Automotive artist Bruce Kaiser has had a passion for drawing, sketching, designing and painting cars since he could hold a pencil. He loves to paint hot rods, drag cars, muscle cars, sports cars, Indy cars, Formula 1. any type of car, as long as it's cool, loud and fast. He grew up in the '60s hanging out at the local A&W drive-in, first on his bike and then with his first cars. This was Detroit's heyday of big muscle cars and the sights and sounds of hot cars under the lights of a local burger joint still influence Bruce today. Bruce strives to capture in his paintings those perfect summer nights as he remembers them. The local drag strip held drag races on Friday nights and he spent many nights there trying to capture the excitement of 60s-70s funny cars and dragsters under the lights, on film and now with brushes and paint. His paintings depict big muscle cars and hot rods like GTOs, Camaros, Hemi-Cudas, Novas, Chevelle SS, Mustangs, 32 Ford Coupes, Yenko Camaros, Super Bees, 40 Ford Coupes and many more. Bruce likes to show cars in his paintings as he remembers them as a child, not as pristine new muscle cars, but as cars that have been modified and raced, like a Chevelle SS with Chargers or a 55 Chevy with fenders cut out. Many of his paintings of hot rods and muscle cars are for sale as limited, signed and numbered prints.
He began his artistic career as an advertising artist and graphic designer after graduating from the Art Institute of Boston. After working for 16 years in a local advertising agency, he became self-employed and currently creates advertising works and illustrations for numerous manufacturers of street rod, muscle car and race car equipment. His commercial art, which includes cutaways, exploded views, line drawings and color illustrations, has appeared in most major street rod and muscle car magazines and his catalog designs have won numerous industry awards. Professional Affiliations.
The Painting Process
Bruce paintings are painted the same size or larger than the finished art print. He likes to paint big so he can capture the details that make his paintings special. Bruce strives to make his paintings as technically accurate as possible and spends a lot of time researching each subject (which is the fun part, because then he can flip through his old magazines). Paintings are made using an opaque watercolor called "Designers Gouache" on smooth professional illustration board. Smooth illustration board has a very fine tooth that gives nice texture to brush strokes while keeping a sharp edge for fine detail. A pneumatic brush is used for the homogenization of the finish of a car. He uses Designers Gouache because of the vivid colors and fine detail it achieves. Bruce loves automotive commercials and 1960s architectural renderings made with this technique. One of the disadvantages of opaque watercolors is that it is difficult to make changes or correct mistakes.
Bruce began exhibiting his artwork at the first Hot Rod Heritage Fine Art Exhibit in 1986 at the SEMA show in Las Vegas, where he has since been a featured artist. He was also one of the featured artists at the Gallery Automania Hot Rod Heritage Art Exhibit in Rochester, Michigan. His painting "Jim Hogg County" was the first to appear on the cover of Street Rodder magazine. He has also written and illustrated articles that have appeared in Street Rodder and Custom Rodder magazines. He was commissioned by Group Promotions to do the cover illustration for the book "Road Rockets", one of the titles in a limited edition collection of famous teenage Hot Rod novels from the early 60s by author Henry Gregor Felsen. He also does automotive design and concept renderings for custom car builders like Posies Rods and Customs.
Bruce also did lettering, graphics and murals for race cars, vans and bike tanks, he airbrushed the "chrome" details of fun car bodies and did flame paint jobs for hot rods "back in the day". In addition to his automotive art, Bruce enjoys creating science fiction and aerospace paintings and has been featured in the National Space Society magazine. He is a fan of F1, Indy Cars, NASCAR and Drag Racing. He also loves great American and European classics, sports cars and vintage racing cars. Bruce lives north of Albany, New York with his wife Tina and their two Westie dogs, and he has one son, Warren. He and his wife enjoy tinkering with their collection of old cars and taking his converted '67 Rambler Rogue (401 and 2-4bbls!) on trips, shows and cruises.
