Alphanamel Color Swatches for Adobe Photoshop

 I have not done any pinstripping lately. But I still follow a few Instagram channels...you Japanese and Finnish dudes will know. There is a active crew in Thailand as well. Mr. Pinman created a design in Photoshop and I pointed him to my Photoshop swatches I posted in 2016. 

Because times are changing and colors are too, I created color swatches for the Alphanamel Lettering Enamels. The colors are straight from the color chart provided on the internet. As the compression rate is too big, I used a pretty big sample size. I never used the paints myself...need to find some time to use up all the one shots I have lying around :)

Alphanamel Color Swatches for Photoshop

use them, abuse them. create some nice designs and share them online

Hello World, again.

This blog has not seen any activity for more than 2 years...frightening.

Life just took over and I needed to work on things that are more important than to throw out some nice pictures and sharing my thoughts. I was forced to get my priorities straight and clean up my ‘artist life’ a little bit. I am still not done.

About 4 years ago, I felt, that I would need to change something in life and announced that I would reduce my Custom Painting Art activities for some years. People laughed at me – they were already a step further, locked into their particular life and had everything sorted out. Well, they did not know about all the projects and 'lifes' I had going at the time.

4 years is a long time, but meanwhile new challenges & opportunities came along, like my Tattoo Mentor Michael ‘Michel’ Huth, Marco Planting inviting me as a guest artist to his Kustom Kulture Show in Helsinki, meeting and befriending Fernando Oddone & the Japanese Pinstriping posse lead by ‘The Nash’, getting 24/7 access to a paint booth finally after 20 years doing this stuff, getting a degree at the local university (huh….) and picking up a new and challenging job in a totally different direction. Not to forget family. All these distractions added to the already 'weird' situation. Focus and clarity was needed.

As art/custom painting is my hobby, not my day job, this was the part in life I identified to clean up in order to have extra time for a better work-life balance. Much to the disappointment of a lot of people in the scene, who I call friends or very good buddies but did not have enough time to spend with the last few years: Udo, Moelle, Vosen, Maze, Andre, HP, Fernando, Andrew from Kiev, Horst, …

My focus has just shifted and I removed a few things that do not fit in my current life phase.
Mainly, I tried to remove activities that asked me to be away from my family, just because I have a demanding day job with little to no time during the week for my family. But, the upside is that I got to work on delivering all the projects I promised, but which got piled up and never got finished (read: no more new projects will be accepted). Whatever I promised will get done. It just takes time and some focus. Obviously, all this would not be possible without the support of my wonderful and understanding wife, who supports me in this adventure.

You might have noticed that I have been sharing glimpses of what I am doing on Instagram – I will continue that, but I plan to move my activities back to my blog, just to share my art, thoughts, learnings and ideas. And more important control the rights to my pictures. And there will be a few things to show. Stay tuned.

Keep on keeping on.
Michael

1Shot - Color Swatches for Adobe Photoshop and Manga Studio

Maroon, Tan and Sublime Green on black Sportster (Quick Photoshop sketch)

A while ago I created 1Shot Color Swatches for Photoshop with the intention to it with the community and facilitate digital pinstriping/sketching on the computer....well as always, things take a little longer with Michael. I also learned that there is already a collection of Color swatches which is using more 'streamlined' CMYK values. Mine look great on screen, and this is what I care about.
For my japanese friends, I also converted & tested the swatches in Manga Studio/Clip Studio/Studio SAI. btw, this is the better program to create digital pinstripes, due to the adjustable lag for your brushes...maximum control.

Drop me an email if you find it useful or need some adjustments.

1Shot - Adobe Photoshop Color Swatches

1Shot - Manga Studio/Clip Paint Color Swatches

Kustom Kulture Show 2016 Helsinki - It's a wrap Part 2

Saturday was busy and the show turned into a party at the end of the day.

The two Japanese Pinstripers attending the show, Boo and Jetwrench, only had one job each and were waiting for customers the rest of the day. A shame considering, they are among the elite pinstripers from Japan. I bought shirts and signed posters from them.

The Nash explained his way to nurture the Japanese pinstripers with influences from the world trips he is taking them to. Very inspiring person and a great ambassador for the Kustom Kulture movement.
Keith Weesner’s and Max Grundy’s were more busy, selling shirts and posters, which was good to see. It is horrible seeing artist not being successful and not sell enough at a show.
My auction object, ‘The Finker’ only brought in 110 Euros. It took me a few hours to produce it to the high level of quality it finally was. Marco & Pekka were a little disappointed, but Marco told me Rat Fink is not of a lot of interest in Finland.....lesson learned.

My short conversation with Pekka Wizz confirmed my already positive attitude towards the Finnish pinstriper community and their 'sharing is caring' approach.

The following party was crazy and long. A lot of drinking, a lot of drunken people and a lot of fun.
The night was short and the Sunday hard. But with the few visitors not a big issue.
This is also when the big art swap among the attending artists started and people came around to exchange art. 

The Sunday was slow, but Udo, Jens and myself had a good night out on Sunday with Fernando and Chanil. We went to Bar Loose again (the pre-party happened there) where a Blues Jam Session took place. 3 songs per group of musicians, then the band was exchanged....the quality was extremely good (with 2 exceptions - 'Jimi Hendrix' was forced from the stage by the drummer and bass player) and they played until 24.00. We had lots beer. Not as much as the people around us, but enough to enjoy the evening. Genau.

The trip home was exhausting and not as much fun as the arrival. 

We missed out on the garage tour, organized for the international artists. The club car with which we were picked up, was already fully booked, so that we missed out and had a less thrilling ride to the airport. The flight, though was cool. The stewardesses had a lot of understanding for my two thirsty partners and provided them with a lot of free beer throughout the flight. I suspect they needed to clean the storage from over due beer...

I made a lot of new friends i would like to meet again in the future. The Finnish pinstriper community is superb and I would definitely like to keep contact.

Overall it was a great time, and attending in 2017 is being considered - need to check with my family before confirming...

Pictures copyright by Niklas Stenius. Used with permission.

Kustom Kulture Show 2016 Helsinki - It's a wrap Part 1

Kustom Kulture Helsinki is a wrap.
It was a high speed, nitro fuelled introduction to the finnish Kustom Kulture – a term which covers a wide range of handcrafted goods. For me and my wingmen Udo & Jens, it was an experience in Finnish culture, drinking habits and expensive food.

Our arrival was already an adventure. We were picked up by our driver Jussi, with the club ‘drinking car’. Together with Carsten Estermann and his buddy Oliver, we were taken on a sightseeing tour through Helsinki on the way to the show. The welcome was warm and my table was in a great location, right next to the big names of the show and some cool Finnish pinstripers.
Talking about the pinstripers and the community they have there, I have to admit, that I envy them. Their mastermind Pekka is sharing all the info to nurture the scene, create needs and wants from possible customers, which then creates more work for everyone. Very much contrary to Germany, where everyone seems to be busy and has little time and interest to share....could be a goal to change this over time in my country.
The first day closed with a long walk to the pre-party at ‘Bar Loose’ and then an even longer walk home.
The street leading up to the bar featured about a dozen of hairdresser saloons (4 of which were barber shops. I wonder how many beards are shaved there throughout a regular day in Helsinki....).

The first bunch of guys I met at the show were Eero, Risto, Timo, Lauri, Pasi, Thomas and Marko.
Let’s not forget Satu and her friend (sorry, do not remember your name.). They were around when we set up the table.
Unfortunately, I did not have the time to talk and meet with more artists, except Painter Jude, who came by to talk art business J Great chat and great work he is producing.  Skewed 70’s motorcycle paintings.  Everyone was super friendly, helpful, and shared info.

Pictures copyright by Niklas Stenius. Used with permission.

Attending 'The Kustom Kulture Show' in Helsinki February 2016

Marco Planting invited me last year around April during a causal conversation to be part of the Kustom Kulture Show he is organizing.
He always have some spare tables for foreign artists to hang out & paint. The event will take place in Helsinki 13.-14.February.
Now the heat is on an I need to produce some art work to bring with me for the show....Looking forward to meet all the great local artists and those from all over the world.
Foremost my buddy Fernando Oddone, who will run a workshop - if you have a chance to attend, do not miss it. It will be incredible.

Cu in Helsinki February 13th - 14th.

Check it out: http://www.kustomkultureshow.com/

Custom Cycle Crew - Shirt Design

Created this Design for my friends from Custom Cycle Crew (CCC) this year. It was meant as a shirt and sticker design. Looking forward to see the proof prints ;)

It's a wrap - CustomBike Show 2015 in Bad Salzuflen

The Custombike show 2015 in Bad Salzuflen was a great show. Both from the audience, as well as the exhibitors and all the cool people I met throughout the 3 days I was there. The concept of the show was changed compared to the recent years, with concentrating on bike builders and less on clothes...nice change and much appreciated.
A lot of good moments to remember - although the way there was a little bumpy with the project for USCB (see pictures below) not going as smooth as expected.
The bodypainting show was also pretty good. I had worked with Julia before and she was a fabolous model. open to ideas and good company on stage. Martin the moderator was very funny and made some great jokes along the way.

I can not list all the people I met during the 3 days, btu to name a few: Max Schneiderbanger, Chris Morell, Henny Kroeze, Frisco Vosen, Martin, Jean-Francois, Julia, Chiko & Nikolina, Simon, Bennie, Siegrun, Gaby, Michael Schöne and so many more. Thanks for your company.
Hope to see you soon, again.

AUSGEBUCHT: Signpainting & Lettering Workshop with Fernando Oddone; November 7th+8th 2015

AUSGEBUCHT! NO MORE SEATS AVAILABLE! AUSGEBUCHT!

I happy to announce a very exclusive Signpainting & Lettering Workshop with Fernando Oddone from Barcelona. The Workshop will take place on November 7th and 8th in Amorbach,Bavaria. Fernando studied Arts in Argentina and developed a lifelong fascination for the traditional Argentinean artistry. Signpainting and Lettering, especially of trucks had its climax in the 40s of the last century and Fernando not only wants to present the world the visual richness of this style, but also help keeping the traditions and craftsmanship alive in this age of digital tools. Fernando is constantly travelling Europe to paint Shop fronts for shop owners who value his craft and arts. Therefore I am extremely excited to be able organize his first and exclusive workshop in Germany.During the workshop, Fernando will explain in detail his approach to various designs, how to achieve the fantastic visual depth in his artwork. He will also cover lettering with a lot of hands on practice and will explain in great detail everything he knows about the topic. There will be a lot of possibilities to watch him work. 

IMPORTANT: The class will be exclusively in English.

Detailed Schedule will be communicated soon.

Please contact me directly if you need more information: paintedsteel@gmail.com or +49 17622667501

You can find more information about Fernando Oddone:

Fernando auf Facebook

Fernando auf Blogger

For all my German friends:

Fernando Oddone aus Barcelona wird am 7. und 8. November einen exklusiven Signpainting und Lettering Workshop in Amorbach, Odenwald halten. Fernando hat in Argentien Kunst studiert und sich schon früh mit dem traditionellen Kunsthandwerk in seinem Heimatland auseinander gesetzt. Dort hat das Schildermalen und Beschriften von LKWs und Firmenschildern in den 40iger Jahren seine Blüte erreicht. Fernando möchte mit seinen Arbeiten nicht nur die Vielfalt dieses Kunsthandwerks in die Welt hinaustragen, sondern auch die Traditionen bewahren und das traditionelle Handwerk weiterleben lassen. Fernando ist sehr beschäftigt, in ganz Europa Fensterfronten und Schilder zu gestalten. Deshalb bin ich sehr stolz Ihn für diesen ersten ersten Workshop überhaupt in Deutschland gewinnen zu können. 

Fernando wird seine Herangehensweise für die Designs vermitteln und wie man diese in seinem beeindruckenden 3D Effekt umsetzen kann. Natürlich werden auch Schriften geschrieben und er erklärt alle Details wie das am besten gemacht wird.

Es gibt auch ausreichend Gelegenheit, ihm direkt bei der Arbeit zuzusehen.

WICHTIG: Der Kurs ist exklusiv auf Englisch. 

Mindestteilnehmerzahl:5

Materialien werden gestellt.

Die Details wie genauer Ort und Ablauf werden im Moment noch erarbeitet. 

Wer Interesse hat, bitte direkt bei mir melden: paintedsteel@gmail.com oder 0176 22667502.

Mehr von Fernandos Arbeiten kann man her finden:

Fernando auf Facebook

Fernando auf Blogger

Illustration for Udo's Bamberg Run 2015

For the final Illustration, we decided on a sketch I did for the 2014 Bamberg Run already.
Just beefed it up a little in Manga Studio and added some lettering & a frame to hold it together when printed on a shirt. Next time, I will use colors. Promised.