The Lurid low-brow Tiki-Art of Brad (tiki-shark) Parker

Very Cool,Art Tiki Shark ,
You have a magic touch with colors and lines,mahalo, Mooney

Wess, Can you post a pic of the picture that you are thinking of getting done. Or you might just have to tell us, we might already know the image. Is it the tiki holding girl?

WOW...WOW...WOOWOWOW...I'm breathless !!!! Your hands are blessed by the "Creator's Tiki God" I can't get enough of these paintings...when's tthe next one???? Great job !!! Brad

teaKey....I think I'm gonna keep it a mystery as to which one I've got my eye on....I'll definately post as soon as it is done!!!

Aloha!
RavenneI was worried about the girl. She looked so er..wrong before the paint. Then she looked so different after the rendering. But, I'm diggin her now. Lookin forwartd to clinking mai tais at the Bali Hai with you!
LLTFeels good to not see any blank canvas!
MeheadhunterTAT PICS!
Mooneytiki I think it's the "Tiki Mojo" coming out of the volcano.
TeakeyYeah, PICS! I'm guessing that he's gonna make a tatoo out of the sketch/study of the evil brain. And get it on his butt. (that's what I'd do)
Isle conch Next one?! Wha? I'm hardley done with this one! ........Well, okay, I HAVE been thinking about what the next one will be. It'll be tiki painting #13, so it's gotta be something special. (Maybe not so big though!)

Done!

Up for sale now...

$2500.00 coconuts.

You can pick her up at the Bali Hai on Nov 2nd!

I have to take it up to Honu editions on the north side of the island today to get scanned so it can be come a print. However, yesterday there were Brush fires up there ~ bad ones! They closed the roads and evacuated the resorts! Yikes! The whole process was not going to happen - no scanning, no prints! Today, however, the fires are sort of under control, and the roads are open. I'm gonna call my printer at 9 AM and see if he can still scan the painting today. Only have today to do this. I leave tuesday for LA! (can this get any more last minute?!?)

Mahaloz!

Tiki Shark

http://www.myspace.com/Lotus_Land

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2007-10-29 11:42 ]

BRAVO BRAD!
and just at the last minute!
Hope the roads are cleared enough to get this Masterpiece scanned!
You're gettin better each painting! I'm eagerly awaiting seeing this one in the flesh
as well as seeing what you'll come up with for Lucky Number 13!
See you on friday Genius Boy! :D

On 2007-10-29 11:29, Tiki Shark Art wrote:

She turned out great! The overall piece is just so freakin' kick ass! I love it! I can't wait to peer over this one in person! :D

I hope you make it and manage to get prints!

Can't wait to finally meet ya on Friday! Yaaay!
:drink: Cheers!

Wow! This whole piece turned out really great! I'm sorry I won't be there to see it in person on Friday! :cry:

Have a great show and tell Kinny to keep his grubby paws off the merchandise! :wink:

Pure crap!! Hate you.

See you Friday. GROG buy you a drink.

BIG MAHALO everyone!

Made it to the printers OKAY! He's scanning it in now.

Hey check out http://tikichris.blogspot.com/

Today is Oct 29th and my SKULL MASK is up!
Lemme know what ya think!!!

OH, and while yer at, it go to http://feeds.feedburner.com/horror and listen to the greatest "tropical Horror" story ever played on the radio (in my opinion). It's Vincent Price in "3 Skeleton Key". A Classic!

Tiki Shark

http://www.myspace.com/Lotus_Land

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2007-10-29 17:50 ]

Your skull mask RAWKS! It's very Tiki Shark! I'm glad you pointed us to the blog, I had missed Squid's skull, which is really cool too!

Your mask totally rawks! Really spooky. Heck, they've all been excellent and there are only two more to go.

Check out all the masks here:
http://tikichris.blogspot.com/search/label/Halloween%20Skull%20Mask%20Project

Mahalo,
Tiki Chris

Congratulations Brad, I'm sure it feels great to have completed this sensational painting!
Good luck at the event and enjoy your trip to the mainland! I wish I could be there to see your work in person and to meet you, but that will have to wait for anther time!
Wonderful work and major kudos to you!

Hi Brad...didn't mean to pressure you ref. "next painting" Your work is so great I can't get enough. If I lived in Kona, I'd sit and watch you turn plain canvas into a work of ART. Good luck on the show and enjoy yourself...you deserve a break. The finished piece looks FABULOUS!!!

Hooray! I bet you're feeling pretty good right about now. I'm not sure how the hell you'll top this but I bet you'll find a way. Can't wait to see the opening night pics!
Ps thanks for the podcast linky, I'm gonna listen to a few of those today to try and inspire a Halloween piece before I run out of time!

YAY! Braaad! Glad to hear that you made it in time! :D

3 more days until the big sha-baaang! I'm excited, can't wait to see this beauty! along with the others!

Also, your Halloween Mask is killer!

Shhheeeeeeesh Brad! 7 Days without a post! ....you don't call, you don't write...... What? are you hanging with HumuHumu.

This is what postpratum depression must feel like. Painting painting painting, nothing.

I think Brad's still on the Mainland....If not I imagine he's cookin up something Spectacular for all you clowns!

Hey Brad! great seein ya on friday! Makes me wish you lived next door!!! Daily ArtJam!

On 2007-11-06 14:11, little lost tiki wrote:
I think Brad's still on the Mainland....If not I imagine he's cookin up something Spectacular for all you clowns!

I just figured he was sleeping! :lol:

Aloha!

Just got back in Kona late last night.

It was so great meeting so many tiki folks in San Deigo at the Tiki Island Art Show! Really great fun - even if we did get caught in traffic when the 5 was closed due to a bomb scare! Sheesh! Barly made it in time for set up before the show! But it was GREAT! Saw lots of cool art in person, got lots of nicve comments from folks, saw GROG, met Randy, got a cool print from Tiki Racer and discussed in depth the connection between polynesian myth and the Cthulhu mythos, chatted with Doug Horne (his new creature piece is amazing!), Hung out with Hassan (head hunter) Patterson - way cool dude, whos ink drawings are some of the best expressive work I've ever seen, met Thor finally (a real thrill, and I hope I didn't come off like too much of a fan-boy), Saw Crazy Al - eh, saw maybe a little TOO much of Cravy Al! And, got to see my tiki art buddy Ken Ruzic! I can't beleive I forgot my Tiki MUG! DOH!

After the Tiki Island Art Show, I went to Vegas for a few days with a friend. While we were there we checked out the new Trader Vics at the Planet Hollywood Casino. It's ultra swanky! Really, they did an amazing, new, ultra hip version of a Trader Vics that is mind blowing and has the biggest tiki in it I've ever seen - yet serve the drinks in vintage looking tiki mugs right off the old drink menu. (I had the chi chi ceramic coco nut!)

I also go to check out a HUGE giclee by Ron English in the Planet Hollywood's art gallery. A cow girl - Talk about eye poping colors!

A bit blurry eyed this morning. Trying to get back into the rythum of work. LOST my digital camera somewhere in the crazed mess of a canceled flight, and a missed connection in Honolulu. Had to stay there over night. It did give me a chance to drop into the Thor Stor in Waikiki. Great Place! Thor told me they will be moving to to bigger place in Jan. Cool!

Didn't sell the original at the show, so now it'll be up for sale through the Tiki Magazine web site for a bit.

Thinking of a new piece, but I gotta check out few things first.

Mahalo~

Welcome Home Brad!
Glad you made it back safe! :)

Glad you're back.....sounds like you had a great time, vacations are always refreshing and much needed...hope you found inspiration for your next masterpiece....can't wait to see it.....get back to work!!

Welcome back Brad...sounds like life is back to normal...Let me see your next sketch !!!

Aloha,

Still feeling a bit jet lagged, or hung over, or sick from breathing the same air-plane air for 5 hours - or lazy, or something! Slowly getting back in the work groove. (very slowly)
LLtHey Kenny! It was SOOOOO cool to see the Cannibal King in person - that is an awesome piece! Really powerful, and so much more intense than what we get to see here on the net. There is a real power that an original work of art has in person, that just cannot be duplicated. Fantastic stuff! And I totally have easle envy!
MeheadhunterThanks, I'm sorta back, physically but maybe not mentally yet.
Isleconch~Thanks, and here's my latest sketch....

Here's my latest study.

I got some questions about my next piece. I want to include the like-ness of a famous (now deceased) person in it. I'm wondering about the legal copyrights in such a case. Will it be a problem if I wanna make and sell prints of it? I know a LOT of artists do studies of famous folks. They're all over the web. I've looked up some info on the web about such things. Seems to be questions about art vs merchandise, or artistic merit of a piece, or something. A very grey area. But, I'm thinking if I do some cool distortion, then it'll be a unique new piece of art. Er... right? Any suggestions?

Hey, check out the new Trader Vics in Las Vegas here... http://www.tradervicslv.com
I had dinner and drinks there, and it was awesome!

Mahalo!

It's the clean air in Hawaii that's getting to you. After three years of cold crisp Canadian mountain air, my lungs still crave Los Angeles smog.

As to the copyright question, it is complicated. A public figure is fair game for editorial cartoons and the like. If you were to make a Tiki mug with the distinct face of Elvis Presley on it, I believe the owners of his estate might have something to say about it, since they still make $$$ on his image. On the other hand, the owners of the Buddy Holly estate probably would never know about it.

Also, there is something called "fair use" of copyrighted images, but I believe that applies to anything promoting or critiquing the copyrighted item in question.

Then there is MAD Magazine, hmmm.

I guess I dunno.

[ Edited by: TikiFool 2007-11-10 03:00 ]

Aloha~

Thanks for the input Tiki Fool. I've researched the copyright of likeness on the web an whole bunch, and there's some interesting stuff out there... Basically, if you have agood lawyer you can get away with just about ANYTHING, and if you don't... you're screwed. BUT, I'm going for it. Heck, - it's "low brow tiki art" and mostly under the radar anyways! What's low brow tiki art if not being a bit edgy and lawless anyways, huh?

In the mean while, I'm working on our company Christmas Card - cause we didn't get a Halloween card out.

Here's da' sketch... (I know it has NOTHING to do with Christmas!)

Here it so so far.... lots to do still. I'm creating it in Illustrator because it's gonna be printed up (and I'm a sadomasochist). Anytime I work in Illustrator I'm always heavily influenced by my fav Illustrator artist - "Ragnar".
Mahalo

Nice start to the Christmas card. Ragnar does neat stuff, and a nice guy,too. (Or at least he was nice to me the few times I've met him.)

Where'd you run off to at the bali Hai art show? I said Hi to you and never got to talk to you after that.

Great start and i'm sure it will turn out as good as your other stuff. How do I get put on the mailing list?

Man you are on top of it, Christmas cards this early. Looking great Brad.

Great meeting you at the Bali Hai. Next time you have to come hang at the after parties.

Aloha~
GROG~ Thanks! Sorry I didn't get to spend more time with you at the show, but it was great seeing' ya in person again! Actually, had I forgot something back at the hotel and had to leave the show and run back for it! Yeah, sheesh, my whole trip to LA and San Diego was such a crazed episode! I think the hustle and bustle of the big city was a cultural shock after living a year here in the "sleepy fishing village of Kona".
Alohastation~ Mahalo, not sure how many we are printing up yet, so not sure how many we are sending out... mostly they are going to our big clients as a smooze for more business. However, if ya wanna be on da list just "Personal Message" me a mailing address, and if we got enough to go round after we take care of the clients, I'll send one out to ya.
Swampfire~ It was very fun hanging with you at the show! Yeah, I was beat and never got to an after party. I had been up pretty late on Halloween and was still recovering from that.

Here's the non-christmas Christmas card so far. ( Hey nothing says Chrismas like a hula girl dancing with shark tooth war clubs!)

Mahalo~

Hey Brad!

Loved seeing yer work in personal finally, insanity!

Love the study - it's cute!

You're workin on adobe illustrator for the christmas card? isn't that program great? I love using it for linework for my character designs :D

Can't wait to see what you'll cook up next!

Aloha,
Ravenne~ You dig Illustrator? I've always had a hard time with this program. I love the way things get printed out, but I hate creating art in it. It' so much not like painting or drawing (for me at least). It might be better if I got a tablet to work on instead of only using a mouse.

Here's the card so far. I may be done. What do ya think?
Mahalo~

:D looks awesome!
tho I feel like something is missing...
I can't put my finger on it...

I like illustrator strictly for line work! I'll sketch something and be able to clean up the line work quickly in Illustrator, not to mention it's a great way to animate and transfer into the Flash program too!

A wacom tablet makes it easier to use illustrator, tho personally I'll find myself just using the mouse more often than the tablet.

Aloha!
Ravenne~ Line work? in Illustrator? I must be using illustrator completely wrong, cause I have no idea how to make a "line" in illustrator! I can make clean crisp shapes, but no lines. And, yeah, you're right Ravenne, something was not right with the card image. So I went back and did some cleaning up of the image...

I altered the colors of the tiki, and completely re-did the hula girl's body. Better?

Mahalo~

Much mo' betta! I likee very much now! Can I get on that leftover mailing list too?

Way better! Those greens are really nice, and your colour scheme is very festive. I love how you don't know how to make lines or even have a tablet, and still manage to make something pretty friggin amazing!

The pastelle an' charcoal is really beautiful Sharky! I really dig your finesse on those.

Nice. GROG like.

Braaaaad! it looks a lot better now! :D
Yeea in Illustrator there is the Pen Tool and you can mess with the stroke line and make it look like natural pen ink or just typical straight lines. It's really good to do pretty much what you did. Like...let's say you have a very rough sketch, you scan it in, ink it out with the pen tool then you can color it in, then you can take out the lines and pretty much have what you have with yer card right now.

I used to be big on photoshop, but since I started using Illustrator for digital ink and paint, i've fallen in love with that program a lot more. Tho, don't get me wrong, I still use Photoshop for coloring...especially to mimic water color type painting on PS! :D

Super card! I can't believe you don't use a tablet! I couldn't exist without one - I use it for everything as mice (mouses?) make my hands hurt. I love using illustrator - I used to hate it but I took a job a few years ago that required all the artwork to be created in illustrator so I had to learn to love it. Now I use it almost more than photoshop - nice crisp images. I find myself making layouts in illustrator and highlighting them in painter or photoshop if need be. I can't believe you made that amazing image not even knowing how to create lines! :) So talented! Now if we can get you to sculpt up a few cuthulu tiki mugs...

Great card Brad...glad to see more creations by you.

Man, it's like I peed Art on the rug and you're rubbing my nose in it.
Yikes, this stuff is Fancy Dan.
Unbelievable stuff.
Curses,
Laffo

I beleive that is the coolest christmas card I have ever laid my eyes upon...keep up the awesome work!!!

The character would look better with outlines, no doubt...here's an outline tutorial for you...I don't know which Illustrator-version you're using but it should be easy to understand nevertheless:

http://vectortutorial.deviantart.com/art/Illustrator-Outline-Tutorial-52400742

A friend of mine once defined "film animation" as "boy, that sure is a lot of work."

Ditto, for tracing lines in Illustrator, methinks.

Very cool card! Your revision really brought it to life.

we miss you Brad!