Old school

[jhatch]

I was thinking an area for hand done drawings would be cool? This is a section of a drawing showing the way we used to work with ellipse templets and a mechanical pencil on paper. This being the initial drawing I would either transfer this to board for final or ink on top of it on a clear film..

[Don Cheke]

That is a great looking drawing Jim.

One thing I don't miss from the 'old days' is eraser marks and smudges. It was a dream come true when I got my first graphics program and could produce 'clean' product.

On the other hand, computer produced and hand drawn evoke very different feeling in the creator, at least that is my take on it. It has been a while since I have hand drawn, but I do feel the call every now and again.

I hope that you will post more in this section.

[jhatch]

I sure don't miss the old days, it was actually horrible airbrushing at one in the morning only to run out of air or spill your paint tray. One little mistake could take out the entire piece of art.

This drawing below would be the next step back in the day. This is a Koh-I-Noor Rapidograph drawing on cold press Crescent illustration board, that is the slightly fuzzy kind. We would use one thickness pen and double or triple the line run to achieve thickness. We would clean mistakes by scraping the ink line off with a X-Acto knife then erasing. Then I used an Iwata HPC airbrush to add the slight tone.

http://www.hatchillustration.com/custombike.html

[Mike A]

Jim - keep posting! I'd love to see more of these. I think these working drawings are a 'high art' in their own right.
What was your source material for this image? Roughly what sort of time involved for this base drawing?

In addition, can I ask you a technical question?

(I'm self taught, so I can claim ignorance on many of the finer points of tech illustration ...)

When you are doing a 2 or 3 point perspective like the car you've posted, every object is going to be different due to it's differing location relative to the vanishing points. When it's hand drawn like this, you've got to draw every nut and bolt, so you might as well draw it in correct perspective.

However, when I was reading elsewhere I picked up the impression that it's 'normal' (?) to duplicate some stuff (nuts and bolts for example) if you're working on computer and the object would not be noticeably out of perspective in it's new location (ie: not moved very far). True, or not?

[jhatch]

Jim - keep posting! I'd love to see more of these. I think these working drawings are a 'high art' in their own right.
What was your source material for this image? Roughly what sort of time involved for this base drawing?

In addition, can I ask you a technical question?

(I'm self taught, so I can claim ignorance on many of the finer points of tech illustration ...)

When you are doing a 2 or 3 point perspective like the car you've posted, every object is going to be different due to it's differing location relative to the vanishing points. When it's hand drawn like this, you've got to draw every nut and bolt, so you might as well draw it in correct perspective.

However, when I was reading elsewhere I picked up the impression that it's 'normal' (?) to duplicate some stuff (nuts and bolts for example) if you're working on computer and the object would not be noticeably out of perspective in it's new location (ie: not moved very far). True, or not?

Hi Mike, Thanks.

- I set up a camera and took this race car apart, that was my reference. Not sure how long it took.
- Sometimes I may use an object more than once but it all depends on the piece. Kevin Hulsey sells a great set of fasteners I use all the time, a must for you Illustrator nut jobs: http://www.khulsey.com/shopcart_tutoria ... bolts.html

[Mike A]

- I set up a camera and took this race car apart...

You can't get better reference than that I guess : ) Great work.

I'm old enough to have started with Rotring ink pens (I don't know if you have that brand in the US?) illustration board, 'X-acto' knives ("Swann Morton scalpels" here in the UK) and an airbrush. I have ultimate respect for the skills of those who produced work with these tools - as you say, one slip with that airbrush, or a masking error - and there was no going back!

Roughly how big did you do your working drawing?

[clint]

Great stuff Jim. Did you really take the car apart???? That must have been fun. I've helped take Nissan cars apart but never a race car.
I always assumed that motorcycle illustration was digital, that's awesome.

Now, what we all want to know is, how much might one with skill such as yourself make off an illustration like that car?

You old timers make those of us who grew up in the digital age look like wimps.

Thanks for sharing!

[jhatch]

Here is a combo pencil with some ink work on Illustration board. I cut up a real battery with a hack saw in a parking lot. This was eventually airbrushed to final and ran in Motorcyclist Magazine.

[Don Cheke]

Wonderful images Jim!

[clint]

Here is a combo pencil with some ink work on Illustration board. I cut up a real battery with a hack saw in a parking lot. This was eventually airbrushed to final and ran in Motorcyclist Magazine.

That's awesome. Hacking stuff apart sounds way more fun than messing with assemblies in solidworks.