Archived cover design
Sunflower Yellow — Earlier Edition
The earlier black-and-white cover of Sunflower Yellow – Memories of a Latin Lover, preserved as part of the book’s visual history.
Rob Lezcano presents
The Art Vault
The pictures behind the stories—and the ideas that never stopped growing.
The Vault preserves character studies, book-world concepts, movie-project ideas, props, clothing, signs, alternate directions, and the occasional image created simply because it was too much fun not to make.
Vault collection 01The Hula Girl Series
Characters · Mythology · Screen ideas · DesignInside collection 01
Hula Girl began with a tiny figure on the dashboard of a 1972 Sunflower Yellow Stingray. The Art Vault shows how that one little idea expanded into families, villains, gods, shark guardians, mermaid kingdoms, movie casts, clothing, and an entire world by the water.
From the archive
Earlier book-cover directions
A look back at visual ideas that helped shape the finished books—even after a newer cover took their place on the shelf.
Books become music
When stories become songs
The Hula Girl stories continue beyond the printed page through the music and visual world of That Beach Sound Cartel.
Hula Girl book-to-music feature
When Stories Become Songs
Hula Girl flows into Oceanside Hula Girl, while Hula Girl 2 – Tears of Pearls becomes Mermaid Blues—two novels, two songs, and one ocean of connected storytelling.
Cast & character development
Faces from the Hula Girl world
Early screen ideas, ensemble studies, villains, sailors, guardians, and the people who inhabit the Grass Skirt Surf Shop.
Character board
The Hula Girl World
A visual map of the heroes, family, gods, creatures, locations, and legends that shape the series.
Movie-project ensemble study
La'Ka and the Cast
A full cast concept gathered outside the Grass Skirt Surf Shop, with La'Ka in both her ancient-spirit and dashboard forms.
Cast lineup
The Grass Skirt Crew
Frank, Tommy, Judy, La'Ka, Lacy, Katy, Milu, and Loa assembled as one sun-weathered island family.
Villain concept
Captain Jody ‘The Butcher’ Whitworth
The main villain of Hula Girl 2 – Tears of Pearls, imagined aboard the feared Butcher's Blade.
Character concept
Mikey ‘Grimm Sailor’ Roberts
Whitworth's Sailing Master on the Butcher's Blade—storm-worn, watchful, and built for dangerous water.
Shark guardians
Crusher & Riptide
Two very different protectors of the deep: Crusher brings the jokes; Riptide carries the ocean's ancient memory.
Alternate character card
Guardians of the Water
A more playful screen-style study of Crusher and Riptide, their voices, personalities, and sacred duty.
World-building & story research
The places, objects, and legends
From an underwater mermaid civilization to the smallest dashboard figure, these images helped turn mythology and memory into a living visual world.
Hula Girl 2 environment study
The Mermaid World
An illuminated civilization beneath the water—part palace, part pearl workshop, and part dream.
Symbol & prop design
Ancient Seal of the Protectors of Aloha
The weathered POA seal, combining the hula guardian, island symbols, voyaging canoe, and the creatures of the sea.
Where the story began
The Original Dashboard La'Ka
A dashboard hula girl photographed inside Rob's old 1972 Sunflower Yellow Corvette Stingray—the small figure behind a much larger mythology.
Behind the idea
Aboard the Butcher's Blade
Rob taking a selfie with a fake Jack Sparrow aboard the Butcher's Blade. Serious visual research, obviously.
Hawaiian reference
‘Ōhelo Berries
The sacred volcanic berry associated with Pele—a small natural detail with deep importance inside the Hula Girl mythology.
Wardrobe, signage & merchandise
The Grass Skirt Surf Shop comes to life
The fictional shop grew beyond a location into its own visual identity—signage, weathered apparel, and ideas that could someday exist outside the books.
Sign concept
The Grass Skirt Surf Shop
A hand-painted island sign with bamboo, weathered color, La'Ka, and the warm sunset palette of the series.
Clothing concept
Grass Skirt Surf Shop Apparel
A washed-black surf-shop shirt designed as if it had already spent years in the sun, salt, and sand.
Vault collection 02 · The Island
The Island — Legends Never Really Leave
Concept art from Rob Lezcano's second book, The Island—a hidden sanctuary where history's most unforgettable figures were given another chance to live, create, argue, drink coffee, and change the world from beyond the reach of time.
Vintage postcard title art
Greetings from The Island
A sun-faded welcome from a place that does not appear on any ordinary map.
Current book cover
The Island
Albert Einstein looks across the hidden island where history, invention, and immortality have found a second home.
Island scene study
Rebel Cafecito
Hemingway, Janis Joplin, and Che share coffee, smoke, and revolution inside one of the island's most unlikely gathering places.
Legends at dinner
Enter the Dragon
Bruce Lee works the kitchen while Elvis, Chris Farley, James Dean, and Buddy Holly gather around the table.
Environment concept
The Island Revealed
The protected futuristic sanctuary in full view—tropical coastlines, impossible architecture, and a world hidden beneath the dome.
An impossible island meeting
Rob & Albert
Rob and Albert Einstein pause for a photograph on the shore, where even the impossible can feel wonderfully ordinary.
Two spirits, two opinions
Rob, La'Ka & Marilyn
Rob receives advice from two very different spirits: La'Ka on one shoulder and Marilyn Monroe on the other.
More drawers to open
The Vault has only begun.
Hula Girl and The Island are only the beginning. Future collections will bring together more music art, book worlds, social designs, alternate concepts, headers, posters, and the experiments that deserve a permanent home.
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