Project "Skateboard"

PROJECT SKATEBOARD

Inspired: As I walked into school one fall morning I observed several students riding in on skateboards. I thought about all of the cool graphics on the boards and thought... I wonder if I could get some skateboards to paint...

The Connection: An old artist buddy from high school is a former pro-skater and a friend on Facebook. Through my fishing for boards, he stepped up and volunteered to help us track some down. Dave Nelson, of Secret Penguin, an 'experiential branding firm,' came through with some of his connections and put our boards in reach. Students did have to purchase the deck and in my first painting session, 56 of 58 students purchased skateboards. See www.secretpenguin.com for more information about this outstanding company.

The Speaker's Awesome Story: Dave Nelson came to school and shared his story. He explained to the kids that the name "Secret Penguin" came from his obsession with hiding a penguin in his art projects. Dave drew a beautiful picture for the students as he described his evolution from a professional skateboarder to a self-made designer and CEO. Dave began by designing skateboards for other pro-skaters that skated with on tour. Eventually Dave asked the people who put on the tours if he could take a shot at the marketing for one of the events. The skateboarding events had not been receiving big crowds, and after Dave handled and event, it sold out and a riot broke out due to people wanting inside. It was a huge success and thus Dave was asked to do more marketing for the skateboard tour events. Eventually the NFL called Dave and asked him to do a piece for them. Demand for Dave's designs, concepts and fresh ideas increased and thus the Secret Penguin branding firm was born.

The Project Breakdown:
** This project can be completed without skateboards. A simple long cut piece of paper will work. The concepts are all the same. 
 Students looked at a variety of skateboard designs, heard Dave Nelson's story and saw his design and concepts for a skateboard he created that was inspired by his daughter, Olive.  Dave and I then handed students a worksheet packet to help them brainstorm design concepts and ideas.   

THE CONCEPT WORKSHEET:

• Page one: In the first column, Students brainstormed concepts, characteristics, hobbies, and ideas that they felt they "stood for" or represented them. In the second column, they tried to think of 'styles' colors or images that would represent these ideas in an interesting way.
  
  
• Page two: Students picked their top 3-4 concepts and sketched images that they brainstormed in column two on page one. 
  
• Page three: I showed the students a variety of board designs, discussing dynamic vs. static lines and compositional arrangements, scale, pattern and a variety of principles that would help create a nice design with their images. - Students then had to design three skateboards on paper and color them. I interviewed each student to help them select the best concept design for them to be successful. 

The Preparation & Production:

Students lightly sanded their skateboards and painted them with two coats of a primer. While that was drying, they then drew the majority of their design on a large 24"x8.5" piece of paper. Students used carbon paper and traced the final design onto the skateboard. We used acrylic paint to complete the project. Students were shown how to create clean lines, smooth coats, blend colors and other techniques. 

 

The drying rack worked well for drying and storing the skateboards.

SKATEBOARDS by RUSSELL MIDDLE SCHOOL PAINTING STUDENTS