“Hula Girl 2” 2013. Aerosol and acrylic paint on surfboard. Commission piece. Photo: Fieldey
The main feature.
Normally if I’m painting a board for art’s sake and it’s going to adorn a wall I’ll use acrylic paints for the main character, but if it needs to stick for surf use, I’ll use paint markers and inks. In the movie above I’m using Molotow ONE4ALL markers and inks. Paint pens, markers and Poscas are great and come in a variety of colors, they also stick really well to surfboards – the only caveat I have with them is: FOR GOD’S SAKE USE THE SAME BRAND AS YOUR BACKGROUND AEROSOLS. Don’t be mixing brands kids, this is the one time it’s permissible to be a brand-basher. Failing to do so can lead to dire results if the paints react with each other or with the sealant and cracking can occur.
Step 7: Draw up the main part of your design. I use white chalk since it’s easy to remove.
Step 8: Then add in the base colors of your design. In the movie above, I’m using refill inks with a brush so I can cover large areas quickly, but you could just as well use marker pens instead. I’m aiming to get a good coverage of ink and most of the major areas covered.
Step 9: Flesh out the design by adding your shadows and building up the mid-tones to add depth to the image.
Step 10: Add your highlights to really make things pop – remember that the lightest parts of the image will be the most eye-catching and will appear to be coming forward, and the darker shadows will appear to retreat, so if you want something to really jump out, make it lighter or add highlights.
Step 11: Once I’m happy with the design, I finish it off with a nice big dose of black outlines to bring it all together and make it look cool.
Step 12: Seal the deal. So, you’ve finished your masterpiece and decided it’s too good for the world to miss out on and you want to seal it and surf on it pronto. You have two options: take it to a surfboard shaper and have them spray it for you, or you can spray a clear coating on yourself. This is where you want to stick to your brand bashing right here – if you used Molotow Premium sprays and say, Molotow ONE4ALL paint markers, then a sensible choice would be to use their branded clear acrylic sealant, or they also recommend Spraymax 2k. For this board I used Molotow gloss acrylic coating and applied four coats of it, sanding very lightly with 1200 wet and dry sandpaper and cleaning off with water and a chamois in between.
Now you’re done! That wasn’t so hard was it?
Stay excellent.
Fieldey.
P.S. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to leave one below. New tutorials are in the works, so subscribe to this blog or to Fieldey TV on YouTube to stay in touch.
Now, enjoy. Photo: Fieldey
This post originally appeared on Fieldey’s personal site.
