Chicago’s Scott Darling has teamed up with Dave Gunnarsson of DaveArt to produce a brand new mask design using the Blackhawks’ classic colours.

“Scott and I brainstormed a lot how to create his new Blackhawks mask.” Gunnarsson wrote on his Facebook page. “We came up with a plan, Scott and I took all the ingredients and started to sketch. A design emerged in front of our eyes, I started to create and paint.”

“We wanted to do a design in a totally new way, a new kind of Chicago Blackhawks mask. The design is a tribute to the spirit of the native art of America. Everything is created in the awesome colors of Chicago Blackhawks. The design is put up on the mask as a skin, and it creates the design with all the vintage effects.”

Working with Gunnarsson for the first time, Darling’s new design utilizes DaveArt’s popular GLOW FX technique to make the Blackhawks logo on either side shine when the lights go down.

The black and white stripes, punctuated by a red streak on the top of the mask, presents a clean, classic feel from distance with further elements beginning to stand out as you close in on the design.

A native of Lemont, Illinois – just 40 minutes from the Blackhawk’s United Center home – Darling’s previous mask featured some heavy Chicago flavours as well, with the 26-year old keen to build on last seasons success with his boyhood club.

Darling was able to steal the backup job from Antti Raanta, going 9-4-0 with a .936 save percentage and minuscule 1.94 goals against average. The University of Maine alumni also made five appearances during Chicago’s Stanley Cup run, going 3-1-0 in relief of Corey Crawford.

Darlings’s efforts earned him a Masterton Trophy nomination, after conquering personal demons before rebuilding his fractured career, eventually reaching the NHL.

For more of Gunnarsson’s great artwork check out his website, Twitter feed, and Instagram. And check out these great close ups of Darling’s sleek new mask: