BlueTuque Skateboard

I designed this skateboard in 2007 as a birthday gift for Mike. The logo was inspired by my beloved blue winter toque which was sadly lost later the same year.  Mike had mentioned on several occasions wanting to try out skateboarding (which surprised me) so I thought this would be a cool surprise.  It was printed by BoardPusher in Denver, Colorado who specializes in custom skateboards.   The wheels, trucks, and bearings were purchased at So.Hip.It.Hurts on Queen Street. I felt pretty lost when I first went inside the store because I don't know a thing about skateboards but the staff were very friendly and helpful.

I drew Mike wearing the baseball cap that we bought on our trip to San Francisco and the zippie I gave him for Christmas. I drew my character wearing my awesome knitted blue toque and my equally awesome green and lavender canvas shoes.  I scanned the drawings and then used Photoshop to add colour and shading.

I originally put the logo against a purple background some friends suggested that it was a touch too feminine, especially where the gradient fades to white, creating a pinkish hue.  After considerable debate I switched to a green background but sneaked the purple into the font instead.  I also changed Mike's glasses to shades.

The design was then uploaded to the BoardPusher site and they printed the deck in just one day **BUT** it took 2.5 weeks for it to reach me because of a holdup at the border (not cool). The delay at the border meant that the skateboard didn't come until a week after Mike's birthday.

The deck comes with just a roll of grip tape and two of the company logo stickers so I had to buy some additional hardware before the skateboard could be ridden.  That's when I headed to So Hip It Hurts on Queen street where I bought the white trucks, wheels, and bearings. The BoardPusher stickers were a good finishing touch.

Mike and I took the skateboard for a spin in the parking lot near our place.  It was terrifying. I kept thinking I would fall back on my tail bone but Mike seemed to get the hang of it pretty quickly.  Still, every time he lost his balance I cringed.  And then any time we put a scratch on the board I cringed some more.  I guess that's the problem with designing a skateboard - I have to expect that it will get scuffed up!