Charles

Charles Armstong grew up in Prescott, Arizona. As a kid, Charles loved custom cars and going to car shows with his father. His dream of building his very own custom would be the dream that would change his life. At age 14, Charles got his hands on his first airbrush in his art class at Prescott High School. His first impression of the airbrush wasn't a good one, as all of his previous works had been done with graphite or colored pencil. However, a family friend, Bob Burns (who just happens to be a pin striper, sign painter and artist extraordinaire also a good friend of Kenneth Howard, aka Von Dutch) saw Charles' pencil sketches and told him of Big Daddy Roth, Von Dutch, the custom car world, the world of insane paint jobs and the money to be made. Needless to say, Charles was intrigued and continued to practice with his airbrush in his art class.

At 16, After getting his first job in a pizza parlor, Charles bought his own airbrush- a Paasche VL- and a few months later he performed his first automotive artwork on a friends Nissan. He spent a great deal of time in art class drawing custom cars and trucks, and designing cool paint jobs for them. His art teacher, Mike Murphy, even allowed Charles to drag the airbrush out of the art room and experiment on his friends vehicles!

After graduating high school, Charles moved to Oklahoma City with a friend, just to try out a new place. Little did he know that moving there would be one of the best things to happen to him. Charles started airbrushing on anything he could touch. He met some cool guys in a newly formed truck club who wanted Logo's designed and painted on their back windows. From there he started painting graphics on some of the club members trucks. Cass Walker, the president of the club, let Charles use his moms garage for his "paint booth". Many late nights were spent in that garage, painting and hanging out with friends. Every so often, Charles would open the garage door to let the colorful cloud of fumes roll out into the neighborhood. As often as they could, guys from the club would take their vehicles to local hot rod shows. Charles would accompany them to see the crowds response to his paint jobs, and would also try to drum up business from the hot rodders. It was on one such occasion that a hot rodder blatantly told Charles he was just a kid. He wasn't going to let some kid paint on his expensive machine...so Charles became, "The Kid".

In the spring of 1992, Charles met Don and Chelly Jones. They took him under their wing and gave him a place to perform his automotive artwork; their body shop, Don's Collision Repair. While at Don's, the great people of Oklahoma and the surrounding states brought their vehicles for Charles to use as his canvas. Don's is also where Charles would become good friends with Brad Houk. After a decade in Oklahoma, Charles returned home to Prescott with his wife and daughters.

In 2005, Charles, along with lifelong friend Justin Burns(mechanic extraordinaire, and son of Bob Burns) and great friend, Brad Houk (exceptional body man, and Eric Cartman impersonator) started Auto Art Studio.

Twenty years have passes since Charles painted his first piece of automotive artwork. In that time he has become a respected artist in the custom automotive community, having over 50 of his "masterpieces" featured in such publications as, Car Kulture Deluxe, MiniTruckin, Truckin, Sport Truck, Classic Truckin, Super Chevy, American Rodder, Low Rider, Hot Bike, Easy Rider, Tailgate, Custom Car (a Japanese custom auto magazine), and VW Trends. Charles, along with his artwork was also featured in Low Life Video, a modern custom magazine.

Charles would like to thank those who have helped him along the way: My wife and daughters, Mom & Dad, Friends; Cisco Peryera, Lance Martz, Don & Chelly Jones, Brad Houk, Justin Burns,Shane Hill, Chris Brankel Todd Boatright, Jeremy Weldon, Cass Walker, Dylan Nowak, Eric, Jason, and Dean from B.A.D., Jerry Covington, Dusty Brown. Most of all, his friend and mentor, Bob Burns without whom I would know nothing of this art form; and high school teacher and friend, Mike Murphy who allowed me artistic freedom to find the art that would change my life forever.