Work in progress

Work in progress for the upcoming Popzilla show. 

Back to the Future Day!

I'm getting this post done just in the nick of time.  This is the "hoverboard" I did for the Cinertain drive in special event tonight in Bakersfield.  They gave out used skate decks to several artists to repurpose and then be sold off at auction, with half the profits going to charity.  The whole event they put on sounded pretty fantastic and I wish I could have made it out.  You can read more about it and see images of the other hoverboards on their Facebook page https://m.facebook.com/cinertain

There's a book of illustrations/art being put together for Larry Johnson, who is retiring this year.  He's one of the nicest guys you could meet, and was the Chair of the Visual Arts Department at CSUF back when I was there.  This is the sketch I'm submitting for the book.  When I think of art school those wood benches immediately come to mind.  Congratulations on your retirement Larry!

Turtle Illos

Some turtles from today.  They won't end up being used for my current project, but I'm going to file them away for later.

Animal Sketches

Some more art from a project that ended up going in a different direction...

Old sketch from sometime last year

I can't remember what this was actually for, only that the project ended up going in a different direction.

Art dropped off

Just dropped off my pieces for the Burton show at Rothick Art Hause on Nov 1.

Prepping for the Burton show

Adding some hand drawn accents to the matte for one of my pieces in the upcoming Popzilla Burton show.

Doodling a sea serpent

Waiting for Cristina inside Caesar's palace by the fountain, doodling a sea serpent and completely confusing onlookers who walk up and glance at my book expecting to see a drawing of the fountain.

We Want the Leia!

This is a piece I did for the MegaMouse show that the Popzilla gallery put on last year.  The theme of the show was combining anything Disney with anything Disney had acquired.  A lot of fun to work on.  I wanted to pay tribute to Marc Davis, one of my favorite Imagineers.

If anyone is interested in a print, you can get one here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BrandonStarrsArt

20,000 Leagues

I originally drew this as a large size pencil sketch for a show at the Phonebooth Gallery in Long Beach a couple years back.  It didn't end up selling and I was never quite satisfied with it.  so I decided to add some color to it.

Another bit of unused art

Some unused art from work

Occasionally there are projects that fall to the wayside for various reasons unrelated to the art.  This is from one of my favorite projects that disappeared.

Well Hi There: Animated Short Teaser Trailer

Just uploaded a teaser trailer for a little short I'm working on in my spare time:

Best job ever

Three Pieces

These are the pieces I had displayed recently at the Phone Booth gallery.  I thought I would post these for anyone who wasn't able to make the show.  They are pencil with ink washes, each measuring 11" x 21".

Elephant!

Best part of my job today :)

Work Sketch

Something for work.

Sketching

Made some nice progress on this one tonight.

Guitar mermaid decal walk through using Lazertran.

My friends Jonny and Lacey Rojas, made an artistic request from me not long ago.  Rather than a traditional wedding guest book at their reception they wanted to have all their guests sign a guitar to later be displayed in their home.  Jonny is a musician hence the guitar, and Lacey loves the ocean and has a fondness for mermaids so... they wanted me to paint or draw a mermaid on their guitar.  I took on the challenge, and rather than reinventing the wheel on this, I did my research to see what the traditional methods are to adding art to guitars, and ended up creating a water-slide decal that I applied to the body.  Here are the steps:

First I sketched the mermaid and made sure my friends were happy with it.  I went for an art nuveau look inspired by Mucha.  The tail ended up on a separate sheet.  I tend to almost always draw larger than my sketchbook.

After having scanned the image, I aligned the pieces in photoshop to make sure the tail attached at the correct angle that I wanted it to appear on the guitar.

(Photo by Cristina Starr)

Then, I painted the colors in using photoshop.

I then printed the mermaid at several different sizes on plain paper, making sure I had the correct size for the guitar before printing on my transfer paper ( I used lazertran inkjet decal paper).  Once I was sure the size was right, I printed on my Lazertran transfer paper, and cut the mermaid to fit the space on the guitar.

I then proceeded outside with the guitar, my printouts, and the following items: a bowl of warm water, some paper towels, some rubbing alcohol, and a polyurethane spray varnish.

Then, I wiped down the surface of the guitar with the rubbing alcohol, prepping it and making sure it was clean. (I had sanded out some scratches and divots in the surface of the guitar prior to this)

 I then submerged the lazertran pieces in warm water, for about 15 seconds, until the backing began to separate from the decal.

Then using my fingers I slid the backing away from the transfer and applied the transfer onto the guitar.  Lazertran is sturdy, and I was able to slide it around on the surface of the guitar until I had it in the proper position.  I was also able to push any air bubbles out to the edges by gently pushing them with my fingers.

This done, I waited for the transfer to dry.  It dries opaque, so you can see the progress.

Once completely dry, I taped off the areas of the guitar I did not want to spray the polyurethane on.  I even shoved a paper towel inside the body to guard from over spray.

After this I sprayed several coats of the polyurethane over the decal and face of the guitar body.  After the first coat, the decal again became transparent.  I sprayed additional coats to ensure the decal lasted and also to help blend the elevated paper in with the rest of the guitar body.  I don't have any pictures of this process because I didn't want to get polyurethane on my phone.  You can use either a paint on or spray on polyurethane.  I chose the spray type, so I wouldn't have to worry about brush strokes.  Make sure you follow all directions of whichever polyurethane you use, and always apply in a well ventilated (in my case outdoors) area.

And with tape removed, you can see the fuzzy areas where the varnish is still drying :

The polyurethane dried quickly but took overnight to stop smelling.  I left the guitar in the garage to protect it from the elements overnight, and protect me from the fumes.

The finished guitar, nice and dry and shiny:

And the happy couple with the guitar...

I'll try to get them to send me an updated photo of the guitar with all their guests signatures on it as well.