First Show of the Season

Last weekend was the first show of the season for us. Last year was our first real serious year of setting up at art and car shows and selling both existing art and commission work. We learned a lot of lessons, and one of the most important lessons to me is to make it easy for customers to buy.

We did well last year – I sold quite a few pieces, and won over thirty commissions. My favorite part of commission work is when customers tear up a little bit or tell me how their dad or husband is going to cry when they open the drawing up. Car guys and gals have a significant emotional attachment to their cars (I’m no different!) and to memorialize a particular car for a client to hang on their wall with hand drawn artwork is a great way to signal that emotional trigger.

While I’m grateful for the business growth last year, I’m hoping that this year will be even better! I’ve taken note of the types of cars that are most frequently requested and made some prints to display at shows. The most requested art is what you might expect: Camaros, Mustangs, and Roadrunners. I also get a surprising amount of, “Hey, do you have any Mopars?”

Once I’m set up at a show and waiting between customers visiting our booth, I like to sketch a little bit. It’s both a fun way to relax and I think it shows well to potential customers that all the artwork is real and hand drawn by me. I’ll usually put a few pens, curves, and ellipses in a backpack to make some simple side view drawings.

This was the first show of the season, and I scratched out this little boattail racer while we were there. It’s of no make in particular, but I thought it would be cool to make it into a little racing flyer. This black and white style is one of my favorites, and this drawing actually turned out cool enough to frame and display for sale at our next show!