I love to see where people work, what kind of equipment they are using, desk, chairs, how you set up your space etc.
Here’s where I work at home. I’m really pleased with the desk. My brother in-law bought an antique mahagony trunk for 20 bucks and we chopped it up and turned it into a desk. I’m still surprised how well that turned out.
We very rarely ever pick up fast food but once in a while I’ll get a craving for tots that cannot be resisted. So our last trip I was very pleased to find in my sons WACKY PACK this handy little science slider that explains how things work, with TECHNICAL ILLUSTRATIONS even!!
Update: Ed Schlittenhardt, associate art director at C3, got in touch to take much deserved credit for the artwork above. Great work, Ed!
On the few occasions that I have found it useful, I’ve used Live Trace to create vectors from a 1 or 2 color logo that I only had a raster of. It’s not bad at that, though you rarely get a professional print quality output as it’s still hard to get really clean, straight lines and of course it depends on how high of quality your source file is. I have used software at a former job that was proprietary to them and did not have any kind of vector export feature so I would make a .jpg of a technical line drawing in the software and live trace that in illustrator. Results are hit and miss most times and really depend on how much time you want to spend tweaking the settings and how high of quality you want the final output to be.
Like all programs that I’ve ever tried out that promise easy vector conversion, I’ve usually found that I can actually trace it faster myself and get MUCH better quality without a lot more time invested. In every program I have ever seen you could easily spend as much time cleaning up the vector trace as you could drawing it right the first time.
What are your thoughts on the Live Trace feature in Adobe Illustrator? Do you use it? What do you use it for? Have you used other software that works better for vector conversion? Let us know!
Whether you already have your own website and domain name to showcase your work, or you’re just getting started building your online presence, there are a myriad of existing free and paid portfolio sites to help you get your work in front of people. Some of these pre-fab portfolios are suitable to stand on their own, while others are great ways to direct an audience to your own website.
Continue reading →
This is my experience with switching from one industry to another.
I get the feeling that there are a lot of illustrators out there who are working in-house for companies and are either worried about the economy, getting laid off or having their jobs shipped off to low cost countries. Working in the auto industry for 13 years and seeing what was happening, we were constantly in fear of losing our jobs.
Mike is another one of those illustrators that’s been a big influence on me. Just deconstructing his work has been a big help in my transition from working in the auto industry to working in soft goods for the outdoor apparel industry. Mike has done a ton of work for companies like The North Face, Gerber and Boa Technology, just to name a few.
Mike is one of those guys you won’t see much online, he’s too busy working, so I’m very happy to show his work here.
Illustration by Mike Fraser
Hit the link for a whole lot more! Continue reading →
After spending countless, grueling hours drawing/tracing under hood illustrations used in owners and service manuals I created this handy brush to make all of my wire looms and cables effortlessly.
After dropping the brush file in your presets directory here are a couple tips to help you out. Continue reading →
I scanned these 1st 2 out of my sons books from the library.
Construction Truck Illustration
dump truck
Dump truck from the book, Cutaway Trucks, illustrated by Simon Tegg and Graham White.
928 cutaway
Northrop X-35B cutaway
If anyone recognizes who these illustrators are let me know.
Being into motorcycles and cars I’ve been a big fan of Jim Hatch for quite a few years.
He’s been a big inspiration for me and I’ve often sought his advice regarding my own illustration career.
Jim was kind enough to take the time to answer some of my questions and I’m thrilled to learn more about this extremely talented illustrator.
How long have you been an illustrator?
- I was first paid for my work in 1991 while still in college, so 18 years now.
Are you a freelancer, do you have your own business or do you work for a company?
- I built my own studio at my home in Santa Barbara, CA
Jim Hatch - Wind Turbine
Software of choice?
- I am on a Mac using Photoshop and Illustrator on a 30″ Apple monitor and use a Wacom tablet.
Jim Hatch - Helmet
Jim Hatch - Dunlop
Any advice for illustrators just starting out?
- I feel like I am still starting out compared to the people I admire like Kevin Hulsey, David Kimble and Tony Matthews. I think everyone’s experience is unique but hard work, tons of practice and a true passion for Illustration should translate into results over time. For me the traditional drawing skills & theory I learned early in my career using ellipse templates, proper perspective and subtle line weight techniques have proved invaluable and form the basis for everything I do. I see many people coming up that don’t understand what they are drawing and just draw shapes and hope it works out.
Check out the rest of his work on his site, Jim Hatch Illustration
Hello, welcome to TI.org. After a ton of searching for a website or forums dedicated to Technical Illustration I realized, to the best of my knowledge, that there was a serious lack of content out there. At most you usually find a post or 2 about how to draw in isometric or a random interview with Kevin Hulsey. I mean we don’t even have our own magazine! I know we are a pretty small, niche group but there are enough of us out there to justify creating a new site where we can all exchange ideas, tips, network with each other and hopefully get and give inspiration along the way.
I got a hold of James about my idea for a site and he just happened to be thinking the same thing and he moved ahead full steam to get this site going, so thanks James. We also welcome contributions from anyone, so if you have an idea or suggestion for the site, leave it in the comments or send an email to suggest@technicalillustrators.org.
Please keep checking back in as we will be updating it often.
Thanks and I hope you will enjoy the site.