The Making of "A 4 Letter Word"

Some Behind the Scenes pics of the making of "A 4 Letter Word"  - the skateboard deck I designed for Board Rescue.

The process I used is something very different than what most people do when they design skateboard art so I thought I'd share it with you.

I have to admit that it took me over 3 weeks to decide what I wanted to do. I had numerous ideas and it took me awhile to finally narrow it down to the one I thought would be the most "me", have the most impact & hopefully raise some money for a great cause.

 I tried out various stain colors on plywood to see how each color would look

I decided to do a photo transfer process (thanks to Ian for this rad idea!). We took one of Ian's photos, manipulated it in Photoshop, added type and tweaked it, reversed the whole thing so it was backwards, then printed it out on a regular xerox machine in 2 large sheets as the image was too big to fit on one and I didn't want it to look "perfect" when placed on the board. 

Then we put the paper on the wood and drenched it in lacquer thinner while using a roller to make it sink into the board and transfer the image.

I ended up staining the top of the board a really cool green, which then was then sanded back for a "vintage" feel. But I decided to leave the bottom of board "natural" so the artwork would pop out more.

 And here is the final board

*All the boards in the show will be auctioned off on ebay to fund Board Rescue , a non profit that raises money to provide skateboards & gear to underprivileged and/or at risk kids. 

As soon as the show goes up this Friday I will post the link for the online auction - so many amazing boards by a lot of rad artists/skaters will be in there - I am excited to be part of it.