Surfin' USA
Nov. 10th, 2008 03:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikNot many folks know this, but I actually did grow up a California beach kid. First down in SoCali (Huntington Beach area) and then a few years up in NorCali (El Granada, just by Half Moon Bay) before getting shipped off to the midwest to become a farm kid.
While I never did become a surfer with a proper board, I did love the waves and bodysurfed when I could. I'm notably envious of those who can surf and wish I'd been able to stick around Cali to learn how.
In any case I find myself getting a good grin out of this year's FC theme: "Surf Safari". I'll be there doing photography as always. This time, though, I wanted to bring some other creative things to give away, sell or both. The idea hit me to use the new tools to make some little, wooden surfboard trinkets. They could be keychains, tags or necklaces pretty easy.
Once the idea was mentioned to Dusty, he came up with a quick little doodle with a stylized "FC09" that I liked. From there I added some board stripes, a yin-yang and then worked out a decent little vector art bit for hibiscus flowers. My goal for the trinkets was threefold: a cool surfboard, a way to exploit the laser's ability to do intricate cutting shapes and a way to personalize them. After a beautifully idle weekend fiddling about, this is what I came up with:
Click for a much bigger version showing the wood detail. I highly encourage this. The boards are 4" x 1.75" and made of 3/32" alder wood. I tried some ink rub-ins to see how well they worked but the result wasn't very good for the amount of effort spent. Besides, proper surf wear should be all-natural materials... even if carving them with light isn't the most naturalistic way. :)
The personalization on the front can be in any font and a variety of sizes, or left off entirely. I just picked a font at random for this test, but need to find something more brush-stroke-ish. I'm still not fully sure what to do with the back. For now it's just a copy of the text style of the official convention logo. It works well enough that I'l most likely ask them for permission to use it as-is. Other suggestions would be appreciated, though!
To be honest I'm quite surprised to have gotten this far with a design, considering my utter lack of design skills.
I can make nine of these out of each sheet of alder wood (4x12) and the sheets come 20 to a pack. I could sell them for $3 each ($4 personalized) and have them pay for themselves. Think anybody would be interested in these at the con? If not I'll just do them as souvenirs to give out at the photo shoot and to friends.
While I never did become a surfer with a proper board, I did love the waves and bodysurfed when I could. I'm notably envious of those who can surf and wish I'd been able to stick around Cali to learn how.
In any case I find myself getting a good grin out of this year's FC theme: "Surf Safari". I'll be there doing photography as always. This time, though, I wanted to bring some other creative things to give away, sell or both. The idea hit me to use the new tools to make some little, wooden surfboard trinkets. They could be keychains, tags or necklaces pretty easy.
Once the idea was mentioned to Dusty, he came up with a quick little doodle with a stylized "FC09" that I liked. From there I added some board stripes, a yin-yang and then worked out a decent little vector art bit for hibiscus flowers. My goal for the trinkets was threefold: a cool surfboard, a way to exploit the laser's ability to do intricate cutting shapes and a way to personalize them. After a beautifully idle weekend fiddling about, this is what I came up with:
Click for a much bigger version showing the wood detail. I highly encourage this. The boards are 4" x 1.75" and made of 3/32" alder wood. I tried some ink rub-ins to see how well they worked but the result wasn't very good for the amount of effort spent. Besides, proper surf wear should be all-natural materials... even if carving them with light isn't the most naturalistic way. :)
The personalization on the front can be in any font and a variety of sizes, or left off entirely. I just picked a font at random for this test, but need to find something more brush-stroke-ish. I'm still not fully sure what to do with the back. For now it's just a copy of the text style of the official convention logo. It works well enough that I'l most likely ask them for permission to use it as-is. Other suggestions would be appreciated, though!
To be honest I'm quite surprised to have gotten this far with a design, considering my utter lack of design skills.
I can make nine of these out of each sheet of alder wood (4x12) and the sheets come 20 to a pack. I could sell them for $3 each ($4 personalized) and have them pay for themselves. Think anybody would be interested in these at the con? If not I'll just do them as souvenirs to give out at the photo shoot and to friends.
