Graphics Contest Entry Thread

[sniffleless]

Here it is! This is where you post your entries for the Graphics Contest.
Post up a few good pics of your graphic and a short explanation of what you did and how you did it and what you used.
You have roughly a week to get your entries posted. Then come March 8 the voting starts.
Good luck.

[dave196]

so excited......

[Doc Frye]

My Cthulhu Board –

Hello fellow fish! My entry is my first pressed board. It is 39 inches long by 9.5 inches wide with a kick nose and tail, ½ inch of concave, and an 18.5 inch wheelbase.

The graphic components are based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos short stories. For those of you who don’t know, Cthulhu is (according to Lovecraft) an ancient evil god with an octopus-like head, horrible claws, and bat-like wings. He lies in slumber under the ocean waiting for the day when the stars align correctly and he can emerge to conquer the entirety of mankind. He calls out from his soggy slumber influencing the dreaming fleshy mammalian brains of men and corrupting them into servitude and insanity.

Longboarding has become an obsession with me. I have spent many nights dreaming of all things longboard related, almost as if I am being influenced from beyond….. Combine this with the aquatic sound of Silverfish, and I thought a Cthulhu board was strangely appropriate.

After pressing, I cut the board to shape using a hand-held jigsaw, sanded it, stained it and applied 4 coats of rub-on polyurethane, hand-sanding between coats. All of the graphics were drawn by hand directly onto the board using black fine and ultra fine tipped Sharpie brand permanent markers. No transparencies, transfers, stencils, or computers were utilized.

The bottom has 4 main graphic components. The dominating picture is my interpretation of Cthulhu’s head. It is an original piece, no model, picture, or art was used for reference or inspiration.



Beneath the evil-one’s noggin is my homage to Michelangelo’s famous The Creation of Adam (c.1510 ad.) I show the hand of man reaching out to Cthulhu with my own warning inscribed underneath. “Some dreams should not be reached for.”





Under the nose I scribed the chant repeated by followers of Cthulhu during their ritualistic, homicidal, religious orgies. “Ph-nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.” Translation – “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”



Under the tail I added a skull being caressed by one of Cthulhu’s tentacles as a warning of what we have to look forward to when the stars align and the dread lord rises to devour our bodies and our souls. Again, this is an original piece, but I did use a model of a human skull that sits on my desk as a guide.



The top of the board is somewhat simpler in design. Eight tentacles writhe across the surface to entwine with one another framing the central graphic. The tentacles are both functional and decorative, because individual suction cups cut from “clear” grip-tape are arranged on the tentacles providing traction where most needed. Suction cups can be replaced as they wear off or added as needed.

Cradled by the tentacles, in the center of the board, is a hieroglyphic-like symbol I designed to represent Cthulhu. This symbol contains my Silverfish user name “Doc Frye” as my signature for the board.







After completing the artwork, 2 coats of spray and 6 more coats of rub-on polyurethane were applied while carefully hand sanding between coats. Then suction cups were individually drawn, cut, and applied.





I desired to give the finished product a totally custom look. I obtained some 60 mm 81 a Retro Bertz by Abec 11. Using Rit dye and hot glue, I created custom dyed wheels that remind me of swirling blood and fire. I hope to equip with black Bennett Vector 5s and 1/8th inch shock pads.



Thank you for reading my long-winded description. Any questions or comments are welcome. This is my first artistic endeavor in about 10 years, and now I find myself excited to do more.

[Rarrazz]

I am sorry for the pictures not showing up well. I have tried for days to figure it out. Please click on the thumbnails above to see larger pictures. Some can even be enlarged from there. Thanks.

If you take the code from the picture, after you click on the thumbnail, you can get it full size:


And, the board looks great

[Doc Frye]

Thank you very much for the assistance and the compliment, Rarrazz! You helped tremendously.

[jbone]

Those are some sick looking wheels, I would like to know how you did that also, I just joined and there is some great stuff here.

[mc99david]

dam... we are gonna see some crazy stuff in this one i think

[liljimmisticles]

Ambidextrous-

Here is my entry, the deck is an old school flexdex.
the medium is airbrush and rapidiograph pens.
I started it to practice with the airbrush again, and it kinda ran away with me.
My process is pretty straightforward I sketched the design on the deck with pencil, masked various parts with frisk film and started spraying. cut more stencils masked more, then repeat, and repeat and repeat.
total work time is around 11-13 hours.
the idea sort of evolved along the way, the overall design is abstract but to me represents the knitting together of perception and cyclical nature of creation.
albeit in a slightly disturbing way.
the title has to do with the hands I see them a symbols of creation, full of possibility.
this is going to been my sidewalk surfer, when finished it will be shod with revenge trucks and 70mm wheels. i
well I'm gonna stop rambling now, hope you like it.



and an overall pic

[liljimmisticles]

doc frye- Very nice job, I like the whole package, and you line work is impressive, very tight. Great job.
oh and props on the wheels those are dope.

[jspats40]

boards are gonna be sick this year

[Jesse Tighe]

holy crap both those boards are amzing i don't know if its even worth entering now with my little mask and spray boards im doomed

[liljimmisticles]

Heavenly- go for it man, regardless of weather you win this is a great chance to get your work out there and obtain feedback and constructive critcism from your peers. Sharing ideas and talent can only make us all better.

[Haro]

Hello fellow silverfishers! This is my graphic contest entry. Having acess to different and exotic wood I decided to do some inlay for my deck. In my pictures don't be alarmed, there are two boards (same design and everything). This is because I made both of these at the same time and one of them went to my best friend for his birthday. They were both made from the same boards so even the wood grain is the same.

To start off, the mini is 22"x7" and 3/4" thick.

For the bottom we cut an angle in the paduak (when it was 1" thick) and glued the 1" strips of curly maple and walnut. After it dried we ripped 1/8" veneer from that stock giving us 4 sheets. The 3.5" inch wide sheet was flipped over giving it what is called a bookmatch effect.

To get the diamond effect inlay with the walnut and curly maple, we again used 1"wide x 1"thick sticks. They were glued up side by side in an alternating pattern (walnut, maple, walnut, maple...). After that was taken out of the clamps, we cut the glued up plank every one inch going lenth wise. The newly formed sticks (alternating walnut and maple every one inch length wise) are now put back in the clamps just like they were before they were cut, but this time they are shifted slightly so they form a checkered board and the corners of the walnut line up. After they are taken out of the clamp we ripped it into veneer with a band saw and rotated it on an angle for a diamond effect.

We layed the veneers in the clamp in this order. Top inlay veneer, maple, spanish cedar, paduak, maple, and bottom inlay veneer. We used a flat press for construction (my favorite, veneers squished between two peices of plywood and cinder blocks on top)

I hope you like my 22" paduak mini. It was alot of fun to work on and design. I also wanna thank my dad greatly for taking the time to help me with the alittle more advanced woodworking stuff. The shape and design was my idea. My friend is also very happy with the one I gave him as well. I hope you could understand my description, it's kinda hard to describe how the inlay for the diamond part was set up.

[Captain Matt]

Iight heres my crack, the deck is a mini i made last summer thats been lying around flaccidly for months. i did this all freehand with a fine-point paint pen. It pretty much represents "THE STOKE" and how it keeps on growing. I was going for that old story book look. So yea the deck is 26" x 6 i believe and i hope everyone enjoys it.

[jbone]

I dig the Stoke growing into a tree, Kinda represents to me how the stoke can be the roots of a great way of life, Something I would like to pass on to my boys...

[mc99david]

seriously amazing stuff guys...

here's my entry

starts out with ebony stain over the whole thing, then i used the sticky plastic stuff that you use to put in the bottom of cupboards and cut out my shape on that and then stuck it onto the board and painted with some metal flake paint and that is all there was too it.

[Birdman87]

Hey David, is Ace still entering his? And I'm digging yours... Its a kick ass shape.

Matt, i might "borrow" the hand/roots for a tat, ok?

[mc99david]

yeah bird, ace should be postin his pics of that board any day now.. and i'll be shippin it off to ya tomorrow, its all good to go

[*Gnar_Dog*]

seriously amazing stuff guys...

here's my entry

starts out with ebony stain over the whole thing, then i used the sticky plastic stuff that you use to put in the bottom of cupboards and cut out my shape on that and then stuck it onto the board and painted with some metal flake paint and that is all there was too it.

David! That's sexy looking!

[liljimmisticles]

Captain matt- i dig your roots, nice design.

haro- nice craftsmanship I would be stoked to receive that as a gift as well,

Mc99david- that ebony stain is really cool looking.

I can't wait to see more.