Adopting the Gonzo Approach
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by Brian Stupski
Some years ago, I was introduced to the work of a journalist named Hunter S. Thompson. Bear in mind that this “introduction” came at a pivotal point in my creative career, and I was completely drawn to his style of not only writing, but his almost renegade technique of forming a story. Here was a journalist who not only covered the news at hand, but worked in a personal angle, often thrusting himself so deeply into the event he was covering so as to alter its outcome! “Absolute brilliance”, I thought! Not mere “coverage” or “reporting”, but LIVING it! This was just too much… This guy GOT it! To a student of Fine art, this was the epitome of “creating” anything: the EXPERIENCE… being a PART of what you’re creating!
Thompson’s style of news came to be known as “Gonzo Journalism”, and the name packs the energy rightfully reserved for this all-out, sensory attack, in which the writer himself becomes an integral part of the story. Somewhere between the facts, self-interjection and commentary, the truth lay in wait. This was the sort of writing I had done since I could first form sentences… I had found someone who had paved the way before me, and man, I was digging this. Taking something that has always been deemed as objective, and beating it into something much cooler and entertainingly subjective… showing that a subject or event could have an effect on the writer, and then, at times becoming a part of that story was just simple logic to me… After all, how interesting is just blowing some facts all over a sheet of paper or computer monitor?! Stirring in (or up!) some emotion is key to creating compelling content. Anyone can say “gee, Stan… there was this one guy, and he said this, and the other guy said that. Then they shook hands.” Wow. Not sure about you, but I’M drained from that story. What a cathartic experience… or NOT. Thompson would become the center of his work, very often blurring the line between “reporting” facts and “influencing” a story. He interjected opinion, an energy, and most of all, an experience.
That said, I began to look at this field of automotive art that I work in, and feel a bit depressed. It’s gone from the fun, energetic industry to a machine full of photo-real, computer-generated imagery lately. The landscape is littered with 3-D models and tracings of the same-old, same-old.
Does anyone just DRAW anymore?!
The creative projects… the REALLY wild customs and out-of-the-box hot rods are the ones that inspire and push the hobby to that next level… they’ve become fewer and further between. It’s become… well, “safe”. We’re flooded with near stock-looking blah-mobiles drawn with a lack of personality, often with the actual car being just the same bland cookie-cutter crap over and over again. Is it because we’ve run into the wall of “Well I can’t draw that…” ???! …and so the builders out there settle for what their chosen artists can draw… Wow… a photo-real 3D model of a ‘69 Camaro on aftermarket wheels… just like those other ones! What the hell happened?! It was as though Henry L. Mencken’s “bathtub hoax” had brought new life in the car community. As though someone started the rumor that renderings needed to be sterile, lackluster depictions of some uniform style, and by golly, the whole group jumped the bandwagon, eating up the words and carrying it right into the common belief system they’d developed. Worse yet, I saw it start to occur in my own work as well from time to time, and it made me take a step back, and in doing that, I had a moment of absolute clarity.
I took the past couple of months and began heading back to what made this whole automotive illustration gig so appealing to me at the start: The ENERGY!! I pondered just what makes a rendering so valuable to a project, and beyond the financial (sponsor opportunities, press, etc) and communication (illustrating the modifications) value, it all boils down to CREATING EXCITEMENT! Simply looking at a photograph of a car can be cool, sure, but you’re seeing something COMPLETE, FINISHED… and it removes the emotional response, the natural impulse to IMAGINE… To look at the idea SUBJECTIVELY!! By leaving just enough to the imagination, just enough room to interpret something, some part as YOUR OWN, you don’t just LOOK at the work, you EXPERIENCE it!!
This is why I leave some loose lines among the tightened concepts, some free-form areas to chance… I’m not nailing down parts, bit by bit from some “rule book” (”18’s and 19’s? Check. Suspension lowered exactly like every other car on that forum? Check. Billet parts here, here and here? Check. Correct valve covers so as to avoid the wrath of the “Traditional Police”? Check, check!”), I’m inventing a concept to be shared, interpreted… EXPERIENCED by not only the owner or builder of the car, but anyone who happens upon it. Anyone (and I repeat ANYONE… you, your kids, your neighbor’s Grandmother) with access to a 3D model, or some tracing paper and a few pencils and markers, or worse yet, Photoshop, Google and some time can bash out a lifeless, non-creative turd, and have it celebrated by the easily duped masses… but the ones who can hammer down a concept, and show some life in the lines, some ENERGY… man… those are the pieces that stand up to time, and drop their pants at the lesser crap. Compare a Charlie Smith rendering to some Photohack from a guy in a forum. Name your three favorite Harry Bradley renderings, or Steve Stanford concepts, or Larry Wood designs. Easy, right? Now try to do the same for three photochops or 3D models. That’s a pretty tough one, huh? And do you like those pieces you named because the artist kissed your ass on some online forum, or because the work stood out, elicited a RESPONSE in you? Pretty creepy realization, huh?
I’m not about to fall victim to this absolute “dumbing-down” of the hot rod and custom car industry… Rather, I’m adopting the “Gonzo” style, and going at it with the passion that brought me here to begin with. What’s great is that I’ve never really fit in to begin with, so if anyone takes offense or has their feelings hurt by my shift in priorities, I certainly don’t have to hear the whining, or fear some drop in the number of cards sent my way over the Holidays. It’s just me, my art, and the drive to push it until the son of a bitch breaks from the altitude. I’m not about to fall victim to trends… to having the need to be accepted because I’m doing the same thing fifteen other guys are currently latching onto. Never had a trendy hairstyle or shoes or pants, either. I think I’ll manage without being “in”.
Our pal Hunter (from the start of this whole mess) stated that “he that is taught only by himself has a fool for a master”. Grand advice… and a central theme here in the Studio. Draw inspiration from as many sources as possible! I’m often looking to objects or art forms so removed from cars that even I begin to wonder how they’ll apply… and it’s a blast! I’ll look at a painting and consider the brush strokes, and experiment, seeing how they might work in a current or future piece. Perhaps there’s a rhythm in a song that just makes sense when laying down the lines on some graphics… It can come from almost anywhere. The key here, though, is KNOWING YOUR SUBJECT.
INTIMATELY.
Simply hacking a few photos together, or painting some digital model or tracing a picture doesn’t grant you any more knowledge of designing a hot rod or custom car than does accidentally bumping a car in the parking lot with your shopping cart. When you take time to know the car, to understand the parts and pieces that make the whole… to look into the designer’s mind and grasp where he was going and WHY, well, you’re starting to grasp the idea. You’re in no position to modify that car until you understand it. Going back to Dr. Thompson for a second (after all, he’s the reason we got rolling on this anyway), he once wrote that “Fiction is based on reality unless you’re a fairy-tale artist, you have to get your knowledge of life from somewhere. You have to know the material you’re writing about before you alter it. ” Incredibly wise indeed, and the big “why” that so many of these sterile, cold “renderings” lack that “punch”… the thrill, the excitement of a GREAT piece… the ones that make you take a step backward and yell “BITCHIN’, MAN”!!
I want MY work to be like that!
With all of that strewn on the table, I’m going to go back into the Studio and tear the next project a new one. I challenge you to go and do the same in the shop, and wow the snot out of everyone who experiences your Gonzo build.
About the author: Brian Stupski is one of the current crop of hot rod designers and automotive artists, and is part of the movement behind making the artistic arm of the industry into an organized, professional and recognized force. He has been featured in virtually every major automotive magazine, and his work though his studio, Problem Child Kustoms has led and inspired a number of award-winning cars.
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Amen, Brother Polski.
“Gonzo Design”; I dig that concept. Good read Brian!
Wow, finally.
I hate to admit it – I feel the pressure to put out something that fit’s into whatever is “hot”.
I see the 3D models and think – ohh my god that’s bloody perfect. And a piece of you wants to achieve that glossy slick perfection….even if it lacks that creative punch in the stomach.
Then I sit down to draw something and I feel like it’s missing something. I can’t figure out how to put it in words. It’s like seeing those perfect half a million dollar street rods. They sure look nice and they do take talent and time, but why aren’t they as cool as the one built by the guy in 1950 – in his garage with a set of hand tools. How can a spotless / flawless car not tug on your heart the way this purpose built machine does? It’s like the car has a soul, or something. It’s intangible and very difficult to pin down what makes it just right……but it’s there none-the-less.
I can’t iterate how precisely you just nailed this one. I was working on a 69 Camaro illustration just before reading this blurb. Why? I have written down a dozen great car art ideas (in your words – GONZO ideas). Why should I feel like I need to put out something just like the next guy in an attempt to IMPRESS the next guy. Shouldn’t I be zigging when he zags and not just following the trail of marching ants……Maybe I should be a CEO at GM….haha.
~Bro
Here Here!
man I’ll admit I started out doing exactly what you say not to do here but I’ve worked my way out of that hole I think and am onto the bigger better stuff!.
Great read!
Thanks, guys… Glad you dig it, and get it. We all fall into a habit with this stuff, and the real challenge is getting away from that, and making things exciting, just as they should be! After all, we don’t draw stationary objects for the most part — we draw hot rods! Machinery that belongs on that ragged edge… And the moment the design for something that exciting goes away, well… what’s the next logical step in that awful chain?
Keep at it… and thanks again!
I don’t know how I didn’t see this sooner! Anyway, this is just another one of those “kicks” I need to keep striving, progressing, and learning.
Well put! And thanks for the “kick”!
Damn Straight Brian!……There are A LOT of folks who think they can”DRAW”….. and come up with a ONE TRICK Pony…….
Lots of Icing….and shitty cake.
Thanks Jeff… I’ve fallen into that “one trick pony” phase on occasion, and it was that work that pushed me to go this route (and write about it to remind myself!)
Nothing beats a nice, sweet cake under just the right frosting… Here’s to serving up some tasty morsels in the future!
Thanks Brian! I liked that article immensely. Thanks You!!! I have to push myself and this is the kick in the ass and motivational tune-up I need…
You Rock Dr. Gonzo Stupski…. Lets start cook’n!
A great read Brian. I think this is why I stay with CAR-toons and not try realistic renderings/concept design. Less “rules” and more “why not try that” for the toon doodling world.
Brian,
I have read this article time and time again, both on your website and here, and have to say there are so many deep truths in what you say, and endless inspiration in what you are feeling. I think you speak for a lot of us out there.
I can’t really say I am an automotive designer, per se, I am just a dude that loves to draw cars, I love putting my ideas to paper, and I love listening to others give me their thoughts for what they would like to see in their dream cars. There is nothing cooler than standing on common ground with another hot rod or custom car lover and swapping ideas and mapping out their vision on paper. You, once again have inspired me to think a little harder and dig a little deeper into what I do, in hopes of taking another step toward raising the bar on myself.
Keep doing what you do, Brian! You always seem to be headed in the right direction! While others are still rowing through the gears, you’ve crossed the finish line, loaded the car up on the trailer and headed off to the next bigger and better race. Thanks, man!
Todd
Ed– Thank you, sir! And as for cookin’, you are the supreme chef… I’d be happy to peel potatoes for you!
Blip — Thanks, man! You have the right attitude, and seeing your work is always a blast. You break the rules in just the right way! Thanks for the “why not try that” inspiration!
Todd– Thanks, my friend. Great talking today, and man… I’m just fortunate to do something I love, and even more thankful to be surrounded by so many talented people who just “get it”. Hopefully we can all keep steering this ship in the right direction, and make a clear path for all the talented kids coming up. Thanks again, guys… Awesome.
Brian,
It took me a long time to finally have the opportunity to sit down and read this
‘GONZO” missive. Well worth the time, both for you to write and for us to experience.
Of late, it has been your energy as well as that of Charlie and Jeff, that has pushed me
to keep at it. I, like Todd, am basically a guy who likes to draw cars but I’m also a guy
who wants to know why a designer puts a crease here cut there, etc. I study the form
as well as the function. I’ve always liked the cars with pesonality and, boy, have owned
several that have ooze it. (all over the garage floor.) I rarely get the opportunity to fully
render my visions but when I do, I try to breath life into every one. The “GONZO”
approach seems like a great way to take things to a higher level and sounds like a great
challenge that should begin to help form the vision you and Charlie have for the artists
of this forum. Sorry to ramble but…
Deep felt thanks.
Mark
This is how I felt when I joined this forum after you told me about it Brian. I saw all these people on here DRAWING and I got motivated to get off the computer and pick up the markers! When I check all the usual magazines to see the new monthly “artist” and it’s a Photoshop of picture of a stock vehicle with pictures of wheels slammed in the wheel wells, I am let down. Disappointed. I wanna see stuff that makes me absorb the talent, which in turn makes me want to buy the magazine.
This place has light a fire under me to create again! To draw fast and smash the marker into the paper! Crank up some metal and let the juices flow!
I’m not worried. With this place and the talent here it’s gonna blow up! The people will draw again!
Thanks again Brian
Wow….. I guess i need to pack up my 3d stuff and go home, since anybody can do what i do. Brian, you know that I am/was one of your biggest fans but feel that this one hit me right in the jaw and then one to the gut. Sorry if my work was sterile and lacked luster? And yes I feel that a good point of this article was amid at the 3d guys, myself included. I think I will have to sit back and think on this one for awhile before I give more comment.
Carter
just a 3d guy!
Sorry you took this as some personal affront… Not in the least the way it was intended. In fact, you’re the first negative reply we’ve seen (adding to that, I have almost 90 replies from when this was posted on my site which reflect the other comments above).
If you read the article, it’s one artist looking long and hard t his own work, and taking steps to continue along a road he had chosen many years ago. It’s about EXPERIENCING something… taking a proactive approach to CREATING art and being a PART of what you do… Simply put, it’s about being able to enjoy what you do and push the envelope. You obviously do that with your work and the software you’ve put so much into… so I’m not certain where your feelings of being somehow “called out” here are coming from. I’d suggest reading it again.
Ok guys… Just so everyone knows…. I AM STILL A PCK FANBOY!!!!!!!!!! I just got off a 30 min phone call with Brian (yes Brian send me a bill for the time J/K) and we are good. The one thing about the internet is how easily things can be miss read. I do understand the spirit of Brian’s article and got my wires crossed over something that was not intended. I think we were both able to articulate our points well to each other we both got a climpse of the other side. So Brian and I are good and no drama to be had. Brian and I both made some very very valid points that I think both of us will take to heart.
I have called Brian in the past to use his knowledge and I feel that I can still call him, plus now I get to keep all my PCK tshirts that I have!
Carter Hickman
Sometimes to quick to jump and not look.
Good deal, Carter! Likewise, good…GREAT talk. Thanks for thinking enough of the friendship to call. As stated over on the forum we’ve hammered down just where Carter is coming from, and I was a bit quick to lump anyone doing one style of art or another into the same basket. Carter embodies the whole “Gonzo” approach by making the art he creates unique and his OWN. Add to that his push in creating killer software for the paint industry, and he’s forging his own path…. certainly not following.
I’ve asked the man with the golden stylus to put together an article on his work and style, and think it’ll be a knock-out, and show yet another facet of this industry… Nothing like learning from a master.
That said, I’m just happy to know that communication still exists and works. Fantastic!
If this article weren’t a bit provocative it would miss what it means to go \GONZO.\
It is a great way to impact the thinking of amateurs and professionals alike; a
wake up call, if you will. We all took a part here or there personally because we
are surrounded by people who praise our work when what we really need is a
critic (not he client mind you) who knows what they’re talking about. A professor
who pisses us off and, in doing so, pushes us to go to that next level. To think
anew then to create using all we’ve got and been given.
To push ourselves to be cutting edge.
I haven’t seen a lot of 3D stuff ’cause I don’t go to those forums but what I’ve seen
of Carter’s work, he’s found the right home and family with which to share his
craft. Gonzo’ism’ built in.
Carter, of all the 3D guys that would had their bells rang with Brian’s commentary, you would have been the farthest 3D guy from my mind. You, in my opinion, are one of the few who really goes the extra mile with your 3D work and you make it a visual feast to look at from every angle. Even so, Brian’s artice makes us all think a little deeper into what we do. Makes us add that next little bit of edginess to make our work take one step further up the ladder toward greatness. Glad you had a chance to talk to Brian! Now go add some GONZO to you already wonderful work and then show us the results, man!!!
Wow Brian
How I missed this for so long I don’t know. Your article really hits home for me as I have always tried to stay away from what others are doing, at least lately. Unfortunatly those who are the truly creative ones doing the art decribed have too many followers who dilute what they are truly creative at. Some can tell who’s who.
In the long ago past I did try and copy different artists but my style would not let it happen thankfully. I only truly felt the excitement and fun doing my artwork when I let myself go. In the last 6 years I have really enjoyed what I do art-wise.
And if anybody thinks my art looks like someone elses work, your wrong.
Thanks for the writeup Brian. I have to go work on a painting now…
Bernie
Hey Bernie– thanks! Glad you dig the article! Your work is always inspirational, and definitely unique! It exemplifies this whole approach, as it stands out, and shows just how “into” your work you are!
Thanks for looking in, taking the time to read it, and especially for doing what you do… Good seeing you on the ‘Burg!
What a relief to read.
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