Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Sharpie Cadillac




My first and largest commisioned Sharpie job took place in Ukiah, California a few months ago. The customer flew me there from Maryland and gave me a place to stay while we sorted ideas and I begun working. The car is a 1994 Cadillac Eldorado with the original metallic gold paint job. His idea was to repaint the car green kandy with lots of metal flake. Bling Bling to say the least. The weeks leading up to this trip I had spent alot of time Sharpieing stuff around the house in search of a larger canvas. This car presented itself as a huge canvas possibility. But... when you say Sharpie Art to people, it doesn't really make sense at first. Normally I suggest looking at pics of the Sharpie Lambo that was done a few years ago that looks absolutly incredible. Pics of that car were sent to me a while back and I loved it. We grow up being told not to use permanent marker on things and this guy did it on an entire Lamborghini. Just wow. The next step was to buy a couple Industrial Ink Sharpies and do a small section on the car as a demo of what it potentially could be. After about an hour of work on the hood I showed the guy and said- 'Now imagine this... only everywhere.' We agreed that since no real paint or color change was taking place, to keep the artwork a little thin to allow a good bit of the original color to come thru. The designs were also kept relativley simple on the sides so focus would be on the top panels where other ideas would be emphasized. It's as unique as it gets... the experience, the trip, the car, the artwork, the people and even the town. I stayed in his warehouse for about a week while I was working on it. I got somewhere between 30-40 hours into it before it was time for me to go home for a bit. We made a plan of me coming back to finish the rest later this year. I went through 5 or 6 markers in that time and just put down whatever was in my head... and that's truly what I love about doing this kind of artwork. I put the more interesting things on the hood since it's huge- a Cadillac emblem, diamonds, dollar signs, drums, jet engine props, flowers, 8 pistons...
I knew the guy well enough to know what he'd like in addition to what I thought was fitting. I love the way it looks and im looking forward to the next one. Sounds like it might be mine...

2 comments:

  1. You are the Sharpie master......The Firearrow will be a masterpeice.

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  2. how does the sharpie hold up in the weather and sun? it doesn't start fading or flaking off? i would think it wouldn't soak in well... and it wasn't even clear coated? please let me know.

    awesome artwork by the way : )

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