This one is a funny story; I was inspired to do these skateboard designs because of an interview I had a few years ago for a position in an advertising company as a graphic designer. The practical test of the interview was to create a skateboard design for teens.
Simple enough, right?
Not for me! I excused myself to the bathroom to quickly find a design that was easy and interesting enough. For some reason I thought a puzzle pattern would work. One of the requirements of the interview was to make the design all from scratch. I could use a reference but no copying. Not only did it take me an hour to make a single puzzle piece but when put together, it didn't even fit! I decided to just patch up the mistakes and move onto colour. At this level, I was incredibly inexperienced and had no idea about colour theory. So you can guess how THAT turned out.
The cherry on top was when I completely forgot how to apply a mask to my design so as to crop the pattern to fit the skateboard layout.
Obviously I didn't get the job but I learnt a lot about how the interview process works and the expectation that the industry demands. The rest of the team in the company were wonderful and I was really looking forward to working with them.
A lot had happened that day that really got the ball moving in my career. It made my choices and experiences more real. My mistakes were seen and my strengths congratulated.