How to draw a skateboard graphic.

Hello there! Have you ever wondered how to make an awesome skateboard graphic? You have?! Well you're in luck! Because if you follow my eight step program, you can be designing award-winning skateboard graphics quicker than a cat can crap! This is for real! Designing skateboard graphics has never been easier! Thanks to the miracle science of computers and vector graphics programs ... what's a vector? Who gives a shift Let's just make some skateboard graphics!

STEP 1

START BY MAKING a skateboard deck shape (see Figure 1). This is important because your skateboard graphic is going to have to fit onto a skateboard deck. If you draw a picture that doesn't fit well on a skateboard deck then you're just wasting your time. But come to think of it, if you're reading my articles then you probably don't really value your time anyway. I'd still suggest starting with a deck shape though. It just makes sense that way.

[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]

STEP 2

DRAW A SKULL! (See Figure 2). Any type of skull you like! It can be realistic, cartoonish, animalistic, neon, super crappily drawn, Posadaesque--it really doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that it is recognizable as a skull. If you feel like being an individual then draw some vampire teeth on your skull or make lasers shoot out of your skull's eyes. Get your freak on by all means. (Please don't compare your skull to my skull. I'm a professional illustrator for crud's sake.)

[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]

STEP 3

STICK SOME sort of flat graphic element behind your skull. I'm going to go with the original Tony Hawk iron cross shape for my board (see Figure 3) because those are really popular right now, but feel free put whatever you want behind your skull. Popular imagery includes fire, blood, and spray paint drips. Don't limit yourself to those though. Go nuts and stick a silhouette of two Saint Bernards dry humping behind your skull if that's what you're into.

[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]

STEP 4

TILE SOME sort of Louis Vuitton rip off pattern into the background of your design. Basically just make a pattern and then rotate your pattern 45 degrees and make it work tonally with whatever background color you'd like your graphic to have. If none of that makes sense then you should probably stick to the more athletic realms of skateboarding as opposed to the creative endeavors. Go kickflip something really hard to kickflip. Be sure to film it.

STEP 5

WHERE WERE WE? Oh yeah, pick a good font and type some dude's name below the skull. If this board is for an actual skateboard company then find out who the most popular dude on the team is and stick his name on the board. (My advice would be to go with the dude that wears scarves.) That way even if your drawing is a total turd, the name on the board will still "move some units."

STEP 6

REALLY THE ONLY thing left to do is to stick the skateboard company's logo on the board. Make sure that the company's logo is printed as big on the skateboard as possible. That is very important. Also, make sure that the logo totally detracts from your graphic's overall aesthetic. If possible, stick the logo on the board in multiple places. Four logos is a pretty good number (see Figure 4).

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

STEP 7

IF YOU AREN'T MAKING this for an actual skateboard company then you might not have an existing logo. Wait, don't slit your wrists just yet! There's still hope. Designing a skateboard logo is actually very simple. Take the Rat Guts logo on the board I made for example (see Figure 4). Rat Guts isn't an actual company so I had to make my own logo. Just type out the initials of your made up company and turn one of those initials around backwards. Done. Seriously. That's all there is to it.

STEP 8

REALLY THAT'S PRETTY MUCH everything. So to recap: make board template, draw skull, make pattern, stick pattern behind skull, write dude's name underneath skull, stick company's logo all over skateboard. That's it. For real. There's no reason to work any harder than that. Oh sure, one could argue that skateboarding has a rich history of cutting edge graphic design and product illustration and that it is important to continue to push the boundaries in order to ensure that the tradition continues. But that seriously sounds like a lot of work. And wouldn't you rather save your brain power and use it to think of funny MySpace comments for your friends? I would.