Automotive artist Bruce Kaiser has been passionate about drawing, sketching, designing and painting cars since he could hold a pencil. He loves painting hot rods, drag cars, muscle cars, sports cars, Indy cars, Formula 1 cars. 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, then with his first cars. It was Detroit's golden age 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 these 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 drag racers of the 60s-70s under the lights, on film and now with brushes and paint. His paintings depict large 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 others. Bruce likes to show the 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 competed in races, like a Chevelle SS with Chargers or a 55 Chevy with cut out fenders. 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 at a local advertising agency, he struck out on his own and currently creates advertising art and illustrations for numerous street rod, muscle car and race car equipment manufacturers. 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 awards. Professional Affiliations.

The Painting Process
Bruce's paintings are painted at the same size or larger size 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 fun part, because then he gets to look through his old magazines). Paintings are made using an opaque watercolor called "Designers Gouache" on smooth professional illustration board. The smooth illustration board has a very fine tooth which gives a nice texture to brushstrokes while maintaining a sharp edge for fine details. A pneumatic paintbrush is used for homogenizing a car's finish. He uses Designers gouache because of the vibrant colors and precise details it achieves. Bruce loves 1960s car advertisements and 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 also wrote and illustrated articles that 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 the famous Hot Rod novels for teens 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 funny car bodies and did flame painting 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 published in the National Space Society magazine. He is passionate about F1, Indy Cars, NASCAR and Drag Racing. He also likes 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 dogs Westie, 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.