Vector vs. Pixels

Posted on 13. Jan, 2012 by Dunkees in Announcements, Random

Most people who see a Dunkees skateboard deck for the first time always think the graphics on the skate deck are hand drawn right on the skateboard deck. A lot of times we get asked what program is used to create our graphics.

All Dunkees skateboard decks are drawn in Adove Illustrator using a Wacom tablet. Most of the time we sketch a drawing on paper first, then scan it in to the computer and use the Wacom tablet in Illustrator to create the final graphic on the skateboard deck. The reason for the common misconception of people thinking the graphics are hand draw right on the skateboard deck, is because of the format that illustrator uses. The format is called Vector. Rather than use small squares to create an image ( pixels ), vector format programs use math to calculate where everything is on the screen. What this does is allow the art to be scaled in to any size imaginable and still retain its sharp look. The negative aspect of the vector format is that it is very hard to fade colors and make things look 3D.

We chose the harder to use vector format, for the simple aspect that the end result will be a much better skateboard deck.