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

Yay! Purple! :D

Oh man I love that neon glow...I seriously can't wait till this is done. ahh! so cloooose!

I hope hope hope I make it to the TikiArt Mag show in one piece! :lol:

I wish I were an Egg.

DON'T MAKE FUN OF MAH DREAMS!!!

[ Edited by: ravenne 2007-10-02 19:36 ]

ALOHA TC!
JentikiYeah, it's purple/pink/red! Glad you are digging it!
RavenneMahaloz - and I hope you do make it to San Diego in one piece! If ya do, we can clink Mai Tais!

Whole shebang~

Da' hut so far...

Sketch of the open door way...

A closer look in that door way...

And here's a sketch for the "floating Mug". I changed it many times. I was stuck on it for a while. I even had ear rings in it, and then I saw the new mug coming out of Tiki Farm that has ear rings - so I discarded that idea. Now he has a lip ring. I guess, if this is going to be made as a real mug (and Holden and I have talked about it, so it could happen) it can actually have a ring in it's lip? Right? Holden? Squidy?

14 days left to finish!!!

Mahaloz from the tropical breeze ruffled Tiki Shark Offices on da Big Island. (Hey, I had a nightmare last night about lava pouring down the volcano towards Kona! I think it's because there has been a lot of news about the new eruption and how great it's flowing right now. I hope it's not a premonition! Or at least Pele holds off on gushing till I get this painting done!)

That mug is pretty cool!!!

You'll finish this with time to bust out 1 more small one!
Looking great! The background cliffs are perfect with a little bit of mistiness in them! And thanks for sharing your studies/sketches! I bet you're having a blast with all the lighting challenges in this one!!!
Imagine ...we'll be sippin Mai-Tais and catching up at the Bali-Hai in less than a month! :D

This creature has caught my attention! There is heavy forces at work in this pic. things we don't know about... things we shouldn't know about. I will be keeping an eye or two on this corner of creativity. Completely dig the wave with the shark silhouette and the sea foam patterns. You nailed it bro.

Chongolio

Looking awesome mate! :D Almost there!

The grass in the foreground looks SO real!

Grog, you took what I was going to say. First you claim the painting, now your saying what I want to say. When will this injustice stop.

Brad, I can't wait to see what you do with that Palm tree, very surreal and psychedelic. More please.

On 2007-10-04 02:08, Chongolio wrote:
This creature has caught my attention! There is heavy forces at work in this pic. things we don't know about... things we shouldn't know about. I will be keeping an eye or two on this corner of creativity.

I agree with Chongolio! This side of the painting definitely has somethin' goin' on!

I love the interior of the Lounge, it turned out nicely so far! :D

I can't wait till you post more!

Hay TSA, Remember Me? It's art work from the past come back to haunt you!!! Maxie wanted me to give yous a message. "Goose it up Luger. You only got 14 days left."
No presure though, we'll be standing by and waiten... By the way, Do you remember that soul sucking interdimensional being you released into my office years ago? Well, it made one of the best damn chauffeurs I ever had. Had to work on his personal hygene a bit... but damn good.

I'll be seeing you!
Work World Woman

[ Edited by: Work World Woman 2007-10-04 21:33 ]

TSA, this is so beautiful! I feel so depressed at my lack of talent and inspired by your work at the same time when I view your work! Beautiful!!

Aloha TC!
BlowfishThanks! I'm glad you're diggin the mug. I really went back and forth on it. I think it's what I want now. I think. Stay tuned for a more involved sketch.
LLTYEAH, can't wait to be sippin Mai Tais at the Bali-Hai with my tiki art buddy! There has been lots of strange lighting challenges. Which are fun, when you can resolve them and make 'em look appealing on the canvas.
ChongolioIs the Brain freaking you out? Well, if you remember way back to the time I had a cold, and I took too much cold medicene, and I sketched... THATS where this evil brain / bartender idea came from. So, yeah a freaky thing from a freaky (medicine induced) sketch! I wasn't sure if it was too freaky to put into the painting. Then I thought, What am I thinking? It's Tiki Art! Any thing goes! I thought you'd dig the shark in the wave, as your a surfer and all!
HeweyMahalo! It's getting there! (But I did have a nightmare last night that I didn't get it finihed in time for the show at the Bali-Hai!)
GrogI worked very hard on that grass! :)
FrostikiYeah, that tree is weird! I was gonna do a realistic tree, and then I kinda thought, well the painting has a evil brain in it, how realistic do I have to worry about being?
RavenneThanks, glad u like the lounge!
Work World Woman!!!!!!!! Hey Aloha! Oh yeah, sorry about that whole inter-dimensional demon accident. Glad it all worked out! Hope to see you at the Bali-Hai, or at least in LA when I'm passing through!
SneakyTiki~I'm very sorry if your depressed, but I'm honored that you are inspired! I think getting inspired by other artist's here on Tiki Central is what drove me on to make Tiki art.

Here's the Whole thang...

Here's a (almost finished) study / sketch of the bartender.

Here's the Bartender so far.

"What's the Bartender's name?"
"Oh, Abby someone."
"Abby someone? Abby who?"
"Abby Normal."

Hey kids, If you'd like to learn more about evil brains in jars, go to http://feeds.feedburner.com/horror Scroll down to the pod cast titled: "Donovans Brain by Suspense", and Orsen Wells will explain it all to you. (Just remember not to tap on the glass. They don't like that!)

Big Mahalo from the Big Island!

Your stuff is ultra swank.
Fantastic.

TSA, So whose brain is it ?
Some around here think I've lost mine.
Could that be it ?
Sure, Sure, Sure
Will

:o WHOA! THE BRAIN LOOKS FLIPPIN AMAZING!

Wow, I really really really love it so far :D

Aloha TC!
PablusCool! That's the ultimate thing a tiki artist wants to hear! Mahaloz!
wplugger ~ Well now... I'm NOT saying that a evil genius named Donovan was flying his private trans-pacific plane and crashed on a mysterious tropical island and was mortally wounded until a mad scientist transplanted his brain into a vat to keep it alive where it's mental powers grew until it gained the ability to control tropical drinks with it's mere thoughts. I'm not saying that's what this painting is all about. But, I'm not saying it's not either!
RavenneThanks! Glad you're diggin the brain!

Here's the whole piece thus far...

The Tiki Lounge. (Mai Tai madam? Sure, sure, sure)

Mahalo for watching! Have a great weekend!

Brad!
Dude!
You're almost done!
lovin the shrimp-brain and his container!
Reminds me of some CC Beck (old Capt Marvel-Dr. Sivana) meets Jack Kirby contraptions!
These pieces of yours just get finer and finer!
and of course,you're saving the best part for last....
If you can get this one done in the next few days,
then you can start up another piece for the show!
That would be SuperAwesome! :D
Boris said the Bali Hai Mai-Tais are STRONG!
I think a Tiki Artist Chug-a-Thon is in order on the 2nd! :lol:

A striking piece, Brad..... Coming along beautifully as I knew it would. What fine technique, composition and subject matter.

Yo Bradsky - totally diggin it - once again am amazed by the subtle background details creating realistic environment. Where others would fill in with color, you sculpt and create an amazing stage. Seems some of your old movie making shining through! When I worked as an on set artist, I would often defend the integrity of the art department and fight to maintain the set 'as designed' , despite the testosterone of the stunt coordinator or special fx team and their narrow focus on 'the action' only. I was so frequently told, "If they're looking at that, they're looking at the wrong thing!" That's what is sooo cool about your style and paintings..... no matter where you look on your canvas, the scene is interesting and meticulous!
Go Brad Go!

Love this brain! I'll take this one!

Aloha TC!
LLTThanks buddy! Jack Kirby is so my hero! His machines were always intergalactic mind bending masterpieces! As a kid I was always half afraid I'd be walking to school and take a wrong turn, accidentally step through a inter-dimensional doorway and end up in Kirby's Negative Zone! By the By I LOVE the cannibal king, and can't wait to see it in person at the Bali-Hai! I don't know How you're gonna get that HUGE new piece finished in time!
SamThat's head swelling praise coming from a master like you! Big Mahalo!
Jpmartdog~Thanks! HA! "It's pronounced Eye-Gore!" You totally got me figured out! I'm all about creating a whole little "world" or stage for the tiki action. I was on location for a movie a while back, and in between shooting, I'd sit and watch the DP light the set, for like 5 hours at a time. I'd be sitting there totally enthralled!
After about a week of this, the DP noticed me, and had me come up and take a look through the eye piece in the camera. The "scene" I saw through the camera was amazing! He explained how he was creating a stage for the action.
He was using light to pick out thet parts of the environment he wanted to stand out. This creates depth and distance and focus, all with lighting. It was like that old phrase "painting with light!" That made a impression on me that echos in my hollow noggin to to this day. So when I'm painting, I'm thinking "if this was a set, how would it be cool to light this?"

Here's "forbidden Island" with only about 9 days left to finish!

Here's the tiki Lounge. I made the "Brain Waves" red. I wasn't sure what color to make them for along time. but, I think red will blend well with the purple interior and the orange exterior. Now, I just have to figure out what "brain waves" look like...

Thanks fer looking at the da' art!
Aloha from the volcanic Big Island!

GROG! U R too funny!
Now, from that mock up, it looks like the Evil Brain's "psycokenitic thought transmission waves" are going right... up... that... puppy's... eh... Wow, that is an evil brain!

Just the brain conjuring up the "puppy-from-hell" shows how evil it is.

WOW...Brad this is just great!! It's like a soap...everyday I tune in for more amazement. You give color to the LIGHT.

On 2007-10-07 11:23, Tiki Shark Art wrote:
Now, I just have to figure out what "brain waves" look like...

I figure they look like lightning, red lightning in this case :D It makes sense, the brain sends out electrical impulses to muscles to tell them waht to do, and it's also a nice monster tie-in with Frankenstein :D

Aloha TC and Happy " discovery Day" as it's called here in Hawaii.
Grog~ Yep, that is evil!
IsleconchBig Mahaloz!
Hewey Brilliant! GREAT idea! Your electric idea got me started! Then, I sorta mushed it into a organic looking thing. Thanks!

Now it's sort of a squirmy cross between lighting and Sam Gambino pin stripping.

Aloha!

Yay! Bubbles! :wink:

Oh, yeah the brain waves look really cool too! I like how the brain/container has been set back into the hut with the additional lighting on the roof edges and the front tiki. That was looking a little odd for a bit.

The whispy veiny waves are awesome lookin!

How many days left till ya need to finish?

Can't waaait! :D

I knew that damn puppy was evil, look at him appearing out of nowhere to haunt me again. now I have to cower in a corner and rock back and forth for a few days. BTW Very cool brain, in the painting as well as the one comeing up with the painting.

Oh Yeah...it's "ELECTRIFYIN" just when I thought it was great...it got BETTER!!!

Aloha TC!
Jentiki~ Yeah the lighting on the inside roof poles really helped. Now, ya know there isn't really supposed to be like a big hole in the tiki lounge. It's sort of a cut away view. I was not sure how it would really "read". But, seems okay.
RavenneThanks. 7 days left to finish!
FrostikiMahalo! Evil puppies, evil brains, guess I have not done an evil tiki yet.
IsleConch~thanks! Oh, I think the best part is still to come! (I hope)

Did some work on the Palm Tree. Now the flowers. Flowers! Last time I did them I was shocked at how complicated they are. All those curved surfaces! Well, let's see if maybe It'll be easier this time around.

Well, back to slapping paint!
Mahaloz!

Aloha TC!

Here's an over view of da thing. Roughly filled in the leaves and flowers.

It doesn't look so bad in this shot, but in person, the vibrancy of the sudo-psychedelic palm tree fonds aganist the blue sky is so powerful, it's overwhelming the rest of the painting. Your eye just keeps getting jerked back to this super intense graphic palm tree. While it's actually kind of cool, it's might be too much for this painting. Dunno. Might have to over paint the palm fonds.

Tic Tock Tic Tock!

Mahalo!

It's still not too late for CTHULHU MUG!!! C'mon Brad, you know you want to!

Yep, you're right. Your foreground elements are overpoweirng the rest of the painting.

Gonna have to fix that.

Hey Brad..is that a flying saucer in the clouds on top of the Tiki Lounge??

Oh, I just got it.

The evil brain is enticing Robbie the Tiki with a rum drink to bring the girl inside.

smacks forehead<

[ Edited by: TikiFool 2007-10-11 12:41 ]

Aloha,
PaipoYou like the first Mug design more? I was gonna go with the second design, thinking that the first one was too weird.
GrogYes, the foreground question. Funny, I moved on to the flowers and now, seeing the colors in place, it sort of makes a lot more sense now. If the foreground is mostly a warm light reflected from the sunset, then the cool greens of the Tiki Lounge separate just fine. Sure it's tons of detail, but I sort of dig that Jungle Madness feel now. Still puzzling, but I think I feel better about it.
LLTHA! A cannibal menehune chef!
Isle Conch Yep, that's a UFO. It still needs work. I'm not happy with it, and sort of moved on to work on other stuff. I'll get back to it and finish it. Or paint it out and put a cloud there.
Tiki fool~ Yes, the old enticing mug trick. I wasn't fully thinking that, but yes it does make sense.
Hey, TCM is showing the old movie "The Invislble Boy" which features Robby the Robot in it! Nice to take a gander at him before I get to painting the Robby the Tiki!

Here's the whole image.

I was trying to get the flowers finished, but didn't quite finish last night. I got like four days. I don't think I'm gonna make it. I gotta call the printer and see if he can squeeze this in and get it phtographed in a shorter amount of time.

Mahalo!

If you have a day job, call in sick and do a marathon paint session

Man! Your stuff keeps getting better and better! Your use of contrast is frickin' amazing!
Keep it up!
Cheers!
Tiki King

Nothing like a little pressure to get the juice flowing! I've just finished two tight deadline jobs and have another on the go now. The stress can be intense but I really believe (for me anyway) that working on the edge brings out the best!
As for the mug, this is, just, like, my opinion, man, but I really liked the Cthulhu mug - like your "Creature" mug it was something out of the box. The 2nd design is a little generic in comparison, and you already have 3 of your more regulation TikiShark tikis in a row from left to right...a fourth stuck in between them seems like overkill to me. I think the mug really needs to stand out from those other guys....
PS weird is GOOD!

[ Edited by: Paipo 2007-10-12 13:46 ]

Wow! Those flowers are fantastic! They look like rolling and smoking them would produce some really interesting visions! Maybe we should get Kinny to try that. :wink:

Better get cracking on this thing! Time's a wastin'

What are you doing on here? Get in there and PAINT! :lol: you can do it man

Dude - I love the foreground flowers the blue and gold is amazing contrast.
Paint, mofo, paint - you can do it!

Aloha!
TeakeyThat would work, except I work for myself. So lying to my boss (me) is really difficult. He's such a bastard! I'm one of the owners of Tiki Shark Hawaii. Check out the cool little web site I put together. MANY tikis on it. http://www.tikishark.com
TikikingThank you soooooo much. I'm trying to make each one better than the one before, thanks for noticing!
PaipoThe Cthulhu mug. Yes, I totally get what your saying. There are a lot of regular Tikis in the painting already. What I was considering was that this mug may be made into a REAL mug. And I was thinking if a Cthulhu mug would sell through Tiki Farm. But, you know, you're not supposed to "over think" art. So, er... now I don't know what to do. Maybe, yes, maybe the squidyfaced Kona-Loa Chtuhlu mug. (You could get a mug and a poster of this print together maybe.) Uh Oh I'm thinking too much again.
JentikiThanks! Now they are fantastic flowers rendered in fantastic plastic paint.
HeweyWhat? Oh, yeah! Back to the canvas!
JpmartdogGlad you dig the contrasting colors. I'm kinda happy with them. It sorta resembled some stuff I've seen Robert Williams ( the father of Low Brow Art) do. Except, of course, he's WAY better.

The whole Tiki # 12

The Tiki Lounge. Yes, I try to make art that is pretty. PRETTY WEIRD!

Hey! There is an "Ironman" race being held in Kona today. Thousands of tourists from all over the world are here. The "sleepy little fishing village" (as the Hawaii guide books call Kailua-Kona) has swelled with an additional 25 thousand people! It's crazy! It's sort of like "tour de' Kona" or the Konolympics or something! The race started at 6 this morning and ends at 12 midnight. Some friends of mine have vollenteered to be "catchers" at the finish line for the 6PM to midnight slot. They said it's intense. Some people can't stop running, others collaspe. Many, suddenly loose control of all body functions, (Puking and er.. other stuff!!!!! Kinda like a south park episode!) We may amble down at about 10PM or so and watch the finish.

Hey, if you go to http://www.ironman.com and scroll down to the live feed, you can see the announcers at the Kona pier. In the BG is the heiau that is sitting behind the Kamehameha Hotel. It's a great reconstruction with lots of swanky tikis, and one of the greatest "tiki tourist" sites in Kona. "Check it out Brah!"

After, a good day ofpainting of course!

Mahalo and Aloha!

Tiki Shark

http://www.myspace.com/Lotus_Land

[ Edited by: Tiki Shark Art 2007-10-13 15:58 ]

:o Whoa! Haven't check the thread out in a few days and WOW! That foreground is absolutely stunning!
Oh man! Time is cuttin' close! hurry hurry!

This piece is gonna be UN-F*$#IN'-BELIEVABLE! :D

CAN'T WAIT!!! :D

Aloha!
Ravenne~Thanks!

The wide view...

Here's the mug roughed in.

Malhalo~