So I’m more of an illustrator/cartoonist but when faced with the opportunity to do a painting (especially for a good cause) you’d better believe I’m in.
This is a skateboard painted by me which will be up for auction on September 13th (that’s Friday the 13th for those of you taking note) at We Care Arts located at 3035 Wilmington Pike in Kettering, Ohio 45429. The proceeds will help facilitate We Care’s ongoing mission of providing a place for people with emotional, mental and/or physical disabilities to learn about,create and even sell their artwork.
Now even if you’re not in the Dayton area you can still take part in the art auction online. For all the details visit We Care’s facebook page here or their website here. And if you are from around here and aren’t familiar with the great work We Care does please take a moment to visit their site… I mean c’mon… if you’re reading this chances are you’ve got a few minutes to spare, right?
The good people at We Care Arts received four skateboards for the auction and in a moment of poor judgement gave me one of them and told me to paint it however I wanted. After a few minutes of careful thought I said, “Sea Beast!” because I love giant sea monsters… what can I say.
That decided I went to work on it and for your entertainment I’ve included step by step photos of the transformation of a brand new board into a one of a kind piece of art. You lucky devils, you!
Please consider stopping by We Care Arts on Fri. Sept. 13th for their all day art auction (1pm-9pm) and tell anyone who might be interested in skateboards (and tons of other sweet stuff)! Thanks!
Here we have the brand new skateboard right out of the shrink wrap it was shipped in.
The first thing I did was give it a nice black base coat.
Next I put in the rough outline of the sea creature (note the sketch I was working from).
After the creature got a second coat of paint it seemed like a good idea to rough in the sea (you can’t have a sea beast without a sea).
I didn’t really like those pointy wave crashes so I decided to make them a bit cartoonier looking.
Next went in the clouds. I made them pretty and pink to contrast the horror that would soon be happening below.
Then I went in and gave some definition to the outline of the creature’s body.
Next came the beginnings of his face.
More definition to his face (including pointy teeth with which to eat seamen… that’s seamen with an “a”).
Next I added an outline to the waves.
Then I began stippling in the texture of the sea beast’s skin.
Then it was the rough version of the sea vessel and some signs of turbulent water around it.
Next I finished up the stippling…
…and added in some definition to the ship and water.
Then I touched up the clouds… oh hey, everyone say hi to my good pal Uma!
Satisfied with the end result I added some varnish.
And finally a second coat of varnish to finish it up!
Here is the finished product outside in the sunlight!
Detail of the sea beast…
…and the ship.
The artist with the completed “Sea Beast” (note this was all before noon… pretty amazing).
And that’s how you paint a skateboard my friends! Be sure to visit We Care Arts on Fri. Sept. 13th to bid on this and tons of other art to support one of the best organizations in the community and the artists who benefit so much from its existence. I would greatly appreciate you spreading the word via all of your social media outlets (as well as good old fashioned word of mouth). Thanks!
