Skateboards 2014 and Designing for Real World Objects

This year myself and two other colleagues who teach Art 1, engaged our students in a painting project where they designed and painted a skateboard deck.  The process was similar to last year so if you want more details check out that post.  Otherwise here are the lovely boards which turned out even better than last year as a whole.

 

One of the things I love about this project is how each student fully invests in an image of their choice.  Each skateboard sketch reflects the student's personal style. As a teacher, I have gotten to know the aesthetic and subject matter preferences of each student throughout the year, and it is fun to see what they choose to paint.


 

 Students walk around the room and give each other feedback on their designs.  They vote on which design is their favorite.

This image was a visual journal response, that then was chosen for a very original skateboard design.

 Each student creates several sketches and possible compositions.

The well-loved paint table

 A student practices blending using multiple brushes and 3 different values, in order to achieve the illusion of 3-dimensionality.

 Using tints and shades to create dimension. 

 After some blending practice and color mixing practice, students transfer their original sketch onto their skateboard using a simple grid.

 
Using many brushes, one per value, is the key to blending a fade in this case.  

Students worked from background to foreground, broad to details.  


 

Fast forward to 4 weeks or so after we began sketching.  All of the skateboards are displayed in the hallway and students from other classes are invited to vote for their favorite design/painting.  The winners will each receive a free skateboard deck with their design printed on it from BoardPusher.com

  
They ALL look great and the students worked really hard. 

 

These 3 are the winning designs by popular student vote.

Skateboard by Yaziria C.

Skateboard by Donna S.

Skateboard by Ana G.