Art-Attack may be a small studio, but its owner is quickly making a name for himself, doing work from graphic design to photos.
By CHRISTINA K. COSDON
Published May 24, 2004
LARGO - The little building between Uncle Bob's Self-Storage and Belleair Auto and Marine Service may seem an unlikely location for a fine art and commercial art studio.
But Doug Rohloff is right where he wants to be.
"I wanted the walls," he said of the building's exterior. "There's a lot of space for murals on these walls - I already have a portrait of George Burns on the north side."
Other portraits and scenes he has outlined in pencil wrap around the building, waiting for the artist's brushes and paint to bring them to life.
It took Rohloff two months of cleaning and renovating the former church thrift shop before he was ready to open Art-Attack in early April. Within its 750 square feet, he has created a storefront, a high-tech office and a storage room.
Kasie, Rohloff's energetic 8-month-old golden retriever, greets customers from behind a wrought iron gate and plays in a big lot behind the studio.
Vehicles whiz by on busy Seminole Boulevard, but Art-Attack has ample parking, and Rohloff said 40 percent of his business has been walk-ins. Another 40 percent he attributes to his eBay business that sells everything from $5.50 scary Chucky dolls to $100 fine art prints.
Rohloff, 36, has been a working artist since he was in high school in Wayne, N.J., painting jeans jackets with rock 'n' roll and heavy metal groups for $100 a pop.
After high school, he worked as a pasteup artist for a small local newspaper.
During the years, he has worked as an artist for a silk-screening company ("I hand-painted over 20,000 shirts in an 18-month time," he said.) and as a graphic computer production artist designing signs for companies including Chevron, 7-Eleven, Phillips and Circle K.
He moved to Florida in 1990 to be closer to his family and four years later to Tarpon Springs. He and his wife, Christina, were married five years ago, and the couple moved to Largo. Mrs. Rohloff is a marketing specialist for the city.
This is Rohloff's first venture into owning and operating a business. "It's a goal I've had all my life," he said. "But I couldn't do this and be successful in only one aspect of art. You have to be multitalented in a variety of art forms."
Robert Brown, a vice president of Challenge Financial Investors Corp. in Largo, hired Rohloff to design and install a special graphic for his new high-performance offshore boat.
A Navy veteran, Brown named his boat Skivvy Waver (after the old signal flags made of skivvies), and Rohloff put the name, decorated with a couple of signal flags, on the back of the boat.
"I'm very pleased with his work, and his prices were a fraction of what other graphic artists charge," Brown said. "Every time I take the boat out of the gulf, I use a high-pressure hose to clean it off. The manufacturer's graphics have been blown off, but Doug's haven't budged. He'll do my next boat as well."
Largo business
Art-Attack
440 Seminole Blvd., Largo
* Graphic design and illustration, airbrushing, custom portraits, vinyl lettering, and graphics for boats, windows, banners and signs, photography, caricatures, oil paintings, wall murals, and Web design.
* "Every time I take my boat out of the gulf, I use a high-pressure hose to clean it off. The manufacturer's graphics have blown off, but Doug's haven't budged." - Robert Brown, who hired Rohloff to create special graphics for his new high-performance boat.
* "Doug has made several signs for us. He does a great job, and he's pretty quick. In my business, the quicker the better." - Terry Moore, who heads the city of Largo's Main Street Program.
Terry Moore, who heads up the city of Largo's Main Street Program, has called on Rohloff to make signs for various events, usually at the last minute, she said.
"He's made several signs for me," she said. "He does a great job, and he's pretty quick. In my business, the quicker the better."
"What I like about Doug is that he wants to make sure you're happy with what you get - he makes sure you're completely satisfied before you walk out the door."
