Longboarding Graphic needed!

**HayTay** · 22 July 2009, 01:38 AM

Any one of those forum signatures would look fantastic on a board (in my humble opinion). If you really did those you shouldn't have any problem with your board graphic. In fact, I'm betting the DJ Dude on the second sig is, or started out as, a vector design.

How does the final design have to be submitted? AI, EPS, PDF, PNG, SVG, or some other format?

Just checking,
HayTay

**4rch_4ngel** · 22 July 2009, 01:41 AM

Its submitted in the pdf format, editing it with photoshop.

I guess they might look alright. But i was really looking for a Flat, simple type of image for the bottom of my board!
I feel like if its got a bunch of fractals and blending in it, its just going to look like some board you can pick up at target!
Flat images seem to have a sort of..simpler yet bolder aspect to them..if that makes any sense at all! haha

**steve.ledger** · 22 July 2009, 01:43 AM

Originally Posted by 4rch_4ngel

Yea i actually tried your uploader but it wasnt working

Could you explain a little?
The attachment manager is used 24/7 at TG - I just tried a test to check for problems. Which format did you try to attach? Take note of the allowed files types and sizes. Should be no problem.

**4rch_4ngel** · 22 July 2009, 01:45 AM

Oh sorry, I wasn't clear enough. No error came up, it was just not uploading the picture, I'm sure it was just that the image was too large, or was just taking quite a while to upload.

Edit* Shrinking the image now

**HayTay** · 25 July 2009, 06:13 PM

Hey, 4rch,

How are you doing with your longboard graphic? Have you settled on a theme, yet? If not, I've discovered something that may be just what you need to get started with your own design.

There's a cool little tutorial by Andres Alfonso on vector tuts+ entitled How to Create a Fun, Illustrated Skateboard Design. The author used Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to create the tutorial artwork but I completed the entire lesson using ONLY Xara Xtreme Pro 5.

Why not look it over and see if you can pick up any pointers.

Give it a try if you have time,
HayTay

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**HayTay** · 06 August 2009, 03:55 AM

Hmmm, maybe we frightened 4rch_4ngel off or he decided to stick with the program he used to create the signatures that were posted.

Here's an awesome tutorial posted by Chris Spooner on his web site, blog.Spoon Graphics, appropriately named How To Create an Awesome Vector Skate Deck Design. The author used Adobe Illustrator to create the original artwork but I, once again, completed the entire lesson using ONLY XXPro5. The secret to this tutorial is to create a '4 color squares' brush before applying the new brush to several nicely shaped lines. I think the result speaks for itself. Many thanks to Chris for the tutorial.

Chris Spooner has many more very nice Illustrator tutorials if anyone is looking for something to do.

Mostly circles and lines in this one,
Harry

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**HayTay** · 06 August 2009, 04:36 AM

OK, last one on this subject, that is, until the next one

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I dug up this Skate Deck Design Tutorial by Dave Gitlin from TRACK 6 Designs [The Blog]. Once again, Dave created this tutorial in Adobe Illustrator and he submitted his finished design to Lupe's Skate Deck Contest sponsored by imeem.com. Unfortunately Dave's entry didn't win but we benefit from the superior tutorial he compiled along the way. Thanks Dave!

I managed to get everything in this tutorial done quite nicely using CorelDRAW X3 for its bitmap trace feature, coupled with Xara Xtreme Pro 5 for everything else. Where there's a will, there's a way, or so they say. I took a few shortcuts and didn't do all of the extra highlighting on Lupe Fiasco in addition to needing to work on my paint splatter technique a bit.

This tutorial definitely took some time to complete and I should have spent a bit more time on it, but, overall, I'm pleased with the result. I also used it to experiment some with 'shades of colors' so that I could easily change the color of the skateboard if I wanted.

This tutorial uses some more advanced techniques in Xara Xtreme and is not necessarily for the beginner, or faint of heart. It's definitely worth a try if you've got the desire and stick-to-it-tive-ness, though.

I'm still learning!,
Harry

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