I'm 17 years old and I'm a first year OSF student and long time graphic artist and character designer.
My skateboard is a modern, cuter callback to Japanese kaiju (large monster) movies. I took inspiration from monsters like Godzilla and Gamera. I specifically took inspiration from the design of Shin Godzilla for the monster. I also took inspiration from comic books in regards to the shading style I used.
The materials I used for this board were spray paint, tape and paint marker. I used a tape stencilling technique to paint it, putting tape on the board and cutting out the shapes I wanted to build the layers of the image. The elements and principles of design I focused on were space, colour and dominance. I used space by placing buildings in the foreground and background as well as clouds to create a sense of distance and a 3D environment. I used colour by making my board have a dominant bright green colour to give the image an eerie feel. I incorporated a bit of pink to contrast the green and catch the viewer's eye. This also ties in to how I used dominance, by making green the dominating colour. I also used dominance by making the monster have an organic shape compared to the rigid shapes of the buildings in the foreground and background as well as having it in the middle distance-wise to make it the focus of the picture.
Overall, I wanted to communicate to the viewer a feeling of otherworldliness with the entire image, but still have a hint of cuteness with the monster itself.
It was difficult doing this for the first time, but it was much more fun than I originally thought it would be. I even learned quite a lot in doing this, creating a graphic for a unique shape instead of a square and learning the stencilling method. For the image I created, I'd say I could do better, but for my first board, I am satisfied with the result.
Next time I'd try to be more careful in the cutting of the tape because it didn't end up exactly how i wanted it, but it's still okay. I am super excited to create a tonne more monsters who will terrify and charm.
