Brass Balls FXR Concept Art

I recently did this Concept Art for Dar Holdsworth of Darwin Motorcycles (Brass Balls Bobbers), of a new model for 2010. The build of the first prototype will be documented in Cycle Source magazine and also on Bikernet.com.

For more info on this and his other bikes click on the following link:
http://www.brassballsbobbers.com/bikes

1915 5 Ball FR Update

Yesterday I took some art over to Keith Ball's and checked on the progress of his 1915 5 Ball Factory Racer.

My original concept drawing as based on our conversations. Keith has made some changes from his initial ideas as he goes. The bars were originally going to be mounted upside down. The square oil tank and front fender probably won't be run.


The pipes position has changed too. Keith plans to ride this contraption to Sturgis with a group of antique bike riders. Is that cheating?

The frame and tank came from the US Choppers prototype and I had reservations about it's height and length. Keith's use of 23" wheels helps balance out the scale. The overall size shouldn't bother Keith. Standings at 6' 5", he needs a big bike to feel comfortable.

Raising the pipes meant putting the tool box on the left side. I'd like the bike to stay black( it probably won't). I'd also paint the primary black.

Keith's usage of vintage items such as the foot controls, boards, and tool box add to the old time flavor. I like what he's doing better than the antique/board track style bikes that some of the pro builders have built. They seem to loose sight of the old look and use too much billet on their bikes. Some of Keith's other vintage style touches include the mounting of the speedo and the electric box on the top of the tanks.


A narrow Paughco springer adds to the 1915 look. That's an auxiliary fuel tank up on the bars.


Keith's added a antique oiling device mounted to the top of the chain guard. In theory, it would drip oil on the chain.

Keith's thinking of changing his original color choice. He was going to paint the frame and tanks orange with black panels. Now he's thinking about using a dirty white instead of orange. If it was mine, I'd keep it all black with orange stripes/accents. I might even consider giving the whole bike an old worn patina treatment.

You can follow Keith's latest progress on Bikernet.com
To find the earlier articles you'll have to hunt in his Tech and Bike Builds dept.

Shooting The Big Stiffy for Barnett's

As an illustrator I've been published in several magazines but, up till now, never as a photog.


No, not the HUGE cover bike but, it's in this (April-May-June), current issue


This one. Those who have been following this blog or have gone back to it's beginning, should recognize this bike.


Jerry Blanks and his creation, The Big Stiffy. No jokes please! I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot...

I originally drew the concept art of it. Then, 18 months later, when the bike was completed, I photographed and wrote it's feature for Bikernet.com. Here's the link for the original feature I did (before the bike had the fork and other minor changes made),: The Big Stiffy on Bikernet.com.

Late last year, Jerry called me to say that now Barnett's wanted to feature his bike and since it had been modified, he asked me to shoot it once again.


I'm in the story, they published my concept art, and got a credit of thanks on the tech sheet, but no photo credit.

We finally were able to meet for the photo shoot last December 12th. No special equipment was used, as a matter of fact, I shot it with my trusty old Sony DSC-S85 digital camera.

If you want your bike shot and your in the Los Angeles or South Bay area, give me a holler.


Here's a better view of the art again.

Some random general thoughts about magazines. For the last several years I seldom find a good reason to buy a magazine. I think it sucks to buy one just for maybe one lousy feature bike, article of interest, or photo you happen to like. Plus, many are just full of meaningless ads (at least to me), of the latest do-dads. For the most part, I generally don't like the bikes featured or relate to todays image of the H-D rider. In fact, I find I'm spending much less time just browsing the newsstand these days. I find the best photos of bikes I like (vintage of all types), through the blogs and can keep up to date with the industry on Bikernet.com.

What's up with the one called Baggers and Bobbers? I glanced through one and it just didn't seem right to feature the latest in Baggers and old style Bobbers.

That said, They ain't all bad and I do still enjoy printed media. Dice on one end of the spectrum, is a refreshing alternative (more or less the kind of bikes I like), and on the other end, (if you mostly desire pictures of the current mix of trendy bikes), Barnett's is a good choice. While most of the bikes featured don't fit my groove, I have to give Barnett's credit. The current issue has 17 feature bikes.

AEE Trick Trike Art

Here's the tale of my first publish artworks.


Three's a crowd? Both of these trikes were three seaters. Trikes were popular at the time. The Big Twin and Three Wheeler were successful show bikes. I was a big fan of both and a few other bikes AEE had built.

Tom Mc Mullen of AEE and Street Chopper Magazine had built some cool show winning trikes like the Corvair powered Three Wheeler and the Big Twin so, I guess they thought to take another wack at it with the Trick Trike.

In the early seventies I bought every Street Chopper I could get my mitts on but, over the years I lost or tossed some. From the ones I still have, it appears that they first announced the Trick Trike project in the December 1971 (now lost), issue along with a contest for readers to sketch how it should look. The contest winner would get a free 1 year subscription.

Since magazines come out a month ahead, it leads me to believe I drew up my first concept around the time of my 16th birthday in late November or early December 71.

Here's the preliminary sketch for the art I submitted. Like many roughs, I like it better than the finished art.

The Feb.72 issue had an article on the trike build (no readers sketches), and the basic shape of the trike was now clearly shown as wedge shaped.

In those days magazines production could sometimes run as much as 5-6 months behind publication and I checked the newsstand every month to see if my drawing made it in.

I was pretty jazzed when my first drawing finally showed up in the June 72 issue.


Here's how the art was presented in the June 72 issue. The other two somewhat more professional looking pieces were submitted by a reader named Bob Wise.


How about those tires... What was I thinking?

By the time my first concept was published it was no secret that the trike was wedge shaped, they were showing details of components, and they were still asking for submissions so, I figured why not give it another shot.

Sketches for the second submission. The one in the lower right is the one I chose to develop and send. Notice the crossed out drawing at the top. It puzzles me cause it looks just like the finished trike.

Again, I wondered for several months what the outcome would be. Then, without any notice, I found I had won the contest after seeing the Feb.73 issue.

Feb. 73 cover. Square and long was in. At least that's what they were pushing.


The magazine layout featuring my art. I won but, was disappointed how the real trike turned out.


This was news to me!


If you ask me, my design had more style. The wild paint with stars and planets are a prelude to my later interest in space and astronomy.


Motorized doorstop? The trike was an interesting build but a visual flop. The only view that sort of works is from the rear.

No one ever contacted me but, the magazines started showing up every month and continued well after the first year ended. I guess my name ended up on some kind of comp list as they kept on coming until Feb. 1980! By that time the magazine had long become pretty sucky anyway. For the most part I only kept the cooler 1970-72 issues.


Different angle but, the same design as the one I sent.


Mystery sketch. I can't remember if this was done before or after the magazine came out? I'm sure it was after and I was trying to see if it would look better with flames?

I may have scored but, on AEE's third strike at building a trike, I think they struck out.

1915 FBFR Concept Art

My concept art for Keith Ball of Bikernet.com

Keith Ball is building a bike based on Rick Krost (US Choppers), latest board track frame which are now being produced by Paughco. The build will be documented on his site starting next week. His plan is to ride it to Sturgis next year.

The first chapter is now up. Here's a link:

Bikernet.com 1915 FBFR kickoff article


Rick Krost's Prototype

Chopper Concept Art

For more information on the following post, click on the title above.

From time to time, I get commissioned, to do concept work to help builders envision their projects.

Here's a couple of samples.

The first piece is an unpublished sketch I did for a Street Chopper Magazine build off series. They used a drawing (similar to the one above), I sent and then later in the series, for some unknown reason, used a weaker image drawn by somebody else. I don't know if they ever published the built bike.

Below is two color versions I did for a customer


The finished bike