We now have so many different ways to apply a graphic on a fingerboard deck. Hand painted graphics, screen printed graphics, heat transferred graphics… just to name a few. Heat transferred graphics specifically, brought a evolutionary change and advantage to the fingerboard market as well as for deck makers. More methods of applying graphics to a deck mean that there are more variety of artwork that can be born to life and not just stay as a dream or an idea in a maker’s imagination. However, a magician’s trick is only magical when the ‘how’ stays a secret. With the adaptation of heat transferred graphics, or should I say, when the “secret formula” of this particular method became accessible to the majority, production and supply of decks that adapted this method sky rocketed. Fingerboard manufacturing not only mirrored the skateboard manufacturing system, it was actually becoming one. ‘Industrialization’ may be the word that describes this phenomenon best. Of course, thanks to this industrialization, competition and/or motivation among deck makers with relatively “high-volume” production also increased (in order to differentiate themselves from others), leading to more options for the consumers to choose from. Furthermore, on the physical aspect of fingerboards with heat transferred graphics provides more realistic wear marks when fingerboarding on obstacles (since it is the identical material which skateboard graphics are made of). This brings the enthusiasts a sense of satisfaction of learning new tricks and seeing the physical wear marks of hard effort.

Heat transferred graphics are like typing on a lap top. Modern, quick, and precise. Some artwork are just not possible to create while keeping the details intact without using heat transferred graphics. If you ever saw a Beast Pants split ply with Chris’s artwork heat transferred on top, you would know what I mean. They are truly one of the most beautiful work of art you could purchase on the market today. So what is a ‘heat transferred’ graphic exactly? A heat transferred graphic is where the ink that the graphic is printed on vinyl is transferred onto the deck via heat rolling machine within minutes (this is a similar concept to a laminating machine). See the video below for more information.

On the other hand, hand painted graphics are like writing by hand on a piece of paper; classic, yet time-consuming. Hand painted graphics take a longer time to apply when manufacturing since it takes time for the paint to cure in order to add another layer on top. This process can take up to hours, even days depending on the style of art being applied.

Now this column is not aiming to assert whether one method is better than the other. Instead, it is attempting to clarify that both methods are equally valuable in different ways. To a similar concept, it is like comparing James Cameron’s Avatar and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Avatar was created with the most advanced computer graphic technology, while Oppenheimer was literally filmed using FILM. Now does that say one movie is better than the other? Absolutely not. Because Avatar would not be technologically possible to be created on film, nor Oppenheimer with Nolan’s philosophy on insisting analog methods. The two directors adapted completely different methods and yet both created masterpieces. See here, it’s not just about the finished product. It is about the correlation of philosophy, methodology, content, inevitable needs of production, and more. It does not make Nolan’s Oppenheimer more difficult to produce because it uses film, nor does it make Cameron’s Avatar easier because it uses more blue screen instead of 1:1 sets out in the desert.

The time and effort that all deck makers put in (not to mention the trial and error during the process) are truly unmeasurable and surely worth more than what they charge for it on their website. The average cost of 40~50 dollars of a deck does not represent only the cost of material and labour. There is also imagination, creativity, and frustration beyond just the market price. Maybe it is time for us to appreciate more the value of differences within each method, and less discredit one another. At the end, there is only one thing in common among all methods of applying graphics; to unleash the creativity of deck makers and to give joy to the consumers.