"THE EVOLUTION OF THE KUSTOM KULTURE"

"The Revolution will not be televised, it will be put on DVD"
By: Craig Fraser

One of the questions I get the most in the kustom paint industry is, "What will be the next popular trend, or the next hottest technique"?? In reality, there is no way to truly predict the next big thing. The real trick is to recognize it when it already gets here, and then to take advantage of it. That is pretty much kustom painting in a nutshell. In kustom painting there are three primary influences that govern change. 1. Artistic innovations brought about by the individual artists. 2. Styles, and preferences demanded by the clients in the industry, and last but not least: 3. Technological innovations in materials, and equiptment. The kewl thing about this industry is whenever one of these influences gets a little stale, or runs dry, the other two will continue to push the industry forward.

The more the kustom industry grows in size, and the more painters that get involved, increases the diversified styles, and techniques that become available to all. The term evolution is actually not applicable when talking about styles, and techniques. The reason being, in "Evolution", the subject in question evolves, until there is a completely new subject, or a number of diverse new ones, that replace the old. In the Kustom Kulture, the older styles, and tricks never really go away. They may change, and become hybrids, but often times the good ol' fashion way of doing a kewl kustom effect never changes. I like to think that the industry is in a constant state of "Revolution" instead. Sounds better too.

The biggest revolution that Kustom Painting has undergone in the last decade is in materials. In less then 6 years we have gone from having 2-3 Specialized kustom paint manufacturers, to having well over a dozen represented at the SEMA/NACE shows. This increase in the availability, and diverse color palettes of these new companies, gives the artist even more opportunities to create. With the paints being more durable, and lightfast, these paintjobs now have a much longer lifespan, and the concept of the kustom paintjob as an archival piece of artwork becomes much more plausible. Information is also a new commodity in the kustom industry. While once considered top-secret, now information is traded openly, and the entrance of DVD technology can bring a hands-on workshop right into your front room. Sometimes these changes, and advances are viewed with suspicion. Many painters tend to look back with nostalgia at the 60's/70's as the "Golden Age" of kustom painting. In reality, the Golden Age is right now. As kustom painters we have more opportunities now, then ever. Not just with the materials, and equipment available, but also with the rising acceptance of kustom painting, and it's new mainstream profile on TV "Build Shows'. There are more kustom painters working today in the industry, then in any other time in history. While it has always been kewl to be a kustom painter,…Now you can pay the bills too!

So how do we control this new industry? How do we predict the trends, and steer it where we, as painters, want it to go? We can't. We never could. I like using surfing as an analogy. Think of it as a wave. You can never fully predict when the next one will hit, or how it will hit, you can just go on past experience, and current conditions. When you see one coming, you paddle up to speed, and drop in. Whether it is a good ride, or bad one is partially due to the wave, and surrounding conditions, and partially do to your own ability, sometimes even the board you chose that day. Even the best wave will not last forever, and the best surfers no when to kick out, and go look for another set. If you ride the wave all the way into the beach, it takes all that longer to get back out to where the real waves are again. Kustom painting is very similar. The same way that surfers will go by historic storm cycles, (Big Wednesday) Kustom painters can go be previous trends in kustomizing. It is possible to find patterns in cover vehicles when comparing magazine over a long period of time. Of course just like predicting stock market trends, then are never 100% correct. The trick is not to find the one trick that will make you a successful kustom painter. It is to learn as many tricks as possible. Try as many paints as possible. Experiment, and master as many different airbrushes, and sprayguns as possible.

A good example of one of these revolutionary waves is the "Realistic fire" trend that has been doing quite well for the past few years. While realistic fire has been in fineart, and kustom painting for numerous years, it took Mike Lavalee to really bring the technique into it's own with the advent of his "Tru Fire" technique. Mike not only showed that the effect was strong enough to exist on it's own as a graphic, but also broke it down into understandable steps for education. Mike didn't create the wave,…he was just the first that rode it well. Realistic fire has been a big enough wave that there are a number of artists, (Myself included) that have developed their own styles, and expanded the market, instead of saturating it. Market saturation is when there is more of a product, then the consumers want to buy. In kustom painting that is when the clients are sick of something, yet the painters keep shoving it down their throats. Has this happened before? Can you remember the Van industry?!?! Scary huh???. Is our favorite fire technique in danger of this? Everything is. As kustom painters it is our duty to kick out of the wave, before we all end up on the shore. So far the wave is holding it's own, and there have been enough changes, and modifications to the "realistic fire" technique to keep it interesting. Still, it is important to note that while the majority of kustom painters will naturally kick out, and prevent trends from turning into fads: there will always be a few painters that will run it into the ground, and turn a popular effect into the graphic equivalent of the "Macarena". You get the picture….Hehehhh.

While the industry will continue to evolve, and revolutionize on it's own, we as painters must do so as well. The term "Jack of all trades, but master of none" is not negative in the kustom industry, it is the name of the game. While no one can truly ever master anything, we can all become proficient, and master our own part of the industry by diversification. The best kustom painters have always been the innovators. No one remembers the fastest, or the richest, or the best flame painter. But they always remember the kustom painters that pulled the rabbits out of their hat. The ones that revolutionized the industry.

Paint to live, live to paint

Fraser