Painting at the SF Rod Show!

This is my second acrylic painting ever. I gave up in the middle of the second one, anxious to try a larger support than the 9x12 I was working on in the previous painting.

I actually traced an image I had already done, featuring Shorty riding across a civil war battlefield, onto the canvas by fixing the original image to the back of the canvas and putting a light behind it.

I also learned a few new ways of using the brush. I found that the brights (wide and flat) are more likely to leave marks in the paint, which a round seems to have more possibilities for using it effectively, either by using the end of the brush, laying the bristles down more, or even by painting with the edge of the bristles as though shading with the side of a pencil.

I'm not done yet, but I have a pretty good idea where to go next, and fully expect to return home with a finished painting. The only question I have (again) is what uniform to put on the cavalry guy...

SF Cow Palace Rod Show

San Francisco Rod and Custom Show

San Francisco Rod and Custom Show

SF Rod Show Pics...

Rods and rides from the show...

SF Rod Show...

I wound up leaving the booth setup the same. I sold a few shirts today, but not really enough to cover my costs. I did, however, continue to make contact with people who thought they might want me to draw something for them or get a custom version of something I've already done.

Painting at Last

Using Acrylics on Acrylic paper, 9x12. I gridded this up from a drawing in my small sketchbook. Several people asked how long the original sketch took and it took me quite some time to remember that I had drawn it at a board meeting in about 30 minutes.

I was struggling with the initial gradient background, so I went over to Jack's graphics station to ask Jack what he'd do. He made a couple of suggestions that seemd to work. I realized I was expecting my gradient to come out looking like a computer generated gradient ("click" "click" "done"). I actually learned a bit about getting a gradient going, thanks in large part to Jack, and feel it came out more or less okay.

The whole time I was painting I got to eavesdrop on the banter between booths on each side of me. I really can't go into it for a variety of reasons, but it was nothing short of hilarious.

It was an interesting and educational process.

More tomorrow.

Report from the SF Rod Show

With pics even!

Having a great time. Managed to get a new easel on the way up to the Cow Palace. I hustled to get my booth totally together before the open of the show. Then my neighbors arrived late, apparently purveyors of retro-styled purses that, in the larger sizes, bear a slight resemblance to bowling ball bags. Cool purses, though, and the way they set theirs up made me reconsider how my own booth was arranged.

I met a number of people and saw a few friends as well as a few people who had seen me this year at the Burrito Run. One of them kindly suggested he might walk with some of my art, and regularly used the old "look--a naked lady" trick. It didn't work, in case you're wondering.

It's clear that I need to jot down more of what happens (or Twitter it?) to keep track.

sketch dump!

Fun with perspective. It isn't perfect, but starting to push the viewpoint to draw bikes from different angles really helps. For some reason the handlebars were the toughest.













This one started out just working on the character and the hat, then I added the rest.























This started out as two random faces on the same page, when I realized I could put them together like this. Fun.

SF Rod and Custom Show is tomorrow!

Yesterday I drove up to the Cow Palace to check in and get a few things in place. It was vendor setup day, but not too many were there when I was there mid-day. There were some great looking motorcycles and a few hot rods inside, and several within sight of my booth are inviting my pencil and paper.

There is no shortage of shirt vendors there, so I have no idea how I'll do sales-wise. A spot away from my booth is a double booth featuring shirts from Jack's Graphic Station. I spoke to Jack and found he does his own art and has some great looking, clean designs. In the North Room is another shirt vendor.

I have yet to see anything like the stuff I do--we'll see if that works for me or against me. If I sell 20 or 30 shirts all weekend that would cover the costs of the show, but make no headway on the cost of the shirts. I'm hoping for something around 50-100 shirt sales, but prepared to sell nothing. We'll see.

If you stop by, I'm in the South Room--look for the Cartoon Thunder banner!

Three Days and Counting!

I'm pretty excited about the San Francisco Rod, Custom, and Motorcycle Show this weekend. I'd be excited anyway if I was just going at all, but I'm triple excited since I get to be there for three days of immersion in gearhead kulture, with a 10x10 booth in the South Room of the Cow Palace.

If you're there, mention the blog and I'll give you a buck off on a shirt. Oooooh a whole dollar?? Yeah, I can see some lucky guy walking away from the booth with his discount shirt, biting the dollar to see if it's real. At that point I'll have to point out that biting the dollar only worked in the days when they were made of gold. Now they're made of paper and you'd just wind up with an overpriced spitwad.

What I'll be doing is entirely dependent upon how busy my actual booth is. It looks like my good friend Jimmy (a frequent commenter on this blog) will be there on Saturday to help out, and a few other trusted friends have indicated they'll be stopping by as well.

If it's busy, I hope to be selling shirts and sketching between. If it's not so busy I'll be drawing bikes and cars, working on a storyboard, and maybe painting. I'll also hope to take some photos and load 'em here at the blog, as well as my Facebook page.