Almost a lost art form, GRIP TAPE ART is making a comeback! For years it was a trend just to have a plain black strip cover the entire deck. But I see skaters that get creative more and more at skate parks. Sometimes it's older dudes and sometimes young rippers. Today you can even buy grip tape with logos or designs already printed on. But it's still more fun to do it your way to express yourself.
Some of these examples are from the 1980's or older. Others are very recent. All look cool !
There are many different ways to create grip tape art. Lots of skaters do up their decks with a paint pen or stencil. Others spend hours to cut and place every piece of grip just right. Or you can slap down random shapes or rip and tear the tape to make a cool pattern. Also popular was to cover a new deck with skate stickers and cover it all with clear grip tape. But was hard to keep clean.
Some tips for doing custom grip tape: Don't use a good pair of scissors because it will ruin them. Instead use a old pair, utility knife, or razor blade. You can draw out your shapes or design on the back side of the tape and then cut it out. If the pieces hang over the edges of the board, you can also use a metal file.
Sometimes very small pieces will move around on the board over time and make a mess, it may be better to use pieces bigger than 1 inch. Triangles or squares with sharp corners can 'break' off. I like to 'nub' sharp corners.
Also save your leftovers or scraps. You can use them on future boards to add a different color.
Most of these pics are lifted from the net. If you own one of these boards or photos and want credit, or for some reason want it removed, please email me at... SnakeSession@Yahoo.Com. However people really enjoy seeing these and getting ideas. And it's important to document them.
SnakeSession.Com needs your help to add more boards to this page! If you would like to submit your handy work, new or old, please send a JPEG to SnakeSession@Yahoo.Com. Pics of the board flat work best. Thanks, Jeff.
These first 3 pics below are examples of 'factory' die-cut grip tape. NASH board has spay-on grip!
The 2 GATOR boards are photos of the TOPS of the decks. It must have taken awhile to duplicate the bottom graphics in grip tape for the top!
Copyright SnakeSession. 2010
This page was last updated: August 9, 2010
The row of boards above are from the collection of my buddy Don Villa. The first Alva was done with scraps. The second board has a awesome sunburst effect done by spray painting the top then putting on die-cut grip tape. Thanks Don!
The top five boards above were done by my bro Kenneth. Every color or letter is die-cut by hand out of griptape! None of the details are painted. The Obama one took about 10 hours. Below: Spider Web by DonDon, ZipZaggers and Santa Cruz by Kenny.
The next 10 boards are from Canada! He uses alot of different art styles to create these. Also check out his youtube page http://www.youtube.com/user/BlackDeadNighmare to see the cool metal bottom fingerboards he makes and sells! Thanks BlackDeadNighmare!
The next 7 boards were done by... CIVILIANASYLUM SK8 AND DESIGN. Check out there website. Made to order custom grip tape jobs. Located in Rock Hill, SC.
The next 9 boards were sent in all the way from Germany. Thanks Meisi !
The first row of decks were done by Ryan Sigler. He's a skater that started drawing on grip back in the 80's. Most of the grips are either die-cut or drawn with paint pen. He does jobs to order or sells grip art so email him at... Ryder027@gmail.com
