How To Decorate Your Skateboard

Is your skateboard plain and boring? You can change that. There are many ways to decorate your skateboard, which will give it some flair, in turn making it a real eye catcher.

A simple and easy way to decorate your deck is make a pattern in the grip tape. If you have a sharp craft knife, you can easily cut neat shapes into your grip.

I've seen some people carve their state's shape out of their grip tape. This is easy with a state that's not too complex, like Colorado or Wyoming, but may be a little more difficult when the states get more complex, like Texas or California.

If your skateboard deck has an image on the top, you can carefully remove the grip around that image to let it show through the top of the deck. This becomes easier when it's a simple square logo on the deck. Generally, the simpler a logo is, the nicer it will look.

If you can't cut your grip tape, or don't want to, you should look into getting some paint pens to decorate the grip. Paint pens show up great on the deck, and are very easy to use. Another nice thing about paint pens is that they're very long lasting.

Paint pens can be pretty costly, however. They're still great if you want to decorate your deck without cutting shapes out of your grip tape. Paint pens allow you to get a little more intricate, too. You can easily write letters or numbers on the deck. This would be difficult to do if you were only going to cut shapes out of the grip tape.

Spray paint works well on grip tape, too. You can make some really neat stencils if you have the patience. Stencils are a wonderful art medium because they can be done quickly and on the cheap. If you do make a stencil, don't spray the deck down too much.

If you put too much spray paint on your grip tape, it will seep down into the deck. The spray paint is unlikely to dry if this happens, and will make your skateboard heavier, along with leaving a trail of spray paint wherever it touches. Be careful not to put too much spray paint on your deck.

If you're not feeling too artsy, and you don't have paint pens, a craft knife, or spray paint, you can resort to markers. Markers with a felt tip don't show up as nicely as a paint pen will, but can do the job in a pinch.

Markers will most likely come off eventually. Almost all the decorations you do to your board will come off eventually, but markers will likely come off sooner than the other solutions.

If you've put a lot of effort into your art, you probably want to keep it protected. If you have any kind of lacquer or clear coating, it should do the job nicely. It won't be a permanent protector, but it will work well in the short run.

So now that you know how to decorate your skateboard, you should go out and try it. Again, I recommend that you use permanent solutions, like cutting a hole in your grip tape, or using acrylic paint markers or spray paint to do your art with. These options will keep your skateboard decorated for years to come.