One of the most exciting tasks I was given in Surf's Up was to design the surfboards (all except for one, the ice board which was designed by my good friend Marcelo Vignali). Here's my first installment showing designs for the Shrine, Geek/Big Z, Cody, Lani, Chicken Joe and the generic competition (Reggie's) boards. All my board designs are completely done digitally in color with suggested textures using photoshop on top of backgrounds painted by Paul Lasaine, Joty Lam and Noelle Triaureau and characters by Sylvain DeBoissy. All images ©Sony Pictures Animation.
Above: What's left of the surfboard from Big Z's "accident" were put together and turned it into a shrine. Below: My concept for the Big Z board that was used in the film was it's a part of him being "one" with the board. So I used the same flower pattern on his body for the design on his board and it worked.
These next concept designs for Big Z's old boards are based from long boards and patterns used in the 30's-40's. Somehow, long boards for me, signifies age, experience and stability which are what Big Z was all about.
Cody's board has to be plain and simple to stand out and since he built it from scratch with Big Z from a log.
For the earlier concept designs, I used the pointed short board for Cody to show his restless personality and speed.
You'll notice that for Lani, I used a pattern from one of Big Z's shrine concept boards above which has the typical Polynesian "Lilo & Stitch" feel. She uses a medium board which for me signifies a combination of both speed and stability.
The first concept I had for Chicken Joe's "cornboard" was an actual sliced corn cobb that he uses as surfboard. Can you see the "hidden" liger underneath paying homage to his previous Napoleon Dynamite character.
Then for the one used in the film, I figured that since Chicken Joe lives in the backwoods, their surfboard design never changed through the years so the shape of his board was patterned from the old longboards with flat tips circa 1920's. Notice the hammer marks and nails sticking out on the deck.
Reggie is a very flashy, flamboyant promoter so the surfboards he issues to surfers have to reflect his personality. That's why they're painted with bright colors (has the plastic feel like Reggie's character) and has his logo (which is his face) on each one (for he's full of himself). Again short board is my choice to show speed and competition.
More surfboards to come and HAVE A WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL...
