Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The Sinner



It was great to be an extra, playing a body guard in the new movie "The Sinner". My good friend, Jesse Dayton, asked me to be in it and I felt honored to be there. Check out the link for more details. Endsville......... Von Franco


http://www.ruffhousin.com/


















Friday, May 21, 2010

3rd Dimension Of The First Kind





One of my first experiences with 3D was a movie called "13 Ghosts." The 3D effects weren't that great back then but they were enough to make an impact and get me hooked for the rest of my life. So through the years I sought out every kind of 3D stuff I could find. From movies to paper goods and glasses as you will see. When I was living in L.A. a couple of my artist friends turned me on to this kool cat by the name of Ray Zone, probably one of the best 3D artists I've ever seen. If you get a chance check his stuff out. So sit back put your 3D glasses on and enjoy.......

(Playboy magazine did a poor attempt at doing a 3D issue this month. Basically, it sucks and don't waste your money.)































(Yes they even did 3D nudes back in the day)








(Here is a small sample of my collection of 3D stuff)




Wednesday, May 12, 2010

When I was young



Although having many cars when I was young this was my first real hot rod. A 1932 Ford Pick-up truck. It had an early Old's motor, four carbs, a 39 top loader with Lincoln Zepher gears, and it hauled ass!!





A friend of mine in the 70's wanted my truck for a movie for a background car. At the time I was working and couldn't take any time off. Little did I know the movie was "American Graffiti". So after seeing the movie I took the fenders off and this kind of came my "Graffiti Coupe".

Check me out... standing next to my truck. I even had tattoo's back then.

Endsville..........

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Hot roddin' thru the hump day! Check it out.....
(Click an image to read the article)

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

How kool started for me....

Here's what kind of started it all for me. Seeing pictures of Ed Roth and all of his monsters in magazines was all I needed. From the first look I knew it was what I wanted to do. And guess what? I'm still doing it now. So here are some pictures for you to check out from my early days painting with Roth.
(Me painting with Ed "Big Daddy" Roth in the 80's)
(Robert Williams dropped in on us one day at a car show)
(Me wearing a fancy shirt that Ed gave to me. It was the 80's you know...)

Monday, May 3, 2010

Here it goes... the first blog

So this is me.....

Basically, I got started with the influence of Von Dutch and Big Daddy Roth, but took it to a whole other level.
Over the years I’ve come a long way from the 60’s when I painted with spray paint cans and felt tip markers, and painting murals on vans and airbrushing T-shirts at fairs and car events. Now most of my work is done digitally using my Wacom board attached to my new Mac. When I miss the crazy fumes I’m still known to fling some paint on a car, t-shirt, or canvas.

Music is a huge influence on my daily life as well as my artwork. When I’m not playing music in a band or in my studio, you can bet your ass there are tunes coming from my computer or stereo. Jazz, punk, old R&B and of course surf mostly from the 60’s are normally on a loop in my studio.

In the late 60’s motorcycles and outlaw motorcycle clubs were a huge influence in my life. The roar of the motors the flash of the chrome and the obnoxious attitude as well as the freedom of the road lured me in and changed and me forever. After that, while living in Hawaii in the early 70’s, I studied the art of Tiki’s and the surf movement, which is still obvious in my Tiki paintings and products. But I didn’t stop there! Monsters, chicks, aliens, hot rods and pretty much everything I can think of show up on my canvas or computer screen now. Basically you never know what I’m going to come up with….

Can you dig it? If so keep checkin back on this blog and see what I’m up to and enlighten you to what I’m really all about.