For this project we were asked to create an illustration for a skateboard design that had to be intricate and creative. We also had to make sure that the wheels and top of the board were cohesive and went with the color palette of our illustration. 

I knew I wanted to create a skateboard that reflected skateboarding culture and classic skateboard designs, so I began by looking at intricate, classic and unique deck designs to get some inspiration. While sketching, I had many different ideas. One of them had a rectangle in the middle of the board with swirls and repeated curved lines inside the rectangle. 

After creating this digitally, the board had plain wood grain other than the black lines and white inside the circles. Once we had our first work in progress I was told to make it more intricate, so I made the inside of the circles lavender and put swirling zigzags inside the circles. I also made the background of the entire board off-white. After the second WIP it was suggested that I clean up the lines inside the circles and add detail outside the rectangle. So I went back, made the zigzags nicer, and made a pattern of white lines alternating directions.

Doing this project, I learned a lot about contrast and that there is a fine line between too much and too little and that can throw off the entire design. I feel much more confident with my gauging of contrast and balancing it after working with this design. I also learned more about line weight during this and how to taper down the sized while keeping the overall image balanced and flowing. This was evident in the lines inside of the circles which I used 4 different sizes of lines so that I didn’t lose any definition and kept more detail while also keeping balance.