The Design Thread

[Arto Saari]

What’s up yall

Truth be told, I did get a kick out of clogging the main shoe thread with my bullsh*t, but the gods have spoken and I respect the guidelines of the community.

Let this thread be an outlet for all the creatives on SLAP to share and discuss their visions.

Post your design work: Footwear, apparel, soft goods, board graphics, graphic design, ad-layouts, stickers, accessories etc. Doesn’t necessarily have to be directly related to skateboarding.

Industry heads, post some images of your process!

Non-creatives, let us know what you want! Feel free to put requests in for products and ideas which have eluded you.

Hopefully this thread can be livelier and more inclusive than the mock-up threads of the past.

[Arto Saari]

For the inaugural flashback Friday we have the Muska 98, a contemporary take on one of the most original footwear designs the skate industry has ever birthed.

These shoes feature a new sleek form for a more skate friendly experience. Something like a superstar adv but without those weak ass stripes. (sorry Sk.A.T.A.N and other adidas heads )

They also come equipped with the mythical full rubber 'shell toe' that was briefly mentioned in Chad's 9 club interview.

Once again, 3 GR colorways and a limited 'antifreeze' colorway referencing a legendary photo of the Muska wearing an unreleased sample.

(and I know, my sole design isn't nearly as dope )

Enjoy!

[Youoverthere]

Those antifreezes are looking sick! Wish they were real.

[CatchMyFADE]

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

[Seadramon]

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

I went on a mad hunt 3 days ago to track down pics of the mumford adio shoe.

Satisfied.

[CatchMyFADE]

Expand Quote

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

[close]

I went on a mad hunt 3 days ago to track down pics of the mumford adio shoe.

Funny the universe brought them here.

So wild!!

Unfortunately the Mumford pro never saw the light of day (along with an updated Kenny Anderson collection that came out really well). Very unstable time for the company when those were in development, as the brand was pigeonholed as the Bam puffy mall shoe brand. Combine that with being acquired, sold, reacquired, sold, then licensed, it was a real mess.

[Arto Saari]

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

God damn! Your work is prolific! Great quality and so much range. Website was clean and easy to navigate aswell.. Mine is so bad I'd rather share projects on their own . I really hope you're doing well for yourself.

[pointandclick]

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

yo ive skated a bunch of the politic graphics youve done, very stoked on them.

[CatchMyFADE]

Arto:
Really appreciate the kind words, I know what it's like to be your own worst critic, but based on what you've posted on here, it looks like you're going in the right direction. Not everything you make will be amazing, but it's part of the process of getting better over time. Feel free to DM me your portfolio site or other projects if you'd like. I consider myself very fortunate to be able to do what I do for a living, however  I will say - a career in design (especially in skateboarding) is not an easy path.

Pointandclick:
So sick, thank you for your support, it gets me so hyped to know people dig the Politic graphics! For me, that's the ultimate compliment. Going back to when I was coming up and setting up a new deck that you're hyped on, my goal was to pass that experience onto a new generation of kids - to fall in love with the culture of street skating that inspired my partner and I back in the day.

[TastyBurrito]

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

Holy fuck. I love your illustration style.

Personal opinion, so take it FWIW: I know it's probably due to alphabetical order, but your layout section is your weakest section. Going from our natural ability of reading left to right, I'd switch up position of Product and Layout. That way, people see those two sections before the break caused by your centered logo.

[JudoOrigami]

I'd love to see a mockup of an es swift 2.5 (bulky but not accel OG bulky) and a properly re imagined es accel

Also would love to see a modified dunk mid that doesn't look so uhhh dunk middy

[JudoOrigami]

also would love to see some predictions for whats next in the adidas 3st line

[Joe Davola]

Expand Quote

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

[close]

Holy fuck. I love your illustration style.

Personal opinion, so take it FWIW: I know it's probably due to alphabetical order, but your layout section is your weakest section. Going from our natural ability of reading left to right, I'd switch up position of Product and Layout. That way, people see those two sections before the break caused by your centered logo.

Get out of here.

[Arto Saari]

also would love to see some predictions for whats next in the adidas 3st line

I made these almost 2 years ago before the 3st.4 dropped. Of all the sh*t Ive ever wasted time on conceptualizing, this is the project that continues to receive the most traffic on my website.. Bummer since I'm a jack*ss who would rather die broke than work for a corporate 'skate' brand 

[munchbox]

Expand Quote

also would love to see some predictions for whats next in the adidas 3st line

[close]

I made these almost 2 years ago before the 3st.4 dropped. Of all the sh*t Ive ever wasted time on conceptualizing, this is the project that continues to receive the most traffic on my website.. Bummer since I'm a jack*ss who would rather die broke than work for a corporate 'skate' brand 

we dont care about skateboarding but we love money

[TastyBurrito]

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Really digging the Dune colorway, great job on the updated concept and incorporating aspects of the superstar's rubber toe which Chad had made mention to somewhere recently.

peep my portfolio site:
https://www.createdbychip.com/

[close]

Holy fuck. I love your illustration style.

Personal opinion, so take it FWIW: I know it's probably due to alphabetical order, but your layout section is your weakest section. Going from our natural ability of reading left to right, I'd switch up position of Product and Layout. That way, people see those two sections before the break caused by your centered logo.

[close]

Get out of here.

I’ve been doing too many damn portfolio reviews lately. My job is leaking into Slap. My bad.

[JudoOrigami]

Expand Quote

also would love to see some predictions for whats next in the adidas 3st line

[close]

I made these almost 2 years ago before the 3st.4 dropped. Of all the sh*t Ive ever wasted time on conceptualizing, this is the project that continues to receive the most traffic on my website.. Bummer since I'm a jack*ss who would rather die broke than work for a corporate 'skate' brand 

Big Respect

[JudoOrigami]

Those look perfect by the way

[Frosty178]

For the inaugural flashback Friday we have the Muska 98, a contemporary take on one of the most original footwear designs the skate industry has ever birthed.

These shoes feature a new sleek form for a more skate friendly experience. Something like a superstar adv but without those weak ass stripes. (sorry Sk.A.T.A.N and other adidas heads )

They also come equipped with the mythical full rubber 'shell toe' that was briefly mentioned in Chad's 9 club interview.

Once again, 3 GR colorways and a limited 'antifreeze' colorway referencing a legendary photo of the Muska wearing an unreleased sample.

(and I know, my sole design isn't nearly as dope )

Enjoy!

Dang those are cool. Personally would like a bit more padding in the tongue/collar but it’s all subjective!
What do you use to do these designs? I’m stuck with good old pencil and paper haha.

[swagdragon123]

I designed these graphics and screen printed them onto Gildan shirts myself.
You can buy one here: https://www.ronokbraintrust.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronokbraintrust/

[swagdragon123]

I designed these graphics and screen printed them onto Gildan shirts myself.
You can buy one here: https://www.ronokbraintrust.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ronokbraintrust/

Made some stickers that you can buy here: https://ronokbraintrust.bigcartel.com/

[white guy in a durag]

Been making stickers and distributing them to my friends and having a good time. I'm hoping to do a drifter or clutch run of WBSWB decks soon-for the culture.

[Slugboi22]

Been making stickers and distributing them to my friends and having a good time. I'm hoping to do a drifter or clutch run of WBSWB decks soon-for the culture.

i really like the style of these! you’ve got me sold

[TheLowerBack]

Been making stickers and distributing them to my friends and having a good time. I'm hoping to do a drifter or clutch run of WBSWB decks soon-for the culture.

Love this

[Murge]

Been making stickers and distributing them to my friends and having a good time. I'm hoping to do a drifter or clutch run of WBSWB decks soon-for the culture.

Into this a lot

[white guy in a durag]

Thanks for the positivity dudes.

Also, if anyone wants to print their own stickers up/use my art for anything, DM and I'll hook you up with the full res images and whatever files I got.

And for my process nerds

Fonts
~Roman(antiquated bitmap TNR clone packaged with windows)
~TNR
~New Century School book (don't have the italics version installed, just let windows do it's weird auto generated italics)
printed at 36-ish point with no anti aliasing, then scaled up with no interpolation

illustrations
clip studio using a binary brush. canvas size 640 x 400 and then scaled up by factors of 4 with no interpolation

images
generally all processed in gimp following this
1. desaturate (color to gray makes nice gray images but I want the shadows clipped to shit)
2. bump the contras and brightness to fuck the shadows even harder
3. dither (2 levels for every channel, steinberg algorithm)
4. posterize with 2 levels to make it black and white (the 50% gray from dither goes to black)

[swagdragon123]

I still have a medium of this. PM me if you're interested.

ronokbraintrust.com
https://www.instagram.com/ronokbraintrust/

[Chris]

Ronok with the whole shot! PMd

[swagdragon123]

Ronok with the whole shot! PMd

Finally, someone gets it.