Just about every automobile bodyman and painter in the United States knows who Darrell Mayabb is…Why? Because of his association with PPG Paints and the series of posters he’s done for them, the first one done way back in 1996.  These are not just ‘everyday’ posters one can purchase at car events. The problem is they are not readily available anywhere–yet, they hang in nearly every PPG paint supplier’s business, painter’s shop, and as framed art in nearly every collector’s home in the country.

Each yearly release of PPG posters is anticipated by painters and oftentimes are hard to get simply because each is a limited print run. Needless to say, each and every one of them are collector’s items. Each ‘wordless’ poster Mayabb’s done for PPG tells a story. Whether it’s the building in the background that holds a particular memory for Mayabb, or where he photographed the building on one of his many trips,  right on thru to all of the unique cars in the paintings themselves. Illustrated in the posters are friend’s cars or paint jobs Mayabb experimented with. The same is true for the people that appear in his paintings–all are local close friends or ‘celebrities.’ Yep, real people just the way Darrell imagines them.

Background–It Was California’s Loss At The End Of The Day

Mayabb was born and raised near Dayton, Ohio. He went to the Central Academy of Commercial Art in Cincinnati and like any artist, headed for the great state of California upon graduation, anticipating going to work for Ed “Big Daddy” Roth. Suffice to say, Roth’s studio wasn’t what he was looking for. Mayabb then landed a job as a staff artist/illustrator at North American Aviation working on the Apollo project for NASA.  He had to cut that job short because his Mother in Dayton was ill. He moved back home not intending to stay long and fully expected to move back to California. He never did, and that’s California’s loss.

His stay ended up being longer than he anticipated so he went to work for an advertising art studio. Not happy with that, he accepted a job in Miami, Florida…not enjoying the Miami area, or the job, he sent his portfolio to a friend in Denver…Miami consequently lost Mayabb too! But Denver won. in 1968 Mayabb moved to Denver and finally found his spot in the automotive world. He married his high school sweetheart and they eventually raised two children.

Darrell and his wife found a home in a suburb of Denver, complete with some property–enough so Darrell could build a studio out back instead of working from his home. The studio is crammed full of art Darrell has collected from other artists.

Darrell Mayabb Gives Insight Into His Artistic Style

Darrell works with all media and does all kinds of artwork, not just for PPG–his “fine art” is desirable and collectible as well. Gouache (opaque water colors) is his paint of choice but the computer has become a tool that he uses more and more. “You can control so much more of an assignment,” Darrell said, “if you are versed in the computer.  Deadlines being what they are, in whatever area I work, have been aided by working digitally.”  The pure art of drawing is by far a favorite execution of his art.

When Darrell got hooked up with PPG, he didn’t know it’d be a 20 year project. He’s been doing one poster a year for them since then. One of Darrell’s favorites would be the ’48 Ford with the Mercury front clip, done as a calendar in 2008 (Darrell also does a calendar each year for PPG as well).

The PPG poster and calendar art are done the same size as the printed PPG pieces. Darrell said sometimes the ‘artwork’ is still ‘wet’ when he sends it off to the printer. The opaque water colors he uses are much more refined colors than Tempera and he says he can control them better than other water colors. The Gouache paints he uses are French made and are not cheap. He mentioned “Once I finish a particular PPG poster artwork, I use so much of the paint that I have that I must replenish my supply.”

PPG gives Darrell free reign on what goes into the painting…he comes up with the idea for the poster and/or calendar and the people (if any) that go into it. To explain the process of doing a poster, he’ll do a ‘thumbnail’ illustration of the idea – he’ll draw it up, in pencil and B & W, with correct perspective, for PPG’s approval. When they approve it, or make minor corrections, he’ll do a reduced version color rough of the entire poster and send that out for approval. Once PPG approves it, Darrell can spend up to 100 hours painting the poster. It’s then sent to the printer and Darrell press proofs the printed piece for correct colors and the general look of the poster.  His posters have been called “The single best promotional item from PPG.” Is it any wonder they are collectible?

Darrell had been doing art/illustrations and concept drawings for several hot rod/street rod magazines and building his reputation and portfolio. He’s won several awards for his art and in 1999, Rod & Custom magazine awarded him the “Stroker McGurk” award for his artwork and that one means the most to him. In 2006 he was inducted into the National Rod & Custom Hall of Fame.

Some time in 1998 Darrell was contacted by a gallery that wanted to sell Hot Rod original art. The gallery had contacted Hot Rod Magazine and they’d passed on his phone number. He’d had a couple of  paintings finished so he sent them out. In a short time one had been sold.

A few weeks passed and the gallery called him back. It seems the patron that purchased Darrell’s art was upset at Darrell because he was seeing mostly cartooned stuff in Hot Rod and Rod & Custom with Darrell’s signature and he didn’t think an automotive fine artist should be doing cartoons! They asked what they might say to him on Darrell’s behalf. Darrell said he’d think about it and get back to them.

It bothered Darrell for a while until he heard an old rock ‘n roll song on the radio–it gave him an idea. He would take on a pen name (nom de plume) for cartooning.  The song playing had been “Sea Cruise” by Frankie Ford and his pen name would morph into ”C. Cruz.” The name had nothing to do with the song, but he felt it would have a familiar sound to hot rodders. He called the gallery, and told them to tell the patron that Darrell Mayabb would never do another cartoon!

Right around this time print shops, magazines, and nearly everything else was going digital. Darrell was still doing pen and ink illustrations and Gouache paintings, but could see the ‘writing on the wall’–it was time to learn digital illustration. “That was a very tough time in my artistic life,” Darrell said. “Having to continue to do regular illustration for clients and learn computer illustrating programs at the same time sure took up my time.”

Fortunately,  Darrell’s new partner, ‘C. Cruz’ took some of the tension off and needless to say, they’ve worked well together over the years.

Not Just An Artist, But A Hot Rodder To The Bone

Not only is Darrell a great artist, but he’s a car guy/rodder as well and you can find him at most of the major events across the U.S.  Does he fly into those event?  Hardly, he owns and drives a ’36 Chevy sedan delivery as his “daily” and you’ll find that on the grounds of nearly every event. He’s put over 208,000 miles on this car since finishing it in 1986…so much so that he’s had to have the engine, transmission, and suspension rebuilt once.  In his garage sits his Lotus 7, but that’s for sunny day drives. He recently finished up a 1948 Thames panel delivery as well.

Years ago, Darrell owned a ‘77 Anglia Thames panel delivery and drove it for 17 years, but this one has “C. Cruz Cruisin’ Company and Glidin’ Society”  lettered on the sides of it. The engine and transmission in the delivery is a late Chevy Vortec V6, 4.3 liters and a 200R automatic trans. Darrell is hoping for 30 miles per gallon, with the air on, while driving back east for car events this coming summer. The interior is all done in Mercedes Blue vinyl on Chrysler bucket seats. The panel delivery sits on a set of Wheelsmith artillery wheels.

Of course, Darrell’s cars are painted in his ‘corporate color’ of PPG Commercial Wheatland Yellow.  Darrell picked that color when he was just starting out way back in Dayton. He wanted a color that wouldn’t show body work and the only other choice of a ‘hiding’ color was white…he chose the yellow because it’s dead-on between red and white.

If you’re interested in Darrell’s services, contact him at info@automotivegraffiti.com or 303-420-7200. Also, be sure to check out Darrell’s website: www.automotivegraffiti.com to stay up to date with the artist’s latest ventures and works in progress.