Pro Pick: with Michel Bourez…

How 2: Express Yourself (or, ruin a brand new perfectly good surfboard)

There’s no such thing as bad art… no wait, hang on, actually yes there is. There’s plenty of the stuff, particularly when it comes to surfing. Just pop into your nearest ‘surf art’ gallery and you’ll see what I mean. Anyway, there’s no quicker way to ruin, I mean, improve the look of your beloved surfboard than doing your own custom spray thang.


There are plenty of ways to make your board look shit, such as by painting a giant ganja leaf, the Red Hot Chilli Peppers logo perhaps, Bob Marley’s face, or you could just go for a geometric pattern style design. You can see here that Michel is going for a simple chequers pattern. Mmmm… nice!

Ever wondered how they get all those crazy sexy cool streaky effects in the paint? Washing up liquid. Squirt some Fairy on there, paint over and then wash the Fairy off with a hose. Voila! You can also use tomato ketchup apparently, HP sauce or even mayonnaise for a really great effect.

Just one thing to remember, however awful your board art, it’ll always look OK if you, like Michel, absolutely rip tear. If you don’t, well, it might not.