Writes Randy: “I was born in Cleveland Ohio, and grew up in a small city called Wickliffe where four siblings, a nephew and I were raised by my single mother. Since I can remember I’ve had a pencil in my hand, drawing. I couldn’t get enough of it and had a passion for cars.
Nothing can beat old American Muscle cars: Camaros, Cudas, Mustangs, etc. While looking for a way to implement both of my passions into one for a career, I found OTC. Here is where I developed these passions through the collision and repair and custom paint courses.
One day my class was told about a contest to design a picture for a tiger statue for the 2010 Year of The Tiger Celebration. The Year of The Tiger public art project celebrates Cleveland’s Asian Town community. St. Clair Superior’s blossoming arts district and its thriving business community. The project is in commemoration of the Chinese Year of the Tiger which began with the new moon February 14, 2010.
I knew I wanted to do something noble, strong. A protector. The tiger statue was given to me where the first thing I started ground off the main under the jaw. The second thing was laying out my design. Third, start sculpting the armor out of a material called magic sculpt. This product gets rock hard and needs to be sanded. The wings have a metal frame that is welded together and actually sit over the tiger’s shoulders like a saddle and then I put magic sculpt over the frame. And fourth, I painted and cleared it and the finished product is what you see here.
During this creation I received help and encouragement from some people that I would like to thank, Mr. Downy, Mike Donahue, and Mr. Gold.
