I love skateboard art. Two years ago I started painting vintage skate decks and found that they make a great and organic canvas for collages and paintings. Starting up from a background that has a history, gritty look and existing color scheme makes it easier to come up with great compositions. Here is a gallery of my vintage skateboard designs -all painted using mixed media (acrylic and ink) and collages (prints and stickers) on old skate decks which gives each piece a unique, organic look.
The skate decks are layered with resin for a glossy finish. Old, beat-up skateboard decks tell a story, and I love using them as a support for art; these pieces bring an amazing presence to any room.
A photo gallery of twenty skateboard art pieces:
(Click on the images to zoom in and see the gallery)
A more detailed look at the skate art
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These three decks are among my first.I particularly like the one on the left, probably because of the symmetrical design.In each case, the color scheme of the piece is directly inspired by the color scheme of the skate deck itself.You can click on the images for more details. |
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You can join skate decks together for larger pieces or a mosaic effect.Here are a few decks side by side with a red / blue / green color match. |
| Skate decks are great for transferring street art and urban esthetics to the living room as you can see here with “Gas Mask”.This one is a combination of acrylic paint over the original (and severely used) skate deck, with one of my prints glued to the deck.I typically will print ten or twenty of my drawings on Epson adhesive synthetic paper and will select the right images for the deck based on color and shape.The Epson paper is extremely resistant and adheres well to the decks. It will take quite a bit of abuse and works great both with the acrylic paint I use and the varnish and resin laid on the deck after the painting is dry. |  |
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How to make your own skateboard art:
- Get a few used skate decks from your skate shop. I buy mine for $1 a piece in several skate shops around San Francisco
- Pick decks that are in decent shape (no fractures or splintered wood), and have interesting and gritty graphics and skid marks!
- Paint the deck using fast drying acrylic paints and aerosols
- Use found photos, stickers, drawings etc to create the final mixed media collage
- Spray varnish the deck
- I lay a final layer of resin on the deck, using surfboard resin or other forms of acrylic resins. You can also use non toxic plant based resins -better for the environment and the best way to recycle your ride.
You can read more about my skate art in this interview from Sk8ology.
Discussion (3) ¬
hello!
i have a white blank skateboard I want to collage similar to yours. Can you tell me what materials you use?
I paint the decks using acrylic paint. Collages are applied with an archival glue. Cover the finished piece with resin (ultra-glo) and you are good to go. Make sure to have a heat gun or torch ready when pouring the resin to get rid of air bubbles before the resin sets.