CristianCross

Cristian laughs. The most memorable was when he had the opportunity to draw a SEMA build a few years ago. “It was a beautiful blue ‘67 Mustang and I was so excited.” Cristian poured over the drawing all day and proudly presented it to his partner when she arrived home, only to be confronted with a confused “It’s pink?”.

“Now my fiancé picks the colours for me. Once I have the basic colour, I use a ‘Prisma’ colour matching program in Photoshop. All the pencils have the colour Prisma code written on them, so it makes it a lot easier.”

Shelby, the German Shepherd, stirs and makes herself comfortable in her well-worn bed beside Cristian’s desk. His studio is filled with his art and keepsakes from significant milestones in his life. It is a small but inspired studio. 'This is the sign you’ve been waiting for' is Nicko’d in bold black capital letters on his roof. He smirks when I look up at it. Mellow blues tunes meander from the speakers as the talk shifts to what got him to this point.

“Cars have simply been an obsession for me. Anyone who knows me from primary school or high school will tell you that all I did was draw cars. Pull out any of my Maths or English books and you’ll see cars drawn all over them, every square inch, on my table on my bag – I just couldn’t stop.”

It’s hard for Cristian to pin point where it became an obsession, but the influence of Chip Foose on Cristian’s life cannot be overstated. He recounts any story involving Foose with absolute reverence.

“The drawing side of things kicked off the first time I’d seen Chip Foose on Overhauling. I was just a kid in primary school at that stage, but here was this guy who was a king in the automotive world – had his own shop, his own TV show and he drew cars. Man, I wanted to be just like him.”

Years later, Cristian got the opportunity to meet his childhood hero when he flew to the States with his Dad to pick up his first car… a ‘67 Mustang. “That car was huge for me.” They made a special stop at Chip’s workshop. “I got Foose to sign my arm and then I got it tattooed. I went back to show him. Yeah, a bit stalkerish, but he was so cool about it. He took me aside for two hours and we just talked – he has been a massive inspiration.”

Back home, after completing an arts degree, the challenge was trying to find work that paid decent money as an artist. “All my mates had good jobs and were making good money, but not me – I wanted to do what I loved, but it didn’t pay the bills. I had a job lined up in that area, but I just felt it was too hard at the time. I ended up doing something completely different”. The allure of money and stability took Cristian to a position in financial planning for five years.

“It wasn’t until I got that job as a financial planner that I realised how much I didn’t want it. I felt like shit doing a job I just didn’t like. So, I pushed this as hard as I could to drag myself out of it. I would come home at five and then draw until midnight. I was drawing Saturday, Sunday and every single night after work. I’d have felt like a failure if I was still working at the bank at 40.”

People responded to what Cristian was doing. It was validation of his commitment to his artistry and further spurred him on. Acknowledgment that he was doing the right thing.

He pulled the plug on financial planning in 2016 to become a full-time artist. “I would have been lying to myself if I didn’t do it.” He has completed 363 individual drawings since and every single one is unique. “Even if I have done 20 HSV Commodores. Every single one is different.”

It’s been a challenging time to establish himself as an artist, but it’s paying off. “I don’t get up mornings anymore and think God I hate this. I get up pumped! I’m drawing a GTO today or Ferrari or a Falcon – whatever it is – it’s awesome.”

He works exclusively from photos supplied by clients. The details recreated just from pencils are photo realistic. The gradients, reflections and lines are rendered with an almost CGI quality. The underlying passion for cars is evident in his work.

“People putting cars together contact me. ‘I’m getting these wheels, this is the stance, this is the body kit and I want it painted this colour.’ They want to know what it’s going to look like. It’s a part of the job that really excites me. It makes me feel like part of the build.”

Cristian loves classic American muscle cars. “Dad always had Corvettes. He’s probably had 10 Corvettes, there were Mustangs and Camaros as well. He used to go to the States and bring them back, so there was generally something new in the driveway every three months.

“Those cars were my interpretation of his success. So, when I had the opportunity to have my own Corvette, I didn’t hesitate.” Cristian sold his ‘64½ Mustang in order to own his dream car.

“That Mustang was such a good car, but such a piece of shit.” He laughs. “It was the first car I put my hands on. I never got a chance to build a car as a kid. So, I took the motor, gearbox and suspension out, just to re-do it. It didn’t need re-doing, I just wanted to mess with cars. It was a disaster, I didn’t know what went with what. It just didn’t work. But the day I traded it on the Corvette, it was running perfectly.”

Cristian’s yellow 1978 C3 Corvette was a blank canvas and one that needed to reflect who Cristian was as an artist and a lover of classic American muscle. “It was a 100 per cent stock middle-age midlife-crisis car when I got it. I was scared of touching it because it was so nice. But once the engine blew, I thought stuff it, I can do what I want now. I wanted to channel my creativity into my own car.”

The stock 350 cubic inch Chev V8 was taken out and a 383ci Stroker with a Scat bottom end, forged pistons, Edelbrock alloy heads and Hooker headers were dropped in. A T350 gearbox with a 3500rpm stall converter replaced the standard gearbox. Cosmetically, it now boasts bigger wheels and some gratuitous advertisement for his business. And “FOO23” plates, which are a nod to Cristian’s idol.

“Now, that car is me. I always relate a car to a person. The car you drive says a lot about yourself.”