I have a good friend that is very artistic, can paint draw ect very well. He even has an art degree
under his belt. I wanted him to paint some rock and roll sort of graphics on a short board i’m doing,
ultimately to give it that “LOST” surfboard sort of look.
So are those posca pens the best way to go? Is it as straight forward as that, just draw/paint with some pens
and thats it?
Would appreciate some advice and tips from people that have some experience with this.
Much thanks!
Tyson
Yes… it’s as simple as that. Draw with Posca pens, then seal with clear acrylic like “Krylon for plastic”. That’s how Lost does it… same with BYB. Google “posca surfboard art”. You’ll probably see a buch of examples.
You can buy Poscas in many colors and nib sizes. The only limit is your budget.
Is the board already glassed? If so you’ll be doing the graphics on the finished resin. I have done that with a Krylon seal, but eventually the Krylon wore off in areas of high use, like the rails. The design wore off soon after that.
If you are going to put the graphics on the foam, it will be protected and will last as long as the board. Paint pens don’t do as well on the foam because the paint doesn’t flow as quick and the foam absorbs a lot of it. The lines won’t be real crisp. You can, however, paint on the foam with paint brushes or, as we all know, through a spray gun using water-based acrylics. Lots of possibilities.
Doug
Waitaminnit there big fella. I’m onboard with posca-on-sanded-hotcoat, and topping with rattle can clear. Even posca-on-foam.
but didn’t Kokua mention the other day that there’s a difference between metal-can Posca, and plastic-can posca?
I don’t remember closely, but you can prolly search it up pretty quick.
Howzit Honolulu, I did say that, but it was Zig pens not Posca. Instead of using acrylic he shoud use spray lacquer it is more durable and should last longer. The thing is if people are going to do graphics on the sanded finish then they should recoat every couple of weeks or months. Aloha,Kokua
if you do it on the foam you can do it after you seal, I think the pens work great over a spackle sealed surface. Under the lam is the only way to go unless you are going to do an automotive clear coat or similar.
Okay, so I can either add the art to the foam OR sanded coat? What’s the difference in processes and choice of pens then?
Howzit Nathan, Yes using ink pens on a sealed blank will work but if you are doing it directly on the foam the hole in the foam keep the pens fromm filling in the holes and the art work will show the spots that didn’t fill in. The other problem of using directly on foam is the pen tip will indent the foam. For glossed boards you can do pin lines on the sanded surface before the gloss but foe sanded finish boards I always spray the pinlines on the foam.Aloha,Kokua
Spraying is good, you can get a decent airbrush (Cheap, not a apache or badger by any means) at walmart, it will spray even enough and they have removable tips to change patterns, I have one that works great running off of a plain old air compressor. It came with an adaptor to fit tha AC hose, works like a charm. I forget what psi we usually run, pretty low though I think.
so to get the affect that lost surfboards have, you do the artwork on the sanded finish, then glosscoat it?
Air brush 101 shows it done on a sanded finish.
I think the ONLY surf shop in town has an old VHS copy of airbrush 101. Maybe I’ll pick it up.
I found these on YouTube, here’s the links:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d53bPPK09gs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjNAQRlugMY
I’m assuming the best method so far is to do the art on a sanded finish, then do a gloss coat over the top. (?)
Whether it be posca pens or airbrush design, other than a solid color spray.
Thanks for all the info so far.
Tyson
Howzit Nathan, I have many different spray guns and air brushes. My best air brush is an Iwata which I use for detail and emphasis then I have 2 of each gravity touch up guns and syphon type guns. I also have some cheap air brushes that some times work better for some applications. I use a belt driven compressor for all spraying, had a friend who wanted to spray his own board and he had an small air brush compressor that wouldn’t put out enough pressor to run his air brush, had to hook him up to my compressor. PSI can change due to viscocity of paint or if you use a gravity or syphon sprayer. I think I use between 40 & 50 PSI depending on the application. Aloha,Kokua