This is my first semester at OSF. Although I’ve only been here a couple weeks, it feels like I’ve been here forever in the best possible way. I’m constantly learning new things, and being encouraged to take risks with my art, which is something I was never able to do before, and my skateboard graphic certainly reflects that.
My art style is usually really pretty and feminine and I feel like this particular board is the complete opposite: it’s dark and a tad bit grungier. On the deck of my board, is the “Aperture Science” logo. “Aperture Science” is a science laboratory in the video game “Portal.” On the grip tape there’s the cult of rapture symbol, which again is another well known symbol from the video game, “Portal.”
My inspiration for this board is one of my very close friends. He’s a big “Portal” fan, and I wanted to make him something really wicked and personal. For the actual construction of the board I used maple. We glued the veneers together, vacuum pressed them, and waited overnight for the glue to set so we could begin to sand and shape the board. I also used a dark mahogany stain instead of painting the board. Of course I used paint for the design, but the stained background is just such a nice canvas for the logo. I wanted the board to be bold and clean and sophisticated. I know those words aren’t generally used to describe a skateboard, but I wanted something really classy.
I’m really happy how my first longboard turned out. I went into it completely terrified and coming out of it now, I’m really happy. It went great! I learned how to sand a board, how to stain a board, how to make stencils, how to make templates, and how to correctly use a can of spray paint, which has proven to be the toughest challenge. All in all, for my first board, I’d say it was a success.
