This past Friday night was the Canvas Battle at the 2018 Afterhours Poster Show Opening and it was such a fun and unforgettable experience. It was a really exciting start to this year’s East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.).
The Canvas Battle
At 8pm, down on the sidewalk in front of Wright Bros Brew & Brew, we were given the prompt “GROOVY!” and the battle began. We had until 9:30pm to concept and create a 24″x36″ artwork with only the supplies provided: an art board, a small sketchbook, an eraser, and a variety of paint pens, pencils, markers and pens.
I went with a peace-loving roller skate babe, reminiscent of Cher’s style from the late 60s, with radiating auras of patterns and shapes. Check it out, with some other shots from the battle, in the gallery below. Major thanks to Liz, Kristen L., and Kristin H. for capturing and sending me these great photos and video!
Canvas Battle 2018 from Samantha Soper on Vimeo.
Congratulations to the Winners!
First place: Trish Monsters
The votes were tallied and Trish Monsters was crowned winner of the Canvas Battle.
Second Place: Aaron Hamilton
Aaron came in with the second most votes for his super cute hippie bus. flying through a psychedelic cloudscape.
Special thanks for showing up
Drawing as live entertainment can be nerve-wracking, especially on a time limit and competing against three other amazing artists. It was great to see some familiar faces at the show cheering me on and helping me bag a few guaranteed votes from the audience.
As with my last show recap to show my appreciation, I want to make a brief shout-out to all of these people that came out to support me, with links to their businesses, projects, and portfolios, as applicable. (Please let me know if you have a project you want me to link.)
- Brad Bernhard (airbrush artist)
- Paige Bristol (resale auctions) & Alvin Guana
- Kristen (graphic designer) & Steven Lowe
- Kristin Hillery (editor & writer) & Todd Ross Nienkerk (CEO, Co-founder)
- Liz & Mike Pacho
- Josh Woodcock (developer/designer) & VH