Editor's Note: We've been extremely proud to work with Chris Kallas over the last ten years. He's created concept drawings, fiction illustrations, logos, and most of the glistening 5-Ball Racing art. He's a biker and a master artist. We feel extremely fortunate to have Chris on our team. Here's a behind the scenes look of how he create a painting of the original 5-Ball Racing Logo.
I've always been interested in how other artists work or achieve certain effects and have read a few step-by-step articles by artists documenting their processes. With that in mind, I thought it might be interesting to document, and share, how I went about painting this project.
The project started on fairly short notice. Bandit asked me if I was interested in displaying some art at Michael Lichter's Stay Gold tribute to Johnny Chop in Sturgis last year. I had a couple of finished paintings on hand, but Keith hoped I'd do something new that would complement the Salt Shaker which was included in the show. Since time was short and I needed to frame the other two paintings, doing a painting of the Salt Shaker would be pushing it. I needed to grab something a bit simpler and decided to paint a version of the 5-Ball Racing logo. I wanted to paint a color version of that logo since designing it, and it would also show a slightly different side of my work. Photo: 1-5Ball-t-shirt art The painting was based on this t-shirt/decal design.
A few things to keep in mind before we start: I don't necessarily work exactly the same way on every project. It's hard to stop and shoot each and every step. Some of the colors may not look exactly the same since the photos were shot over a period of time and the lighting conditions or camera settings varied.
Here are the paints I used. They are water based acrylic paints that were developed for cell animation. The pros: They are more opaque (similar to Gouache), than traditional artist acrylics, yet permanent, bright, won't fade, and come in convenient squeeze bottles. The cons: They dry so fast they need to be constantly rewetted on the palette, can be difficult to airbrush, and don't flow as well as oil based paints or lettering enamels.
For several years, I've been gluing drawings (or copies of them), on illustration board and fiberboard panels. That way, I don't have to spend the time carbon transferring or redrawing the art on the final surface. I found a cool frame in my stash, so the painting's size was determined by the frame. After printing out the art from my computer, I made a bunch of different sized Xerox copies to see which would best fit the frame. When making copies, I make sure there's plenty of extra paper around the design to trim later. Crop marks are included on the image as a rough sizing guide and to keep the design straight for final trimming.
Working fast and starting at the top, I began by brushing the top 1/3 section of the board with a generous amount of acrylic medium. Because it dries and soaks up fast. I only lay down the top 1/3 of the drawing, while holding the rest of it up, and roll down that portion before painting more medium. I quickly brush down more medium, roll the next portion down, and repeat until it's all down. Then, I quickly rolled out the whole surface with increased pressure making sure to press out the excess medium and any air pockets. If there are any stubborn air pockets or wrinkles, I cut a slit in them and rolled or brushed them down with more medium.
After it was dry, I cut the board to the desired size by repeatedly scoring a line with an x-acto knife until it cuts completely through the board. The rough edges are then cleaned up with sandpaper. You can see that the crop marks on the right actually ended up being inside the trim size. Next I painted the entire surface with more acrylic medium, which gave the surface a brush stroke texture (tooth).
I then paint over the whole image with Gesso, just thick enough to give it a good working surface but letting the image show through. The gesso acts as a primer which helps the top coats of paint adhere to the acrylic medium. It also creates a bright undersurface that brightens the lighter colors like yellow.
I started putting down paint without too much care about any one thing. The idea is to just start covering as much of the white surface as possible so that you can build upon that and make choices in regards to color and shade. I started with the yellow areas first, since yellow is light and tends to be a bit transparent. I could be easily paint over it, with orange and out-lined later with black. Notice, how you can still see the words Bikernet.com through the yellow paint. I also started some basic mottling and shading of the skull and bones. The black outlines were painted in places so I don't loose the image as I paint. I don't worry too much about how crisp or perfect the lines were, as I could work within those areas and always go back and touch up the outlines later.
Since it got kind of boring, I tend to hop around a bit. The background color was built up by painting over it again. More skull and bone mottling was added, and I have blocked in the colors of the torch. I also experimented more on how the lighter areas of the blue outline glow will look.
At this point, the woman, checkered flags, and the grinder are about 90% done. Later I'll come back and retouch most everything – things like enhance the shading, add highlights, tighten up outlines, etc. Also, at about this stage, I found my deadline was moved up several days earlier than originally planned. Keith now told me, he had to drive everything up to Northern California the following day so, it could make it on a truck that was headed for Sturgis.
The lettering is now complete and the torch has been highlighted and finished. The skull, bones, and the blue and black outlines still need some work.
Most everything was re-outlined or touched up. The skull and bones are more refined, the helmet seam received a highlight, and the number 5, and a highlight were added to the ball as well. Bandit reminded me, I had until midnight since he was leaving early the next morning. So, like it or not, I stopped and considered it done. I stuck it in the frame, boxed it up, and delivered it to the Bikernet Headquarters in the Port of Los Angeles ghetto about 10:45 p.m. I carried weapons, and he allowed me into the secret high-security gate at the back of the building.
After the art returned from Sturgis safely, I thought it looked a bit flat in places. To improve it, shading was added under the woman and around the edges of the helmet. A large primary highlight (by the “B” in Bikernet), and several smaller secondary highlights were added as well. To give it more form, the helmet's seam is now shaded and more highlights were added. Note, the pinstripes on the helmet's scallops are still in progress and not complete on its right side. Shading and more highlights were added to the 5-ball. The woman has been retouched, and some re-working of the blue glowing out lines is in process as well.
Finally, to protect the art, the entire image was clear coated with Krylon Satin Acrylic spray. It uniforms the sheen of surface and enhances the contrast. It's a little scary, since it does affect the warmth and contrast of the colors. If you don't like the way something now looks, it makes any further retouching very difficult, as you now would have to guess how the colors will look when it's re-cleared. Compare this image with the one in step 13.
