Making Art with a Ukulele
Saturday, December 6th, 2008
A while back an illustrator friend of mine, Nathan Mazur asked me if I wanted to participate in an art show. I was like… sure. I like art and I love shows why not? Then he told me the concept and I got totally pumped.
THE ZOMBO GALLERY UKULELE SHOW!!! It’s an art show where all of the art is on the ukuleles. Each artist modifies a ukulele to their liking so long as the piece resembles a ukulele. The show starts soon so I started my piece this weekend.
First I got my ukulele from Toys R Us from all places. Then I sat down and prepared some sketches. As soon as he told me I already had a decent idea on what I wanted to do but I still wanted to explor some other options.
The Sketches
Robot
Singer
Typeographic Design
Weezer
Bat Boy
Although the Bat boy is hilarious and the weezer design is so cute I’m a sucker for robots.
Mask and Primer
Masked and Primed Ukulele
The next step is to mask off the ukulele and prime it for painting the design. This was tricky. Halfway through I decided it would have been easier if I would have created a stencil, but ohh well. Live and learn right? Since it’s freakn’ cold outside I had to do this in my studio. Which also meant I had to air it out. Talk about fumes and then frigid temperatures afterwords.
Nonetheless it’s primed and ready to go. Unfortunately it’s not ready to be painted just yet. I’m going to let it set over night and them paint it tomorrow. I’m sooooo excited. I’ll make sure to post an update.
**UPDATE**
Adding the Paint
Painted with Line Work
I was a little discouraged at first when I started painting this morning. It felt a little sloppy. Truth be told I’ve always struggled with acrylics, I’m much better with gauche. So I pressed on and trusted that it would turn out. I’m glad that i did because I hit my stride and finished most of the base colors. The turning point of the project was when I added the line work. It really cleaned up the sloppy feel that was bothering me all morning. I still have more to go, but it’s definitely coming along.
** UPDATE **
It’s getting closer. I’m getting excited. I’ve just applied some gloss finish before I took this picture and I’m going to let it dry overnight before I put the strings on it.
Almost Finished
