Sarah Roberson: Skateboard Deck

Original Drawing

Illustrator Conversion

Color Concept

Concept:

So this is my original design. This is a drawing of a temple guard mask from Star Wars. The inspiration for the drawing came from the TV shoe Star Wars Rebels. This was inspired by events that happened when one of the characters gets struck across the face with a lightsaber and is basically blinded. He then picks up this mask and puts it on his face. (The link is to a video to the scene that was my inspiration for the drawing.) I then went into Adobe Illustrator and image traced the original drawing to get it to become a raster image for the laser cutter to be able to read. I then created a copy of the skateboard to the dimensions of the actual board and then moved my image traced object over the board to fit it to it. I adjusted it as necessary but this is how it ended up. 

For my color concept, I wanted to continue with the red theme from the top of the board, but also add something that would contrast enough to add something to it. So I went inside of Photoshop and messed with the image a bit to do several different color patterns until I came up with something that I was please with. The image above is what I stuck with, but I inverted it so that the predominant color was the purple. The idea became where I would use the purple to create a gradient and 

                                   

Engraved Right Out Of The Printer

After It Was Sanded

First Pass Of The Stain

Final Pass Of The Stain

                                   

Acrylic Addition

Technique:

So after I finished my Illustrator files and got it engraved, I used purple fabric dye inside the engraved portions so that when I added it across all of the board, it would be darker than the rest. I then sanded the board with 100, 150, and 200 grit sandpaper to first take the finish off, and then to also smooth it out. Once I completed the sanding, I then added the same dye over the entire board. I went over the whole thing two times with the purple before I added a red dye around the engraved portion to create emphasis on the design and to try and bring it out. As I layered the purple, I made the edges of the board surrounding the engraving darker than the middle as to create a gradient also to bring out the image. I added one final pass of the purple before applying two or three coats of Minwax polyacrylic gloss to seal it. So then the engraved design was too dark to be able to see it well so I went in with a red acrylic paint and painted the inside of the engraving to bring it out more. 

Materials:

Skateboard Deck (7.25' width and 32' length)

Red and Purple Fabric Dyes

Sandpaper (Grits: 100, 150 and 200)

Red Acrylic Paint

Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop

Minwax polyacrylic gloss

I also was given access to a laser cutter that was what I used for the engraving. Overall this project was one of my favorite of the semester and if asked to do it again, I would totally do it.