‘We can’t be sure of how things will pan out, until we let them take the plunge.’
Kickflip
Book
LD Lapinski
Author
Logan Hanning
Illustrator
July 2026
What is the book Kickflip about?
LD
KICKFLIP is the story of Elliot – a fifteen year old kid who is seen as a girl at school, and seen as a boy at the skate park, but neither of those labels are correct. It’s a book about coming out, physical presentation, and finding your people. Throw in some school drama, a bully who can’t mind her business, a first crush and a ride-or-die bestie, and you’ve got one heck of a year.
Why did you pick skateboarding to transmit your message?
LD
I’ve always loved extreme sports – I used to be a bit of a petrol-head when I was younger (what’s the non-binary term for boy racer? Themracer?), and going fast on wheels is always linked to being comfortable in your own skin, in my head! But cars age a story up, and are difficult to get into accidentally… Skateboarding is fast, exciting, and the sort of sport a character like Elliot could find themselves getting into just by chance. They see the skating club as they’re walking through the park and quite literally stumble over their first board. It’s also a sport split into Men and Women for competitions, so would force Elliot into choosing how to present themselves.
Do you think there is more to be done around LGBTQ+ within the skateboard community?
LD
I think there’s more to be done to support the LGBTQ+ community worldwide, not just in skateboarding. But small-level stuff initiated by groups and clubs goes on to support the bigger initiatives, so even something as simple as welcoming gender non-confirming skaters is a plus. It’s a sport still divided into two gender categories at a competitive level, and that’s a bigger issue, but all changes have to start somewhere. You can’t get more purely punk than being anti-establishment, and when you look at things like the EHRC guidance, that definitely warrants a punk response.
Have you had any discussions around the cover? You see Elliot dropping into a quarter. This could have been a kickflip to suit the title of the book.
LD
This is true, that would also have looked awesome! I like the cover, though… I like the way Elliot is about to drop into the movement – they’re on the cusp of something great, and we don’t see if they pull it off, or not. They could ace it, or they could wipe out. Just like the way they’re about to find a label for themselves, we can’t be sure of how things will pan out, until we let them take the plunge.
‘I also act out scenes while I draw them’
What does the process look like to create the illustrations based on the script? It seems daunting to me to decide on one frame and all the details to go with it to support the script from a visual perspective.
LH
It was such an exciting challenge – it was my first time working with an author’s script, and I was so lucky to work with LD. Often they’d describe a panel or moment in a scene and it would feel like something that was already in my head! This isn’t always the case for writers and illustrators. When I felt overwhelmed by the blank page, I imagined characters next to me reacting to dialogue. When I’m in the flow, it’s like playing with action figures as a kid. You know how they’ll react because you know them so well. I also act out scenes while I draw them – take pictures of myself for reference and look at my body language, the way my facial expressions change while saying a line of dialogue. Words and images should always complement each other in comics – it’s a skill I’m always working on pushing to the next level. I was always looking at comics and manga for inspiration whenever I was struggling with a particular scene. I love Junji Ito, Tillie Walden and Sam Alden to name a few. In terms of panelling, this is another skill comic artists are always pushing and experimenting with – I’m no exception. For Kickflip, I made panel choices based on the emotional highs and lows of the scene. In scenes where Elliot felt overwhelmed or out of their body, I separated them visually from other characters. In sequences where they felt terrified/anxious I used visual metaphors like black holes, plants growing out of people, characters falling or floating. Basically whatever told the story best. If LD noted an important emotional beat/scene, I made sure to include it. To start the process I read through the script, highlighted important sequences and split it into scenes. Then I created rough sketches digitally placing bubbles, panels, characters and typography. To see which sequences were working, the Kickflip team and LD reviewed the sketches before I started on final art. Then I hand-drew the characters/scenes on bristol board with lots of different pens/brushes and digitally colored the book with watercolor, ink and screentone brushes.
Have you consulted any references when you were drawing the skate tricks and park layout in the book?
LH
I watched a ton of skateboarding documentaries, looked at photo references of skate park designs (indoor and outdoor) in the UK, and visited some local skate parks in the midlands. I used to live above the owner of Chill Out Skate Shop, Scott Gater, and he was AWESOME. He helped me buy my first skateboard, gave me a bunch of skate mags for reference drawings and tried to get me out to the skate park. If you ever want to get into skating – Scott is your guy!! Braille Skateboarding on Youtube has amazing skate tutorials for beginners – they really helped me when looking at how the body moves when doing tricks. I watched a lot of Vice documentaries about legendary skateboarders – Arto Saari, John Cardiel, Chad Muska. Tony Hawk has an amazing video where he goes through the levels of skate tricks and demonstrates pretty much all of them in slow motion. For the scene where Elliot is watching Alanna Smith at the Tokyo Olympics, I watched the performances from 2020 and the most recent competitions. The park layouts were really loose – I visually cut and pasted a lot of different skate parks together to create the parks in the books. In Volume 2 my goal is to show more of Elliot’s local park, so the reader can get a better sense of the space and feel at home there with the gang.
‘It really cemented for me how skateboarding can be a gateway for self expression and joy in your own physicality.’
Any LGBTQ+ skateboarder that inspires you most (and why)?
LH
Alana Smith. They are incredible. It takes a lot of courage to be yourself on a world stage, while preforming at one of the highest levels of your sport!! In an interview they said, “The more I grew, the people who supported me grew with me.” Being visible in sport at a time when it’s still very gendered, letting young non-binary people know they’re not alone and they can have a future doing what they love- it changes lives.
LD
Leo Baker is hugely inspirational. I remember watching his documentary back in 2022 and being filled with admiration for everything he’s accomplished in the sport and his personal life. It really cemented for me how skateboarding can be a gateway for self expression and joy in your own physicality.
Last question. If you could interview one person, who would it be?
LD
Tony Hawk! I’m making it my mission to get a copy of KICKFLIP into his hands. He seems like a really cool guy, and I’m sure he’d love to hear how I wore out my thumbs playing Pro-Skater 2 as a kid.
LD
Tillie Walden. I have so many questions for her about comics, creating and characters – her comics really changed my life.