The Steady Hand of Von Dutch…

Kenneth Howard AKA Von Dutch was an incredible artist, in every sense of the word. He had passion, creativity, and most importantly, craftsmanship. The legend was that in the 1950s, when a new pin striper would rise up to challenge Von Dutch as to who was the greatest, he would simple dip his brush, paint a 100% perfect circle freehand, and then ask the challenger to do the same. With no guidelines, Dutch could lay down perfect, symmetrical lines… Every darn time. Flash forward to the early 1970s, after decades of heavy drinking and smoking, you would suspect that this hard-living artist would have lost his edge. It happened to Elvis Presley, Orson Wells, but not Kenneth Howard. Case in point, watch this video of of a 43 year old Von Dutch from 1972, painting on a piece of glass for the camera. The hand is still steady like a laser-guided missile.