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

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Step 3.) transferring the drawing to the canvas (still).

whole canvas

detail of car

detail of "She-Bat" looming over Waikiki

Nice Brad! So many awesome things here! That skeleton in the foreground could be his own painting!

THANKS! This one just keeps becoming more and more as I work out nifty little things to go in it. What I am thinking of is the cover to a vintage adventure-pulp magazine from the 1940's - about the golden-age-comics version of mythic Hawaii, and guest staring "She-Bat" the Woman of Mystery/Crime Fighter comic book character a friend of mine made...and has been publishing off and on since the 80's. This piece is for an anniversary issue.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Step 5.) (I think, or is this still step 3?) re-drawing the sketch on the canvas.

Re-creating the drawing on the canvas. Almost all done. The Aloha shirt needs to be done (a BIG project on it's own) plus the reflections of spirit-sharks in the classic car's glossy body. These can be GREAT things to look at if done right, but are gonna take a bunch of work.

And..... just WHERE is the LIGHT going to be coming from?
1.) There is a sunset. 2.) There are interior lights in the TIKI lounge. 3.) Mystical magic light flaring from the tropical Mickey-mouse-Finn raised in a toast by the zombie! 4.) Then, there is the Mark Ryden / Todd Schorr general Low-brow lighting that always seeps down from the upper left of the canvas as of from some clear sky. Of course, 5.) I could make the Tiki pendant around the Zombie's neck glow with "magic-tiki-ju-ju light". And verious glowing skull eyes and red bat eyes, and head lights...more like "light high-lights". Lots o' work - still!

As I hoped, by re-drawing it by hand, many little things got added that were not in the original sketch. And somethings were, I hope, improved.

Now the color.

Now the challenge to make it an eye candy delightful swirl of beautiful and unique things to gawk at, and not a big mess. Color may solve this - plus the proper use of lights and darks. What is the focus? One thing? Or several things, all pointing the viewer to the next thing to look at. Is it an unending circle of fun things to eyeball till you are hypnotized by this strange tropical hawaii-world-that-never was? That's the goal. ...not a big confusing mess of weird things all screaming for your attention until you get a head ache.

So, wish me luck!

Aloha!
B tiki shark P

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Drawing on the canvas is done.

Here's the whole scene.. a bit complex. How will it work? What will be the focus? Will painting make this all come together in a smooth and beautiful swirl of tropical-tiki-pop?

The Aloha Shirt is drawn in..( ..and my favorite tiki pendant I wear the most - created by Crazy Al)

lele 'ope'ape'a.
Color next. I beseech the tiki gods to grant me the artistic brains to make this all work together and become a pleasure to the pupils & and a thalamus treat for the Tiki Tribe.
ALOHA
BP

Brad, this has to be the most insanely detailed piece I think I have ever seen you try to pull off. Your composition is good; it does lead the eye around pretty well so I think it will work out. I am just amazed at all the details. :)

Thanks! Let's hope it works! Color is gonna be the key...l

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
Step, er...what step is this again? Sheesh, that sketch took so long I lost track!
OK
Step 9.) Painting the Sun Set.

Laying in warm tones...

Thanks for looking!

BP~

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Working on a new project with my bestest Art Director Buddy Kevin Egeland & his underground L.A. based Kustom Skate Board company "Tigre Skate Boards".
He helped create several cool "Classic Monsters" designs and a "Tales from the Tiki Lounge" design for my art show at "La Luz de Jesus" Gallery in Hollywood. The boards were a hot item, and sold out, and the gallery and to take orders for more from folks demanding more...

Coolest thing about the Skate Decks, I think, is that Kevin showed me they can be hung on the wall like "Fine Tiki Art". I fitted in the hard-ware to hang them with Billy Shire at the"La Luz" Gallery, and we saw them on the wall for the first time, and a light went off in my head ... Wow... how cool is that? ... why didn't I think of this before! Billy liked it too! (thank goodness!)

This is the newest proposed design "Tiger Shark Surfer" with the Tigre logo and all...
What do ya think? Cool for a wall in a home grown Tiki Bar, right?
I'm getting a few from the show that I will offer up for sale (watch the tiki Marketplace) that I ordered and Kev has some left.
Wanna ask questions about getting some? you can ask here, or visit Kevin's Face Book page.
http://www.facebook.com/kevin.egeland?ref=ts
I don't know if "Tigre" has a web site. It's WAY underground, limited edition, stuff.
ALOHA!
BP~

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Few things bouncing round the island today~

I was in TARGET today, and was surprised to see my Birthday cards had been put out in the primo "eye-level""End-cap" position.

Sweet! ... Jeeze, who ever stocks Target, I owe them a big Aloha!
These cards are made by Pacifica Island Arts Inc.. you can find them on line at http://www.islandartcards.com/

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the latest on the painting....

My close up of the big "doodle-Art Poster" like art ... so far...
gotta make her hands a little less creepy looking. Gloves on.

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!

Here's a sketch for a commission piece for an art patron. It's "Hawaiian Eye episode 2" so to speak.
Addition of a Hula girl, and three sea turtles... representing his wife and 3 kids... rather sweet...a challenge to make it better than the first one. We'll see as we go.

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Got a new art gig in the making... so, here's my first pass at a new logo for a new company.

The Company is called ARTIFEX. (Latin... for artist.)
The logo is a tad rough right now, it is a black & white riff on the Moai giant in "Faster Than Disaster". My tech people say I gotta get in done in A.I. now, so it'll be a bit more simple and stream lined. Which is good for a logo. It's all going to tie into a new web site called parkerartlive.com. So, I guess you can get an idea where this is going. With all this new easy tech for cameras, and since I'm all for showing step by step how I paint, and you, seem to dig seeing how I slap paint on a canvas, I might as well show some live painting as well - now that I have some folks interested in helping out on the tech side of things.

Anywho, we'll see how it all shakes out in the next few months. It (the new web site) should be up and running sometime before or on Halloween (my favorite Holiday - so seemed like a good time for a goal!) Basicly, it'll be me getting ready for my next big art show.

An art show that will take me 2 years to create a body of work for. Yep, two years! See, I take about 2 months to paint a 24" x 30" canvas in my pop surreal style. 8 to 10 hours a day. If I really push myself - and I always push, cause I want to make each one better. So, it's gonna take me about two years to create 12 new paintings - good ones, paintings that I can be sure I didn't just "crank out" - but paintings I feel I put everything I had into them. Poured my soul and guts into and sought to make them better than what I did before... and that will really knock your socks off. ( I hope.)

So, anywho, first step. Set up. Here's a rough of the logo. I'll keep posting here to keep you up dated. Scary as heck. This could all fall apart. But, since the Tiki Tribe has been so supportive so far, and really helped me get thought sooo much... I might as well take another step, and hope you all dig seeing me screw up in real time!

Big Aloha!
Bp

Major awesome Brad! I will look forwards eagerly to seeing you paint. :)

On 2012-08-08 18:23, Tiki Shark Art wrote:
Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the latest on the painting....

My close up of the big "doodle-Art Poster" like art ... so far...
gotta make her hands a little less creepy looking. Gloves on.

Great idea, you Da Man

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I was working on an "artist's Remarque" on a giclee of "Faster Than Disaster" yesterday... kinda stuck on what to do. That painting is so well filled ... there's very little room to add anything. Then I found out (thanks Ken) that it was The Father Of American "Weird Fiction"' - H. P. Lovecraft's Birthday - Aug 20th! So after that this sort of came screaming out !
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Aloha!
B~

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
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Next step on "Hawaiian Eye - Episode Two" (a commission)
Finally got a good night sky going. took 4 to 5 layers of semi-transparent acrylic paint to get a smooth moon-light to dark edges blue-ness. This is the hard way, I know, it's painting the sky 4 or 5 times to get one smooth one. Acrylic dries so fast you can't really smooth it out like oils. I've seen wonderful smooth acrylic paintings with no visible brush strokes. Amazing. I love that, but I sort of love some brush strokes too. Let's you know it's a painting... there's the hand of an artist in there laboring away with a brush to get an effect. But, a wonderful well rendered painting takes time to get... at least for me. I don't know a easy fast way to do that... just the long hard way. Art isn't easy, I suppose.

Next will be stars, and the Cat moon, and I'm getting down to the fun parts like the Zombie and the Tiki.
More 2 come
ALOHA!

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
I had a nifty thrill when the local ... well local being the island of Oahu... newspaper called me and asked me some questions about Tiki Art. Seems they had seen the book "Surf Graphics" and found that in it's role call of 30 "surf artists" 3 were Hawaii based...or at least had Hawaii as a focus of their particular art. Me, Oahu's Dennis Mathewson, and Thor, who lives in So Cal but is here a lot, and sells his amazing art in local Hawaii galleries.
So, the Honolulu Star Advertiser did a piece on "Low Brow" or what they are calling "Out Sider Art" (interesting) , but really we all know it's "tiki art".
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Dig the big ol' front page (in the TODAY) section of the Monday 8/27/12 edition.
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Dennis got the big space - above the fold. - Course, he's pretty famous in Honolulu. Local guy. Dennis is a fantastic Airbrush artist (as well as a great guy) and has been painting hotrods for many years at Cosmic Air Brush; his business in Honolulu. Thor and I are more recently hitting the Hawaii Art scene. All 3 of us are not the usual artists working and selling in Hawaii art galleries. What you usually find in galleries here is land scapes, and sea scapes and wild life (dolphins, whales and turtles and such) and flower paintings. Or, you find art that is good, but is not about Hawaii.
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Big mahalo to reporter Gary Chun, and his research into Tiki Culture. Nice guy, and he really warmed up to the subject as we talked. However, he did get the title of my painting wrong... it's "The Moon OF Manakoora" - like the exotica song by Martin Denny, and featured in the 1937 movie "The Hurricane" with Dorothy Lamour. Common mistake, no worries, But this sometimes confuses my gallery - Anyways, it's great that now they are becoming more aware, and I'm finding more locals buying my work, when at first it was only tourists.
Tiki Culture is finally finding it's way to Hawaii (ha!) Well, at least, mainstream Hawaii, there's always been tiki tribe folks here.
Big Aloha
B~

You deserve the recognition Brad! You big, bad paint slinger.

Congrats on the coverage! Lots of cool, diverse projects is always good!

Congratulations, Brad. It's always fun to see hard work and talent and manic creativity get some recognition.

Congrats Brad! Loving how the new piece is coming along. :)

Aloha tiki Tribe!
thanks tigertail777! It's coming along... sometimes slow... acrylic can be a bear to smooth out... but I'm learning...
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more done on the building and the Cat-Moon...and I put stars in the sky...

ALOHA!

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
"THE CREATURE SURFS AMONG US!"

Dig This!
Award winning short monster/movie from Body Glove! It's kinda' like "the Blair Witch Project" but with world class surfers and a vicious Sea Creature! Too Cool!
This is the link to the video on TW's site:
http://surf.transworld.net/1000151561/videos/imaginarium-body-gloves-the-disappearance/

Once there you can share it, like it and comment on it. Please get the word out.
Aloha!
Brad tiki-shark Parker

So that's what happened to the creature from the Black Lagoon...got a taste of surfer and never went back. :wink:

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
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The Creature retired to a nice quite little island in the south seas... till those pesky surfers came by!
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But they soon learned the choice beaches and surf were for "Locals ONLY"!
To see the rest of the photos from the award winning short "monster/surf/ movie":"The Disappearance" visit TransWorld SURF here http://surf.transworld.net/1000151620/photos/imaginarium-body-glove-photo-gallery/?pid=66752#ngtop

Fun stuff! Body Glove won this short film contest last year too. I would like to think the copious placement of my Tiki-Art calendars and post cards in the Body Glove offices made them think of doing a "Monster Movie" for the film contest this year.
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We had a meeting, and I think there is some Parker-Tiki Art to be made of the sea creature (with a Tiki in the back ground of course) that will become a tee-shirt, a poster, and some other stuff. I'll keep you posted. The Creature I think is showing up at Surf Trade Shows for the next year and helping to promote some nifty new board shorts Body Glove makes called Amphibious (super quick dry material). Hey, how could I NOT do a tee shirt to be apart of such a fun project! I think another cover of "Tales From the Tiki Lounge" staring the Sea Creature should be done too. We'll see... More to come....

Step 5.)
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Hawaiian Eye - Episode Two
Worked up a bit more on the building and the Tiki Sign.
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Here's a closer look - see.

ALOHA! And ... remember, when you go to the beach, and play in the waves, don't turn your back on the ocean (could be a cranky creature in the next wave!)
http://surf.transworld.net/1000151561/videos/imaginarium-body-gloves-the-disappearance/

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2012-09-06 13:48 ]

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2012-09-06 13:59 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
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A classic beautiful cover shot.

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
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A present from a friend finally made it to Hawaii - a great moody portrait of Vincent Price! Great for the art studio!
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Working on the details of "Hawaiian Eye Episode two" - getting to the fun part : The Zombie!
Many other fun things to paint too...as I go. More 2 come....
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Here's a sketch for a possible painting for a "Tales from the Tiki Lounge" to tie in with the Body Glove Sea Creature film. Hmmm, needs a Tiki in the jungle somewhere, and some skulls!

ALOHA!
B~

I like that an artist has collected a photo of Vincent Price, who was an avid art collector. The irony--delicious.

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
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Professor G - Oh yeah, baby! I love this portrait of Vincent Price. It's a promo shot from the movie "The Bat". Custom double mat. Huge dark metal frame. Only problem is the frame is so heavy that the first time I hung this huge portrait in my art studio, it pulled the hook right out of the wall!... ... and it fell! EE-GAD! In my mind, I saw shattering glass & a bent frame - all after this long wait and expensive shipping.... it's at times like this that living so far from the mainland, on a remote volcanic island, in a small town, with no cool shops to get great swanky swag like this can really suck... Jeepers Creepers! After shipping it all the way here, to the Big Island from my friend in Hollywood ... and it FALLS .... but, I grabbed it! ... and it thumped good on the floor, but the glass didn't break! (WHEW!)
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Vincent is on my heavy wooden dresser in da' studio for now, till I can get a really heavy duty hook to hang it properly. And, if you wanna' hear a great, creepy, 'ol time radio show with Mr. Price? It takes place on a tiny island, with shark infested waters, that kinda' setting? go to http://talestoterrify.com/ go to "Pod casts", then to "archives", then to "episode #31". You'll find a nice tropical "Tale of Terror!"
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Hawaiian Eye - Episode Two
Got the "Zombie" done... "the Moon o' da' Cat" is done (for now), I'm working on the building...
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Here is a closer look at the Zombie. I really went to town on his "Aloha Shirt", and I think it pays off - hope so. Took a long time. What do you think?

So, on to the Tiki soon. ( I sometimes save the best parts for later) Discovered I had miss spelled the word "Detective" on the wall, so, I painted it out, - ready to repaint it. Type is a REAL pain in the butt! It's gotta look nice, and it takes real drafts-man-ship to do it by hand. Oh, it'd be so easy in Photoshop, - but, sigh, this is all about ol' school acrylic on canvas.

This is a commission - a 2nd pass at "Hawaiian Eye", with a few additions requested by the patron. I think I'm getting somethings down better on this 2nd try. But, I can never re-create the exact energy, & magic of the first one. I aim to make "another version of the vision"- good in new ways. Better? Well, hard to say, I try.

More 2 Kum!
ALOHA!
B tiki shark P

Be afraid Brad, be very afraid. I will get even with you for subjecting me to that rat story right before bed. :o

[ Edited by: tigertail777 2012-09-11 20:01 ]

RATS! Hey, did you even listen to the "Vincent Price" version yet?
For the rest of the Tiki Tribe.... here's a link to "Tales of Terror" go to http://talestoterrify.com/podcast-archives/ to "episode #31". You'll find a nice "Tale of Terror!" called "3 Skeleton Key"... one of the best thing on "old time Radio" plus a modern reading of the original short story. Great fun pulp!

I dig listening to such fare while I paint.
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"Hawaiian Eye - Episode Two"
A commission, acrylic on canvas.... putting in the ground, working out the lighting.... more to come!
ALOHA

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Step 9.)
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"Hawaiian Eye - Episode Two"
finished up the tiki by the palm tree...worked on the sea... next the palm, and the main characters ...more to come...

Aloha tiki tribe!
So, October is on da' way. I've been asked by the University of Hawaii to speak... about pop culture and Hawaiiana, I guess. I'm a bit nervous. Wish I could bring someone like Sven Kristen with me! Should be fun... really how can u say no to such requests? Not spread "Tiki Culture" to the new generation? Gotta. I always liked it when working professionals came & spoke to my art classes.

Speaking of October - my local gallery wants to do a "Hawaii-ween" art event with me. I'm gonna carve up some pumpkins, do some live painting. Should be fun!
Also... Hula-ween is a good time for "chicken Skin" stories...
U dig that last scary tale? (Love Vincent Price in 3 Skeleton Key - maybe I should do a Tiki portrait of Vincent?) Found another one. No Tiki's in it... but it does take place in a jungle. It's called "Graves".
http://www.starshipsofa.com/2008/04/08/aural-delights-no-20-joe-haldeman/
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Here's another sketch idea for the "Body Glove Creature" painting. Added in some tikis and skulls. Hope to paint it during October. a great image to work on for Halloween.
A LO HA!

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
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  http://www.tikishark.com

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2012-09-16 05:08 ]

That's creepy and just in time for Halloween. I'll never swim again. Wendy

Great to see the picture coming along. Always fun to watch a work in progress.

Thanks for pointing out "3 Skeletons Key". Great fun listening to that. I love those old radio shows and the first reading was exceptional. Perhaps tonight I'll get to listen to "Graves".

I'm always glad to see a fellow Halloween fan and it's great the way you tie that into your Tiki love. The Hawaii-een event sounds like a lot of fun. Good luck with that and your lecture to the students.

• Dale

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
Thanks everyone, thanks littlegiles... it should be a fun Halloween event at the Wyland Kona Ocean Front Gallery, and I'm very nervous about speaking at the University of Hawaii, but I gotta spread the word about Tiki Culture ... gotta!
Here's what I've been slapin' paint on recently:
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Here's the next step...
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getting more done on the Detective Tiki.... gettin close. I hope to finish before month's end.

Wanna hear some more scary (Chicken Skin) stories? Tales to Terrify took a request from me, and host Larry Santoro read "H.P. Lovecraft's "The Hound" on the latest episode!
http://talestoterrify.com/tales-to-terrify-no-37-h-p-lovecraft-conrad-williams/#comment-731

Chilling and very pulp-gothic stuff from a tale written about 80 years ago! I may get Tales to Terrify to use one of my paintings for their web site art for October... can you guess which painting?

Big ALOHA!

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
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So, am I dressin' up my art studio for Halloween? Naw, It always looks like a miniature House o' Horrors! That's the "Head Chopper" from the movie "Jeepers Creepers" signed by the Director & the Actor who played "The Creeper". Did I buy it off E-bay? Naw, It was given to me at the end of production... see I worked on that low budget cult classic , and I designed the Creeper! The high point of my Hollywood career fer shure!

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
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What the heck is this?
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Home made Pineapple Man action figure? Yes. Halloween Decorations? Nope, just more of my miniature house O' Horrors in my art studio!
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My local Gallery the "Wyland Kona Oceanfront Gallery" has moved a bunch of things around their wonderful art space...and I'm very happy to find I'm still in the place of "Big Eye Candy": the front window! They even have my brand-spankin' new Skate Decks!
Big Thanks and Aloha to the folks at the Gallery!
Check 'em out!
http://www.wylandbigisland.com/
Wyland Kona Oceanfront Gallery
75-5770 Alii Dr
Kailua Kona, HI 96740-1782
Phone – (808) 334-0037
Toll Free – (888) 435-6612
Email – artexpert@hawaii.rr.com

BIG ALOHA
B~

Brad (Tiki Shark) Parker
"Brad Parker creates lurid paintings that pull in influences from tiki, comics, and rock."

• Honolulu Magazine "The Best Of" 2012 Issue
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  http://www.tikishark.com

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2012-09-23 06:22 ]

Aloha Tiki Tribe!
Here's the next step on da' painting....
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more to come!

Forget the painting. Go back to the Halloween collection! :D

I have not seen Jeepers Creepers yet, I will have to try and track down a disc that will actually play.

I'm a sucker for the pulps and sleuthing stuff, so I naturally love your current painting. Are you going to go for "The Shadow" next? Who knows what lurks in the heart of the tiki aficionado? :wink:

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
tigertail777 - The Shadow is one of my favorite Mystery Men. He is what spawned Batman. Did you see the Shadow film with Alec Baldwin? It's fun... but if they are making re-makes all the time why not another Shadow film? I'd be up for it!
I hope to finish "Hawaiian Eye - Episode II" by month's end.
Then, of course I need to finish my "She-Bat" painting by year's end.

But I'd like to start my "Body Glove Sea Creature" Painting in October. Nothing as much fun as painting a MONSTER for Halloween! What Body glove Sea Creature? Trans World Surf holds a annual surf photography short film contest. The fun loving surfer dudes at Body Glove thought it would be fun to make a short film with a MONSTER in it. This is why I love working with Body Glove!
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Well, Body Glove's short monster movie won first place. You can see it here: Check it out!
http://bodygloveartbox.blogspot.com/2012/09/body-gloves-disappearance.html
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I have my 24" x 30" canvas all ready, & a sketch that the folks at Body Glove are excited about - and Body Glove may use my Sea Creature art for tee-shirts, posters, skate Decks, board shorts... or some other fun stuff - I'll post news here as it happens.
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Wanna' see more art studio eye-candy? OK. Here's one of the best things I got off of E-bay: My jumbo glow-in-the-dark Godzilla!
LATERS!
A LO HA!

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
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Here's the latest... working on the Aloha Shirt... a bunch o' work... but it'll be worth it (I hope!)
more 2 come....

Dang! that piece is looking MASTERPIECE-ish!
Thanks for the peeps of the studio!
When can i visit?
and hells yeah that jumbo Glow-in-the-Darl Godzilla is awesome!
and those Aurora models...the box art was the BEST!

Besides the Creature
i also had a few of these Aurora goodies..
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wish i still had this!
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SNAP TOGETHER so we wouldn't huff the glue!
:)

Also had one of her during my pre-teen years and fondly remember
rubbing my thumb allover it wishing she would become all reals and be my girlfriend!
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looking forward to seeing the O'Neill creature come to life
the film was great!

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http://www.kenruzic.com will be up someday,REALLY!
I'm on FaceBook Too!Look me UP,folks! Lot's of work to see there!

[ Edited by: little lost tiki 2012-09-25 01:02 ]

ALOHA TIKI TRIBE!
little lost tiki - Dude! Monster Scenes from Aurora - "Rated X for Excitement!" Oh yeah baby!! I had the "Pain Parlor" and the "Gruesome Goodies" and "Frankenstein" and "Dr. Deadly" and "The Victim" and "Vamperella" ... torture devices and helpless or evil scantly clad women... wow, was there ever any less politically correct models for kids? I remember my mother threw them all out! Ee-gads! Now I'm slowly buying them again on e-bay at truly torturous prices! AND.."Snap-together" (!?!?) so you don't have any glue to huff! PAH-LEEZE! How evil! What was a childhood with out that delightful glue buzz while putting together monster models?
Of course now that I'm making art for a living, who has time to paint monster models any more? I have them so I can look at the beautiful George Bama cover art. Great Stuff! Inspirational!
Now my paintings are my monster models. Each one is a box cover for an Aurora "Tiki" model that was made in an alternate Universe.
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Here's the "Tiki" model box art so far...
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Here's a closer look see at this 3-D aloha shirt... (getting a fun Ruzic feel I think to it?)
More laters!

DUDE!!
LLT said
"looking forward to seeing the O'Neill creature come to life the film was great!"

Dude! Kenny! It's NOT O'Neill.
It's Body Glove.

There's a big 'ol difference!

O'Neill sold out a long time ago to become a big corporate money making machine that has a big Grey building with a lot of cubicles in it with harried looking people working there under the corporate yoke. They only pretend to be a hip surfer beach brand to sell to teen agers.

Body Glove is still owned by surfers. The original 2 brothers who started it in 1953 were surfers. One of the brothers, Uncle Bob, is still around. I've been boating with him. Snorkeling with him, and had him tell me stories about swimming with a great white shark, and raising a ship wreck in the Santa Monica Bay. Body Glove is a family business. Their sons now work there. One of them, Billy, owns a week end "get-a-way" called "The Freaky Tiki Shack" full of Tiki stuff... and my tiki art. (!) And their grand children now work there. They all are surfers and divers, and wake boarders. There are carved wooden Tikis in their offices! Cool folks. When I go to LA, they let me stay in their place in Manhattan Beach. These are cool beach people. I think they are the last surf brand that has not sold out to become a big corporation. And, so far , there are no plans to do that. That's why I like working with them. They have my tiki art calendars up in their offices, which are only a few blocks from the beach. So, when they made a "monster" movie for the Surf Photography contest, I sort of thought maybe My art was influencing them a little bit... fun stuff. Surf culture. The real deal. Check 'em out http://www.bodyglove.com/
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Well, Body Glove's short monster movie won first place. You can see it here: Check it out!
http://bodygloveartbox.blogspot.com/2012/09/body-gloves-disappearance.html

ALOHA!

Unless I am mistaken, my first exposure to the Body Glove company was their sponsorship of the Tidal Wave ride at Magic Mountain in California. I think I have some pics of it somewhere. They used to have some very creative signage in the Que line for the ride, and I think a little sort of tiki shack souvenir store. Unless I'm hallucinating. :wink: It was quite a long time ago, I think right when Warner Brothers first bought out the park. I'll have to look in my brochure collection and see.

Love your work, Brad. I read on Kustom Lane Gallery's website that you might be heading down to Australia for a show a little later this year. Do you think this is likely? I'd love to see your work in person - too often the computer screen just fails to convey the total awesomeness of a piece of art.