Niveda Subramanian: Skateboard Deck

Original Sketch

Illustrator Converted Design

Illustrator Design on Skateboard

Concept:

 For my Skateboard Deck project I decided that I wanted to scan a drawing on to illustrator, because one of my talents is drawing.  I love the Dallas skyline, and so I decided to take that and transform in into a geometric pattern. I first created some simple shapes, and then I went back and drew individual lines separating these shapes. After that, I traced my drawing with a copic marker, and colored my shapes in with a black sharpie. I also wanted to convey the idiom "Home Is Where The Heart Is", and I did this by sketching a heartbeat on the Reunion Tower. I consider Dallas my home, and so ultimately my heart resides here too.

Laser Engraved Skateboard Deck

Engraving Zoomed In

Acrylic Painted Skyline 

Acrylic Painted Idiom

White Overlap Acrylic Lettering

Final Skateboard Deck

Technique: 

I first drew my Dallas geometric skyline in my sketchbook, and then I took a picture of it and then uploaded it to illustrator. In illustrator I image traced it to bring out the black skyline, and I also used the tools to clean up some of the edges. After I got it laser engraved at the lab, I painted the geometric skyline black with acrylic paint. I wasn't sure what color to paint my deck at first, but then I decided to go with black because I thought that it would complement the wood. Then with the acrylic paint I wrote the idiom "Home Is Where the Heart Is". I didn't like that it was just plain black, so I went over the lettering with white acrylic paint. This turned out to be cooler than I thought it would, because the white overlap created a grey shade between the black and white paint. I decided not to paint the background, because I still wanted to keep the natural image of the skateboard deck, and the simple wood provides that.

Materials: 

For this project, I used a skateboard deck I ordered from Amazon. I got my engraving done at the ATEC Fab Lab, and then used black and white acrylic paint to create my design. I also worked in Photoshop and Illustrator to edit my design.