Bruce Kaiser

Automotive artist Bruce Kaiser has been passionate about drawing, sketching, designing and painting cars ever since he could hold a pencil. He loves painting hot rods, drag cars, muscle cars, sports cars, Indy cars, Formula 1 cars... any kind 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, then with his first cars. It was the golden age of the big Detroit muscle cars, and the sights and sounds of hot cars under the lights of a local burger joint still influence Bruce today. In his paintings, Bruce strives to capture 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 the funny cars and dragsters of the '60s and '70s under the lights, on film and now with brushes and paint. His paintings depict great muscle cars and hot rods such as GTOs, Camaros, Hemi-Cudas, Novas, Chevelle SSs, Mustangs, '32 Ford Coupes, Yenko Camaros, Super Bees, '40 Ford Coupes and many more. Bruce likes to show the cars in his paintings the way he remembers them as a kid: not as brand-new, pristine muscle cars, but as cars that have been modified and raced, like a Chevelle SS with superchargers or a '55 Chevy with cut-out fenders. Many of his hot rod and muscle car paintings are available as signed and numbered limited-edition prints.

He began his art career as an advertising artist and graphic designer after graduating from the Art Institute of Boston. After working for 16 years at a local advertising agency, he went freelance and currently creates advertising art and illustrations for many 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 of the major street rod and muscle car magazines, and his catalog designs have won numerous trade association awards.

The painting process
Bruce's paintings are done at the same size as, or larger than, the finished art print. He likes to paint large 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 most fun part, because it means he gets to leaf through his old magazines). The paintings are created with an opaque watercolor called "Designers Gouache" on smooth professional illustration board. The smooth illustration board has a very fine tooth that gives brushstrokes a nice texture while keeping a crisp edge for fine details. An airbrush is used to smooth out a car's finish. He uses Designers Gouache because of the bright colors and precise detail it makes possible. Bruce loves the car advertisements and architectural renderings of the '60s that were done with this technique. One of the drawbacks 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 been a featured artist ever since. 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 create the cover illustration for the book "Road Rockets", one of the titles in a limited-edition collection of author Henry Gregor Felsen's famous teen hot rod novels from the early '60s. He also does automotive design and concept renderings for custom car builders such as Posies Rods and Customs.

Bruce has also done lettering, graphics and murals for race cars, vans and motorcycle tanks, airbrushed the "chrome" details on funny car bodies, and done flame paint jobs on hot rods "back in the day". In addition to his automotive art, Bruce enjoys creating science fiction and aerospace paintings, and he has been published in the National Space Society's magazine. He is passionate about F1, Indy cars, NASCAR and drag racing. He also loves the great American and European classics, sports cars and vintage race cars. Bruce lives north of Albany, New York, with his wife Tina and their two Westie dogs, and he has a son, Warren. He and his wife love tinkering with their collection of old cars and taking his converted '67 Rambler Rogue (401 and 2-4bbls!) on road trips, to shows and on cruises.