Fireball Tim's Blog, page 52

BONUS SKETCHES! Concept, Vettes on the Moon and ART TALK!

Whenever I get a a chance to develop ideas, I draw. It was something my mentor SYD MEAD told me many years ago. Drawing (or anything creative) puts you in the PRESENT MOMENT. And this is the ONLY place where ideas are created and solved. But not just creative actions… as SPORTS can do this too… if “your head is in the game,” as they say.

FIRST SKETCH up is a concept unibox with tweeked proportions. Toy-like, but it adds personality without making it look TOO MUCH like a toy. This could be a background car in a film, slightly intimating if brutalized a bit. Might have to explore this more…

SECOND is a sketch from my original VETTE Coloring Book on B&N here. Had some fun with controversial conspiracy theories. Is there a VETTE on the Moon? Ask MUSK. He’ll know. And spot any Easter Eggs?

Did you miss today’s Podcast ART TALK LIVE?? I go into solving the answer as to why SUCCESS creates MORE SUCCESS. Catch it here!

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Fireball SKETCHES awesome iconic SUPERBIRD Car Art…

BIG CARS. BIG CANVAS. Always loved the Road Runner, being inspired by a Cartoon. But this SUPERBIRD Car Art was even bigger and became a RACING LEGEND. This car was so big that it could be in two States at once! I remember as a kid, walking the full length of this car (and many others), counting my steps to see what was the biggest. Turns out that my Batmobile was, but as far as Muscle Cars, the SUPERBIRD was a beast.

Today, we celebrate BIG and MUSCLE with this iconic car in LIMELIGHT GREEN. A good Spectraflame potential, but not chrome. Just SUPER GREEN. What other Colors did this MegaCar come in?? Head on into the Garage for its MUG, SHIRTS and new LARGER Canvas Print! Get yer GREEN on, baby!!

DID YOU KNOW?? The Superbird was produced in limited numbers to meet the homologation requirements for NASCAR racing. Only around 1,935 units were built, so the existing units are relatively rare and expensive. Original cost was about $4900… but now they’ll hit north of $1.5MILLION! Fine… I’ll take two, please.

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BONUS SKETCHES!! Road Rage’r MINI and a Donatello Benz…

The first BONUS SKETCH was done for a client called the ROAD RAGE’R MINI. Strictly a Twin-Charged Track Car, but with a Root Beer holder! So fun… This was tradition mixed media with CG enhancements. My technique has evolved over the years as new tech has emerged, but it’s fun to see ‘ol skool SKETCHES as most people don’t traditionally draw like this nowadays.

My company FIREBALLED built about 60 MINIS over a 5-6 year period from my shop in Torrance starting around 2007. Lil’ Pocket Rockets and the RAGE’R was a really pissed off Bumblebee.

SKETCH TWO was done for the Official ROB PAULSEN Coloring Book. Rob had a Mercedes that he nicknamed DONATELLO (as he voiced the TMNT Character for the Cartoons.) Haven’t colored this one yet, but the book is fulla them! Check it out at B&N.

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Fireball breaks free FOUR new FORD CANVAS CAR ART SKETCHES

I’m very grateful to be able to do a lot of commissions for people and their CARS. And we LOVE our cars. So today… I wanted to bust out some FORDS that have come through the Fireball Circuit and visualize doing more. Every time I go to an All-Ford Show, I see a tremendous amount of passion. So here’s 4 all-new CAR ART PRINTS!

Although Ford Guys and Gals love to razz CHEVY & MOPAR, the truth is that we (as CAR PEOPLE), respect all who love cars and it’s the one place where no one cares what you look like, what your religious beliefs are or what you had for Breakfast. The GREAT RULE is to treat people how you want to be treated. GIVE KINDNESS… GET KINDNESS. And show us pictures of your GrandKids!

I firmly believe that if you got the Taliban to go to a CAR SHOW, they’d stop thinking about killing people and start smiling more and making better lives. The GAME IS WON when we all CHOOSE JOY over trying to always be RIGHT. And that’s what CAR PEOPLE do. Making conscious choices about how you can have a better life… BRINGS A BETTER LIFE. Respect to FORD… and ALL CAR peeps.

**Want Fireball to do YOUR RIDE? Reach out and HERE’S HOW…

DID YOU KNOW?? The only car that Jim Morrison, (Legendary Doors Singer) ever owned was a 1967 FORD MUSTANG Shelby GT 500!

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BONUS SKETCH!! A MERCEDES Story you won’t forget…

You a lover of MERCEDES-BENZ? Well, my Dad was… And in 1972, he bought a brand new 350SL in white. We lived in Palos Verdes and no one had ever seen a car like this before. We had 5 kids, so it made no sense… but he wanted to treat himself for all his hard work as a TV Writer. Plus, we had a Station Wagon, so there.

We did a ton of things in that car including… Pop taking us to camp at Jameson Ranch in Bakersfield with the top down and no seat belts in the back. In fact, there wasn’t even a seat, but a hard boot box. When we’d come up to a light and a cute girl would cross, my brother and I would whistle at her, then DUCK. My Dad would be the only one in the car as she flipped him off. And he’d be PISSED.

We took it on coastline drives and when we moved to Ojai in ’76, we had to go back to PV to get some final things, but ran out of gas in Malibu at Bluffs Park. There was no park there at the time and we had no idea how far the gas station was. So we ran to the edge of the bluff where Marylin Monroe took her famous photo and we spotted a Gas Station. Pushed the car back on PCH and rolled all the way to the station. Done.

He kept that car for 10 years… It cost him $1oK… he blew the motor in ’86… and sold it for $10K. I guess it was a free rental. But I loved that car and all we did in it, even if we got in trouble for it. And my brother Sean got in BIG trouble. HA!

Today’s BONUS SKETCH is the 1958 MERCEDES 300SL Convertible against the Matterhorn. Now CAR ART as a Canvas Print. If you guys like these Line Drawings as Canvas Car Art, lmk and I’ll make more available. I have tons (close to 10,000 pieces) so there’s plenty or… lmk what you’d like personally and I can do a Commission.

Peace out…

 

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Fireball SKETCHES a Summer Car worth Remembering…

The Summer of 1978 was a summer worth remembering, (but any Summer as a kid was spectacular!) and that was a CORVETTE SUMMER.

The film starred Mark Hamill and Annie Potts, and had a CUSTOM VETTE that was off the chart! By today’s standards, it’s pretty tame, but the Summer of ’78… eyeballs were popping and ear drums bouncing.

I was 13 and still too young to drive, but I knew that this was what I wanted. A COOL CAR, GROOVY CHICK and an OPEN ROAD with the Sun on my face. Life wouldn’t be better. Of course in the film, the car was stolen so that would suck bigtime, but it made for an exciting 2 hours. And although I wasn’t a builder, I knew I loved designing cars in the back of class and that someday I’d be that for sure. And I did…

“Ken loves to design and build exotic cars. When the High School shop class project car, a fully tricked out dream Corvette is stolen, he begins searching for it. His search leads him to Las Vegas, where Vanessa, a teenage prostitute wannabe, helps him try to track it down.”

It was a unique idea that no one had ever seen before… with the star of the BIGGEST MOVIE IN HISTORY, Star Wars. The Vette was a ’73 and only two were built for MGM by Korky’s Kustom Studios in New Jersey. Korky was known for a lot of Movie Car builds and he was the right guy. I spent my childhood running around the Barris Shop and I knew what Korky went through to bust this Vette. It was awesome.

*Today, we celebrate our LOVE OF VETTES with Fireball’s CORVETTE SUMMER SKETCH! Check out the all-new swag in the Garage with SHIRTS, MUGS and CANVAS ART!!

DID YOU KNOW?? The Corvette was Stingray was converted to right hand drive so that Mark Hamill could hang out of the curbside window… checkin’ out the ladies.

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TWIN MUSCLE CARS screech into the Fireball Garage…

Our goal here at Fireball is to do just ONE THING… Make YOUR GARAGE (whether REAL or DIECAST) the Coolest place to be in your Neib. And Fireball is doing that by adding his best dang AUTOMOTIVE ART possible. Unique PRINTS, MUGS and MORE at the highest quality that celebrates the intersection of CUSTOM CAR CULTURE and CINEMATIC HISTORY. (Who’s Fireball? Hit it HERE…)

I love MUSCLE CARS. And there have been many throughout the years that have been truly successful and epitomize the true nature of SPEED, POWER & PERFORMANCE. Nowadays, that power can be EV as well. But regardless of where the power comes from, as Motorheads, we have to concentrate on the JOY of DRIVING. And bringing that JOY to others by GIVING. My goal is to add as many MUSCLE CARS to the Garage as possible, so help out by adding a COMMENT as to your favorite!

Today, we celebrate that uniqueness with Twins! The 1987 BUICK GRAND NATIONAL GNX was a slow burn. From Car & Driver… For 21 years before NASCAR started selling naming rights in 1971, its top stock-car racing championship was known as the Grand National, and the name lingered in public usage long after the series officially became the Winston Cup. Ten years later, Darrell Waltrip raced factory-backed BUICK REGALS to claim back-to-back championships in 1981 and ’82. So, it was in keeping with division general manager Lloyd Reuss’s thrust to move Buick’s image from a maker of cushy “doctors’ cars” to something more youthful and exciting when it unveiled the first Regal Grand National at NASCAR’s 1982 Daytona 500.

You appreciate things more when you find out the history… of anything. So snag a PRINT of one of these babies, tell me what else I should SKETCH, go eat some grub and start your Diecast Hunt. A perfect day. And don’t forget to watch the first episode of ART TALK LIVE! New one tomorrow!

DID YOU KNOW?? In 1986, the Buick Grand National became the quickest American production car of the year, and one of the most powerful 1980s muscle cars. Everyone had to take notice. In a 1986 test, the Grand National could reach 60 miles per hour in 4.9 seconds and complete the quarter mile in 13.9 seconds. They sell for about $150K now!

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ART TALK LIVE is back and three awesome episodes a week!

It’s been over a year since Fireball stopped ART TALK LIVE, but he bagged about 600 episodes over a 3 year run… and now because of YOU, IT’S BACK!

Every M/W/F, ART TALK will go live on Fireball’s Facebook Page, but if you miss the live session, it’ll be up everywhere including here! And so… here’s EPISODE 1. “LEARNING TO PIVOT!”

**ART TALK LIVE is a 20-minute Podcast featuring unique TIPS, TOOLS & TRICKS to enhance CREATIVITY through FOCUSED MIND POWER. The ONLY way to be SUCCESSFUL in anything… is to BE SUCCESSFUL. Find out HOW! WATCH!!

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If they do another BATMOVIE… they should do THIS

As you know, Fireball helped design the 1989 BATMOBILE for the Tim Burton film. (Check out an article HERE.) But as the years rolled by and they did other BatMovies, more designers chimed and also created Batcoolness.

But as Fireball is a DIECAST GUY like you, it’s always fun to come up with NEW DESIGNS that the Bat could drive if a new film were made. And there’s another one coming… Several, in fact.

But if BATS and DIECAST did merge, it would probably be a mix of Larry Wood’s BONESHAKER with a little BAT GUANO and the result would be THE BATSHAK’R! This does however, open up possibilities to mix BATS with other Movie and TV Cars like STARSKY, THE GENERAL or JURASSIC BAT! He’s gonna have to get busy getting CARAZZZY…

Today, the BATSHAK’R comes in 2 unique Art Prints and a hella stuff along with Fireball’s BATMOBILE COLLECTION. Pick your favorite and leave a comment on what Batmobile he should SKETCH next!

DID YOU KNOW?? Batman knows 127 Martial Art styles, 23+ languages, has an IQ of 192 and has trained himself for micro sleep… having gone up to 80 hours without sleep! Plus, he makes a helluva latte.

(** Having a hard time finding unique and personalized Automotive Art that celebrates your favorite CARS from MOVIES and TELEVISION? Look no more than the Fireball Tim Garage.)

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BONUS SKETCHES! McLaren P1 GTR, Ideation and Movie Cars!

This MCLAREN P1 GTR is one of several sketches I did over a month with good friend and King of Car Design FRANK STEPHENSON. Frank’s had an amazing career involving Ferrari, Jaguar, Maserati and many other exotics. He even designed the 2002 MINI COOPER and FIAT 500! But his Coloring Book has ONLY THE BEST!

Really enjoyed doing the London Bridge in the background. Something I did a lot of at Disney’s Imagineering back in the early 90’s.

Also, an ideation that starts as a pen quick-sketch to capture a language. This one wanted to leap and was done for a futuristic film many years ago. Didn’t get made, but got to do some fun stuff. This was 1998.

And finally, check out my HOLLYWOOD MOVIE CAR Coloring Book at Barnes & Noble! All the best film cars… but I will most likely do another one! WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FILM CAR?

**Start your day in high gear with our HOLLYWOOD CAR ART MUGS! Inspired by the unforgettable cars of the silver screen, Fireball Mugs are perfect for film buffs and car aficionados alike. Grab yours in the Garage and sip in style! 

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