if your wondering what some of my educational content looks like, here’s an example. This is workshop was intended as an introduction to both skateboarding careers and graphic design!
Tell your story with a skateboard
We put graphics on the bottom of skateboards because it is both a way to advertise the board, the skater, and the brand.
These days, board graphics often come out in a series a few times a year, so the graphics from a brand will be consistent for any given period of time.
City Scene series by Evan Hecox for Girl Skateboards
who designs skateboard graphics?
The industry has a few different job titles for these designers, in this situation they are often interchangeable.
Creative Director
Graphic Designer
Artist
and many others…
The reality is that it is their job to create content for the bottom of skateboards using a variety of tools like cameras, computers, art supplies, buildings, and anything in between.
They also often work with other artists, companies, or designers to incorporate their imagery into the brand.
Learn about a few designers in the industry and see what they have to say about their work!
Pro-files
check out the stories of designers and artists working to put graphics on boards below
do some research and find out who is behind your favorite skateboard graphics! then answer the questions below.
activity 1:
finding your style.
use a google search to find a skateboard with a graphic you like.
then try and answer the questions to narrow down your style.
What drew you to this graphic?
was it the color or shapes? what spoke to you…
What is the graphic telling you?
what does the board say about the person who rides it?
What is something you would change about it?
how might the graphic represent you better?
lets break it down.
how do we talk about graphics? designers often use the ELEMENTS OF DESIGN to help break down graphics into bite sized pieces. Learn about the elements of design below to use them in your own design work.
point.
A dot or mark positioned on a graphic. This isn't limited to just circles, a point is referring to anything that acts as a focus or stopping point for your eyes. Think of how a bulls eye draws your gaze towards the center. You can use multiple points to create a path or story for the viewer to follow
texture.
Texture is the appearance of a surface material. The main differentiation between textures is that it is either rough or smooth. Textures suggest what a form/shape is made of and can be created using points, line, shapes or color
line.
A line is essentially a series of connected points. There are characterized by their length, direction and weight. Lines can be straight or wavy, long or short, heavy or soft, architectural or organic. They can be used to create perspective, outline a landscape, frame a composition, and many other things
color.
There are lots of ways to interpret color and shading in graphic designs. Have a look at THIS VIDEO for a brief explanation of how color and design relate
shape.
Shapes are lines that start and end in the same place. We call this being a closed line. Shapes can be sharp, round, straight, curved, or anything in between. Shapes make up the characters, icons, and objects in our graphics. There are an infinite amount of shapes you can use or find
value.
Using brightness and shadow can create contrast, to bring attention or depth to graphics. Try and figure out how color and value work together.
form.
Essentially shapes in 3 dimensions. This includes any shape that has dimension or perspective. Adding details like shadows and highlights can create the elements of form.
space.
Space is what exists between elements, but it also refers to how things are laid out and arranged on a composition.
activity 2:
planning your own graphic.
now that you know a little bit about how designers think about their graphics, its time for you to start planning your own.
I recommend starting with paper and pencil, and making lots of prototypes which you can pick your favorite details from later.
Plan out what elements you want to include and how. I have provided a helpful worksheet below.
click on the image to download and print this worksheet at home!
Wrapping up
Think about what graphics you like and investigate companies, artists, and designers that interest you. If there are certain art styles you like, would you want to incorporate those styles into your own graphics? For this, you are free to take inspiration from outside of skateboarding as well. Think about the graphics in TV, packaging, signs, advertisement, magazines, there is graphic design EVERYWHERE. If you are inclined, create a mood board of some of your favorite graphic elements!
In the next lesson, we will be creating our own graphics from scratch. It will be helpful to have a lot of different sources of inspiration to pick from.