Seated along the water’s edge at Town Point Park, in Norfolk, during the Bayou Boogaloo, is Bob Langston. He’s been drawing spot-on caricatures for 4 hours today and hasn’t lost his smile. The next day he will sit there for 9 hours. Surrounded by excited kids and a few patience-strained adults, Bob connects with each of his subjects and sends them away with a memory with which to remember that day for years to come. He’s one of the people that make the festival experience so much fun.
Bob, now in his mid-forties, was born in Norfolk and grew up on the water. When he wasn’t fishing, crabbing or trapping eels for his uncles, he was learning how to draw and sculpt from his father; an award winning local artist. Bob attended Virginia Commonwealth University, where he received a degree in commercial art and design. Moving back to Virginia Beach in 1987, he met his future wife at an ODU Halloween party. The two were married a year later and are now surrounded by their six children.
Trying to sum up Bob’s career in the art world is difficult, because it seems like he’s done it all. From wall murals, to t-shirt graphics and storyboards, he’s worked for big names like CBN, The Family Channel and the Navy. Working for himself he’s produced flash animation for CD ROM video games and various web applications. Somewhere in the middle of all this he also taught figure drawing at Regent University.
Currently he works for CBN Scenic Services, in Chesapeake, as a graphic designer. He produces sets for television and film. But it’s his side work that keeps him really busy. Painting surfboards and skateboards, murals, prints and caricatures are probably what he’s known best for. His passions are canvas, surfboard and skateboard paintings; mostly surf art and abstracts.
With a short animated film in college, he began to draw international attention. Placing in the Ann Arbor Film Festival, in 1985, and at the LA Interational Animation Festival, in 1986, with another short film, Bob’s love for all types of art took shape. His recent, personal favorites are a huge painting of a bushel of crabs, for a private collection, and a surfboard picturing Jimi Hendrix.
While at a local, Hampton Roads, festival, you may run across Bob showing off his artwork or lending advice about drawing on surfboards, during demonstrations. With his easygoing, friendly approach to life, meeting people and putting smiles on their faces is like, well, falling off a surfboard. This is what makes him so good at what he does. Whether it’s making a group of kids laugh and jump up and down upon seeing their caricatures or helping an aspiring artist learn a new technique, bringing joy to those around him is what makes Bob such a local treasure.
Bob can be found at many local events, especially Beach Street USA and Festevents happenings, and is available for private work. To find out more about Bob, check out his webpage, thebobzone.com. Be sure to view the links to his YouTube videos on his Facebook page.
Other articles by this writer:
ROCKSTAR Mayhem Festival - Virginia Beach
17th Street Virginia Beach Arts Festival
Chalk the Walk at the Virginia Beach Boardwalk
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