i'm not dead!

really, i promise i'm not. just need to get pictures organized. lots of cool stuff coming my way though!

(hint: it involves bowling pins)

almost caught up...

so, that airbrush class? yeah, still taking it. it's fun to see how much i can learn.

turns out, quite a bit!

so about a year ago, joe decided that he wanted to do an art show with all of us. got excited, and seriously intimidated. but, we'll give it a shot.

the plan was that everyone would do a Wizard of Oz themed skateboard. but of course, i had to be different. i found a pair of trainer water skis, and decided that they would be my canvas.

so rachel and i decided to do the pair as a "what if..." the wizard of oz was set in feudal japan. therefore, the lion was a shishi, or fu dog, or whatever they're officially called. a big stone lion/dog.

tin man is a suit of sentient samurai armor...

the scarecrow is a farmer, wearing a kabuki mask... (don't ask why, it just seemed like a good idea at the time. plus, i only had to paint one face this way)

and dorothy is your "typical" anime looking japanese girl. 

rachel really wanted to do something with pinstriping, so she came up with a pretty cool design.

so she started out with a nice rainbow gradient thingy...

laid down a design she had designed then had cut out of vinyl...

added a black coat. what did it look like after that? keep reading!

given my infatuation (is that the right word?) with custom motorcycle and automotive paint jobs, i wanted to do a board with flames. 

initial taping was a pain, so i retaped and painted some black...

didn't make the paint transparent enough, so even the yellow was showing up on the black, which led to taping off everything that was black.

those are all of the progress pictures i took, but i did get pics of the final pieces at the show.

first, mine and rachel's

the wizard of oz, in japan. rachel did the top ski, it's the wizard as an Oni, staring down at our adventurers through his crystal ball. in this version, dorothy has ruby chopsticks in her hair, rather than slippers on her feet...

the pinstripe, turned out really cool!

my flames. 

rachel painted this set of eyes, turned out really neat. the woodgrain of the board is supposed to represent the skin...

Jeanne Gomm from Gomm Stained Glass did this one, the emerald city, yellow brick road and the poppy are all made from glass.

next up, Ryan Fullmer from Legion Skateshop painted a few:

a pretty sweet optimus prime...

and an awesome holly golightly from breakfast at tiffany's...

Pat Honeyman, a coworker, added a couple as well...

a sweet johnny cash tribute piece...

a self-portrait...

and his Oz piece. pretty simple, "what if dorothy just snapped?" she's holding the tin man's axe and the lion's tail, both bloody. kind of cool imagery...

then there's Joe. he had the most pieces, so here we go.

a skateboard pinup...

crazy skeleton...

vampire hickey gone horribly wrong...

Iron Man. it was cool seeing this one and the next come together...

can you see why?

a killer klown, made completely out of skateboard decks. the hair and ears sit behind the head, and were carved/cut out of boards, then painted. the hand is actually holding the board...

pinocchio becoming a "real" puppet, rather than an illustration on the board...

and the last of the show, "west coast massage therapy" - the tentacles wrap around the board... pretty cool!

so that was my first art show where i wasn't forced into it, or graded. it was really fun, and i'm looking forward to the next one!

dragon computer...

ya know what's not a manly computer color?

pink.

so, a when a buddy received a hand me down laptop from his sister, he was grateful. and quick to let me know that it needed a new paintjob.

here it is, sanded down and taped up.

recognize this guy? funny how looking on google for a pic of a tribal dragon brings him up and into my life, again.

black laptop, orangey dagron.

all done! had to get it done relatively fast, so you can still see the dell logo. 

more to come!

Painting mo' Helmets

so, this may be just a picdump with some text between...

the next helmet i painted was for dave, again. some jerk broke into his car and stole all of his equipment, pads, CUSTOM HELMET, etc. so, we had to paint a new one. kinda fun, a bit of a yin-yang motif, with some fun elements hidden in there...

so since dave's canadian, we added a little flair...

after priming, i hit the whole thing with a sparkly white, and ghosted in maple leaves in a straight white...

added a sweet dragon in black,

like so.

hit it with some red to kick it out a bit more. probably should have made it a bit more transparent, but i think it works...

taped the white off to do the "yang" side (is that right? oh well.)

to highlight his scottish heritage (if i remember correctly) we ghosted a celtic knot in sparkly black on the matte black...

added the dragon to the other side, in a straight red. i really like the ghost effects!

the backplate was pretty personal, as i said below, Swashbuckled! is his family's game... 8/20 is his wedding anniversary, and the mosquitos... apparently a nickname when he was a wee one...

now clear coat, and glamour shots!

i think it turned out pretty good, but what do i know? :P

next i was contacted on facebook by a good friend from Toronto to design a helmet for her sister, whose favorite goalie of all time was Ken Dryden, whose mask was pretty iconic...

(pic from SI.com, through google. it's not mine.)

so, i worked on it.

some stripes...

some blue, with a little lace ghosted in, because, she is, ya know, a girl...

some red, with the maple leaf snuck in there for good measure.

stripey!

since lyne lives in montreal, quebec flag on the backplate. no pics of process. my bad.

quebec symbolism to come...

and a goalie thing...

stone fleur-de-lis! well, i thought it was cool...

and my little surprise, her nickname on the grill.

and now, the glamour shots

and packed up for shipping...

looks like it was purchased that way!

from what i've been told, she likes it. i don't have any pics of it in action (hint hint, jojo.) but it's all good.