"EJ" Graffit Painting Part 2

Getting down with a little airbrushing on the "EJ" painting- I'm loosely putting shadows & shapes in place that will later get sharpened up but serve to start defining areas

"Test" pieces underway!

Working on some "Test" pieces over here with different types of markers & papers for an upcoming illustration- I could have easily just made little swatches and lines but that would have been plain boring.

www.PinstripeChris.com

"Perfect Poise" Graffiti Skatedeck All Finished Up

I got the "Perfect Poise" sk8 deck final varnished last night so it's ready to head off to the show- already making plans for more artwork like this. The creative freedom that goes along with jobs like this one is really a blessing- commissions with too many boundaries, guides & limitations rarely turns out a nice piece of art.Spray Cans/Paint Markers/Acrylics on Wood

www.pinstripechris.com

"Perfect Poise" Sk8 Deck WIP

Makin' progress on the "Perfect Poise" sk8 deck- it feels freaking great to be back behind the wheel of spray cans & paint markers

www.PinstripeChris.com

Monday Madness- Mondayness?

Dont let the Mondayness of Monday get you down- I say take Monday and make it in to anything you want. Literally. Freehand Paint Markers & Acrylics on Black Illustration Board

www.PinstripeChris.com

NEW Sharpie Lettering Piece "Artist"

Last week I got started on a flier design for an upcoming event-  Stumblefoot Artist Night. Each time one of these events takes place, one of the featured artist designs the flier for the event based on their artistic style. This time it was my turn! I decided I wanted one of the words in the flier to also be part of the artwork of the flier. So I whipped this up. It was originally intended to be used just for this, but I liked the way it came out so much that I went ahead and finished it out as a full on piece. Sharpies, Acrylic, and Enamel make this a truly mixed media piece. This is the 1st time I outlined anything Sharpie with 1-Shot Enamel-  I like it much better this way for a number of reasons. The quality of the color really pops, the paint has a high opacity so it covers over the black easily, there's much more control over line width... its just better! All the shading, shadowing, and course stipple were done with acrylic through an airbrush. The original piece is a panoramic- 31"x15" and looks really really cool. I photo edited this close up of the lettering to be print ready without getting into too many bizarre sizes. This was a lot of fun to try and figure out how to have all the letters interact with each other organically and still reflect some of my style. I hope to be doing more like this in the future!

Prints Available on 8.5"x11" Card Stock (signed, dated, numbered) for $20

Thanks for looking!

Sharpie Lettering "Jacob" PLUS a How To

Yesterday I evening I had a little extra time to pass so I grabbed a fresh sheet of 18"x24" drawing paper and started on a fresh piece. Anytime I'm uncertain of what the outcome will be, or if it's not a final piece, I'll usually do it on drawing paper since it's not as serious a loss as canvas, illustration board, or marker paper would be. So I set out to write the name "Jacob":

With my fresh sheet of paper tapped down to my desk to keep from shifting while working, I grabbed my trusty Sharpie Pro Fine Tip (4) and drew out the letters and how I wanted them to interact paying close attention to line clearances, line weights, and and black and white balance. With the basic lines down, I went heavier with black in areas to achieve the perspective I wanted. At this stage I only have the name outlined- none of the other black arrows or daggers that protrude outwards exist yet.

The next step is the red, so I grabbed my Copic Cadmium Red (5) to add the outline around the outsides of all the letters while again being slightly heavier in the direction of the perspective I'm working towards. I know right here people would be asking 'Why didn't you use a red Sharpie?'. In this case, brands like Copic and Prismacolor offer markers with incredible tone control- so I can build up to a nice bright red and even darken it in some areas with the same marker. This can be done with a red Sharpie as well as long as that shade of red is what you are looking for.

Next is to go back to the Sharpie Pro Fine Tip (4) and start working shapes into the remaining areas of white inside the letters- this will help balance the white and black a bit. While doing this, I also took some of the black outside the letters just to be more interesting overall. Again, that will help with the color balance.

The next thing I did was use the Sharpie .3 Pen (6) and sharpen all the corners and tips that way I want.

Now I can see how much room I have around the letters... so I decided to grab a low pressure Paint Sprayer (1) and fill it with a mix of Basics Acrylic Black (2) and water to dilute it to my liking. It ends up being mostly water since I want the black to be pretty week. Outside the paper is masked off to keep overspray from getting on the desk. The result of a couple passes around the edges is a nice course gravely effect.

With that dry I used a White Sable Brush (8) with the same acrylic black mix from the spray and start painting in spider cracks. At first they dry grey, which is good because you dont want them too strong at first. Slowly I'll add a little more black paint to the mix and work the lines until the darkest parts are concentrated towards the outer edges, while the lighter grey is closer to the letters. This helps keep the center of focus on the letters, but still allows for a little detail around the edges making the drawing feel more complete.

Now that the border is done, time for some airbrushing with my trusty Iwata Eclipse (7) which has been converted from a .5mm nozzle to a .35 mm. I'll make up a mix of Craftsman Acrylic Black (3) and water until I get the transparency of grey I'm looking for- again basically mostly water with a little black in it. I used a different brand of black from the earlier step because the Craftsman brand is a little thinner and goes through the airbrush easier then the diluted version of Basics I think. It'll take a couple passes over the shadowed and shaded area to get the tone I want but thats ok- I'd rather build up the tone slowly with a weaker mix of transparent black then out too much down too quickly and ruin the whole effect. The shadows themselves also have to placed correctly in order for certain effects to really work- in which case light source and perspective come into play. But done with care, shading and shadows have a big impact in the final piece.

The result is something wickedly cool and totally unique. From start to finish this piece took about 1 1/2 hours to complete including dry time in between acrylics, and everything was done completely freehand.

Thanks for looking!

Surfboard FINISHED!!!

Alright, it's finally done! This piece was a lot of fun and an educational experience. Every letter, color, outline and shading was done completely freehand with either a brush or an airbrush. To give you an idea of the number of colors used, here's a list:

Starting with the Yellow vinyl...

Grey (mixed from black and white)

Imitation Gold

Metallic Silver

Polar White

Transparent Blue

Transparent Black

Transparent White

Lettering Black

Emerald Green

Metallic Gold

Ivory

Process Blue

Vermilion

Bright Red

Aqua

Magenta

Purple (magenta mixed w/ process blue)

and a Sharpie

Many colors were used multiple times for fun. The last touch was cutting a few flame licks out of the Yellow vinyl, then drop shadowing them, then chasing the entire border with Magenta, then fading the flame tips in from Purple. Pretty freaking cool. I'm sure there's going to be some cool signs out there, but none as unique as this!

Consortium Surfboard Continued...

Today was another one of my favorite kind of days... a snow day where i get to stay at home and work on something here. While i would have liked to have made it to work today, the repairs on my borrowed car are stacking up as it is so im less willing to take risks with it since it's not mine. But anyways... i got the last 3 names on the board; Draft Cycle Works, Barefoot Racing, and Pinstripe Chris... each done differently. I did Draft first so that no matter what space was left afterwards, it was on there and i could figure the other ones based on remaining space. I pulled the letters in bright red, then airbrushed drop shadows in bone black as well as fogging the bottoms of the letters a little. Then i chased all the litters in polar white... really made it jump out cleanly. Next i did the Barefoot Racing letters... to break up monotony, i did Barefoot and Racing differently, but i outlined them in the same color to tie them together. The Barefoot was done in black, then airbrushed in some white from the middle of the letters faded up as well as the top corners of each letter. The Racing part was done in bright red, then airbrushed drop shadow. Since Robbie is a retro dude, i thought his name should have a retro colored outline... so i used aqua around the letters, but on the Racing part, i paletted the brush carefully so i could make the outline extra skinny. Last but not least, i did the Pinstripe Chris part. Using the remaining corner of the board i whipped out some ole' Sharpies and scribbled my name down. Afterwards, i airbrushed drop shadows below each letter. I decided my name didn't need an eccentric outline color since it was weird enough, so i used metallic silver to go around the letters. Everything came out really cool and clean- each persons name is a little differently shaped, filled and detailed. I still have a few more cool colors i haven't used yet and i might still do some airbrushy stuff so its not quite done, but all the names are done.

Consortium Unite!

Consortium Surfboard

Today was a snow day... or an ice day... ok, snowy ice. Either way, i didn't drive up to Robbies today because our neighborhood does not get taken care of by the city and the good ole' boys in charge are frederick educated at best. In other words, they were done around 4 pm after having done an OK job. But anyways... true as always, if I'm at home for a day i can finally accomplish some neat stuff. I get Matt's seat stitched last night and all the mounting done today... I'll get into the details of that when it's done. I also put a couple names down on our Consortium sign. I did the Saint Motor Company letters in emerald green, then airbrushed in some acrylic black on the bottoms while wet (to force cracking), outlined in metallic gold, then highlighted in ivory. I did the Zen Angel 13 a little more interesting since Kyles' purpose is different (as is every one's so they're all going to be different). I splashed down some process blue, then airbrushed the bottoms with a little darker blue and fogged the 13 with the same blue. Then i went around everything with vermilion... pretty eye catching... i hope he likes. Every ones will be a little different both in color and style. I'm going to put everyone elses names down before mine to make sure there's enough space for it all since it wont bother me if my name is the smallest.

BSA Letters Today

After many strange dreams i awoke to see that it was snowing. After a failed attempt to leave my neighborhood, i stayed home. While most places were probably safe to drive, the area i live was not. So no going to work today... but the upside was i could do work at home. Yes, that's an upside for me. Today's primary task- the BSA logo/lettering on Jeff of Saint Motorbikes latest build. With a couple ideas rolled around, i quickly got to work on a plan. I found the BSA logo online and used it as the piece to work from. The space where the logo went were the recessed circles on either side of the tank. First step was to gold leaf the circles... apply size... wait... apply leaf... drink coffee... burnish leaf... brush clear over leaf. If the tank were in the middle of the paint process i wouldn't put clear on it, but since the paint is done, the gold needs to be protected. When the is dry, i lightly trace over the logo leaving a slight print in the leaf. I used black to fill the letters, then red trace around them. Each color adds interest to the circle, but hasn't quite completed it yet. So then i ran ivory around the outer edge of the leaf followed by red inside of that circle. Once tacky enough, i put one last black circle in between the first two for contrast. Wa La. Always fun doing stuff for Jeff- thanks man, for the opportunity to learn, practice and apply... hope you like it!

Bubba-Licious

Oh common, you remember that bubble gum that you bought with your life savings when you were 8... come to find out that there are only 5 pieces of gum, and each piece is actually too big to chew but once you chew it for a while you could blow this enormous bubble...? Then later you decided it was a rip off... 99 cents for 5 pieces of over sized uncomfortable to chew gum... and that's how shoplifting began in your life. I'm kidding, i was a Mint-a-Burst thief. They don't make that stuff anymore. ANYWAYS... so i've been down to Bubbas East Coast Hot Rods a few times in the past couple weeks. Once to interview for an airbrush job, and 2 more times to pinstripe & letter things. Interesting interview... but i guess they liked me ok enough to invite me back a couple more times to see what else i could do. So this week i pinstripe a couple things in their shop and lettered the back of Bubbas boat. Neat jobs to do and they all came out really well. I think each was a test of what i could do... in terms of quality, colors, layout and basically the ability to do what it is i say i can do since there are plenty of people that can talk to talk... but nothing really beyond that. Perhaps they can pick up a brush and drag it sideways and up and down and go "what do you think of that?". It's 'all talk' artists like those that need only to be responded to there arrogance with vomit.... pure vomit. And if that doesn't get the point across, laughing also works. Anyways... i was demonstrating that my ability to stripe and letter isn't a lie and i can in fact do what i say i can.

This is what i do for a living... i may not have been doing it for very long, but a little perseverance goes a long way. I love what i do but im still learning and i hope to get better as time goes on. And this is how i learn- by doing.