On Saturday one of my good buddy finally had his grand opening for his own independent motorcycle repair shop in San Francisco, Tokyo Moto on 50 Otis St. He's talked about opening up a shop for awhile and I suppose a blessing in disguise from all this economic down turn finally kicked his ass into gear and opened up the shop. He asked me to help him out with all the graphics like logos/business cards/etc. as well as a few wall pieces. Aside from hanging up my drawings of Rossi, Haga, and company, he wanted a large wall mural. He said I was free to do whatever ... of course keeping in mind that it is a business.
I can't remember if it took too long to have an image in my head of what I wanted, but basically I sketched out a scene that had a Tokyo/Japanese feel to it. I wanted to have it over the top, kinda weird, and just in your face. I've seen photos of Bōsōzoku and stuff like Tank Girl and thought it'd be cool to mash em together. Yeah, I definitely wanted a 'fuck you' attitude. Since I didn't want it to completely surprise my friend, I told him that it'll ok for the business, but there'll be a pink rubber fist and a gerbil involved in the drawing. He probably knew what he was getting into when he told me that I'm free to do whatever for the mural. Fun Fun.
I like having 'easter eggs' in large detailed pieces. I have things like my wife's family crest, TOOL logo, wing chun stuff, and so on and so on ... even a stripper on a pole!
In the final version I have some Japanese text - I wanted it to read link a panel from a manga, sort of like if you just caught this panel in mid story (thanks Kenji).
Anyhow, here's a few shots of the piece in different stages:
rough sketch
rough sketch
line art of 'Tomo'
line art
final wall piece 145"x102"
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