Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, Free Art Friday, original art, ShadowHawk, Tone Rodriguez, wolverine

Free Art Friday – Tone Rodriguez

Published Fri, 20 Sep 2013 11:31:53 -0500

A few weeks back I was on Facebook and noticed my friend Tone Rodriguez posted something he called Free Art Friday and a photo of a piece of art that he just put out there in Hollywood for anyone to pick up. This seemed kind of odd but interesting. So when I got a chance to talk to him a few day ago I asked him what was up? Turns out there is the group of artists out there in all different cities that do this to give back to the folks that follow them on social media.

If you don't know Tone, he's worked on Violent Messiahs, the Simpson's comics, UTF and we collaborated on ShadowHawk a couple years back. I asked him to tell me about Free Art Friday. And the following piece is one that he is going to put out today for people to find.

BLEEDING COOL: How did you first hear about Free Art Friday?

TONE RODRIGUEZ: The first time i saw anything about Free Art Friday it was on my Facebook news feed, i might have seen it once before, there were these black and white photos with a brightly colored spaceship painted over, they were photos of Hollywood with these flying saucers and one day i actually read the post… it was the first time i read anything about Free Art Friday… The art was in front of "PHIL'S Diner" here in North Hollywood. Phil's is about half a mile away and is smack dab in the middle of what is lovingly referred to as the NoHo Arts District. post simply said something like "We posted the art" and that it was "yours" and all i had to do was run over and get it!

BC: What made you decide to do it?

TONE: Like i said, it was only half a mile away, and the post said that it had just gone up…i thought to myself "I'm gonna go get it!" I hoped on my bike and rode over to Phil's but alas the 4"x7" piece of art was already picked up…it was fun to make the attempt, and thought to myself…I should try this!

The funny part of this was I got home and posted on the Wishyouwerehere Face Book page and said that i must have just missed it! and i started typing with the people there on how much fun this was, and that I want to steal this idea, and do it myself.

At this point in time my pal writer Christopher Ryder started texting me on my cell. he saw that I was posting on the FB page and had me believe that he and his wife Heidi were also following these people on twitter @FAFLA and I started telling them how much fun I had trying to get the art… so now I'm texting with the Ryder's and I'm messaging with the FB page and I'm just very TURNED ON to this whole thing… I love the idea, and I want to get involved. It was at this point in time I find out that the Wishyouwerehere FB page & the Ryder's are the same people just blew my mind!!!

BC: Do you think other artists should get involved with it?

TONE: This doesn't take too much time out of my life, I enjoy doing it, so yeah I'm hoping others will follow, the part of all that I find the most pleasure is when the photos get back to me of the people that find the art… most of the time these are people that are following my FB feed, INSTAGRAM or my TWITTER. but every now and then its somene that just stumbled across the art and are now new FB friends Instagram followers… its great promotion.

BC: Where should people got to find out where to look for the art?

TONE: The next piece is going out today and people can get the clue on my facebook page, my twitter account or on Instagram with ToneRodriguez2000.

Check out Tone's sites for where he's going to hide the artwork and next week I'm going to see who else I can find that is doing Free Art Friday. If you are doing it or know of anyone, drop me a line.

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