champion Roc+.

Most of DGU’s stamp ideas including XXL are commissioned to artists by DGU, but in the XXL Nova’s case, Whitpan submitted it to DGU out of the blue. Whitpan said he’d noticed DGU’s XXL series for several years and wanted to take part. After shuffling through his disc golf bag one day, he noticed his XT Nova and a light bulb went off in his head. He transferred the idea to a few sketches and immediately knew he had something. He said he was really happy with the final result and hoped Nova throwers everywhere enjoy it. “I wanted people to look at this disc, and for a second, feel like maybe they should put sunglasses on. Or maybe that they’ve somehow captured this erupting star and are harnessing the awesome power in their hands,” said Whitpan.

For more on Whitpan go to his Facebook page.