Art & Inspiration Roy Jones/AUTOMOTIVE ART?

I believe he passed away a couple of years ago, and there was a thread about his work as well.
HemiDeuce.

 

I remember seeing a bio on him in Rod and Custom years ago (Jeff Tann era), maybe Kevin or Tim can help in that dept.?

WAIT-A-SECOND.....I'm thinking Robert Gunn?!

Similar styles?!

 

how bout some pics of his work? any out there




skull

 

You might try calling Bob Drake. They used his art pretty exclusively and clearly had a high regard for it; they might know if any distribution channel or historical info still exists.

 

I remember his work, it is really great!

I should be a research librarian when I grow up...

Mention of Roy Jones on Drake site (last paragraph):
http://www.bobdrake.com/about_BDR.htm

Reference to him in this thread:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=196288&highlight=roy+jones+bob+drake

He is apparently decessed according to the description of this pic:
http://store.bobdrake.com/limedprin.html

No bio online though, Roy Jones is also a heavy weight boxer that also wants to be a
rapper

I also couldn't find a post on the HAMB about him

 

His work was top shelf. I always enjoyed it in Drakes catalogs and calendars. Sad if in fact he is no longer with us.

 

Man that guy was the best, but it's like his art just isn't anywhere to be found.
So if anybody has any of his art please post it .....................

 

He did really nice work...gonna have to dig through some of my old stuff and see what I can find

 

That is some great stuff. Inspirational is right.

 

Very kool!!

He was into the details, I love the reflection of Joe cool's
Hot Rod on the brick wall. Would love to see more pics...

 

Is there anything Megan can't do?!

 

Here is a scanned article from Hot Rod Magazine of January 1989 that Roy Jones contributed artwork to:

 

I can always remember being impressed with his work when I was growing up and into adulthood. One of his last pieces was a killer scene of an old pinstriper layin lines by drop light as a bunch of youngsters look on. I even contacted drade back then to see if it was available as a print, to no avail. Would love to see it and some more of his other work again.

 

Dutch Courage - Thanks for posting that - haven't seen that spread since it came out and forgot about it!

I worked for Bob Drake from '96 to '01. Mostly in the shop, but the last couple years, I spent a lot of time upstairs, working on ads and catalog stuff.
Roy was definitely Bob's favorite illustrator, period. I never got to meet him, but he was one of the few people with a knack for communicating with Bob. So when he got sick, it was a major deal to us - his art was our image to the world. I lobbied for some favorite artists to replace Roy. Bob recieved custom ordered samples from some of the best brushes on earth - but at the time I left, he was still very frustrated about losing Roy and hadn't made a choice.
In the time I spent at Drakes, I was lucky to meet many of my heroes out on the hot rod trail and they were unanimous in their praise of Roy Jones as a person and businessman. I Never heard a discouraging word about him.
If you ever drop by Drakes and take the tour, there are several examples of Roy's original art on the walls - very fun!
Sorry Jeff, but that's all I can offer...

Scotty

 

I was thinking about Roy and decided to do a search to see if his artwork was finally being recognized. I grew up in Sherman Oaks, CA, in the same, small 15 unit apartment complex where Roy lived. He was a quiet, humble man who showed a lot of kindness to everyone in the building. He was actually the building manager, now that I think about it. I was just a kid and I remember always going upstairs to Roy's with the other kids to see what he was painting that day. He lived in a tiny one bedroom and had his easel table set up just outside his kitchen. He would teach us how he painted, but only for a short moment, as our attention spans were so short! However, we would see the paintings come to life and I will always have those images with me. He loved what he did, true passion in his artwork. Sometimes we would knock on his door and run... of course he knew it was us kids, but never got mad (that I can remember) and just played along. He had a beautiful OLD classic car that he never drove, I believe it was a black Ford. It was always covered and we knew to stay away from it! When he had it uncovered to work on it or wash it, we would be in awe... it was so shiny!The vehicle he chose to drive was a beat up, run down small stick shift truck with primer as paint. Some days, when my Mom was sick and I was late, he would drive me to school to male sure I got there. My Mom was very good friends with him. She shared with me that he would only accept the bare minimum for his paintings, even though he may have been offered more (his work definitely deserved it). When he got sick (cancer), he kept even more to himself, not discussing his illness and decided not to go through chemo, although my Mom believes he may not have been able to afford the cost o insurance (makes me sad to think about). My family, and the other families who lived in the complex attended his memorial service. All the memories that were shared were very similar. What a great man Roy was and I will never forget those childhood/teenage memories. I believe my Mom has a few photos of him! I will contact her to see if she can send me a copy to share. It is great to see there are people who still appreciate him and his work.

 

I have a set of 12 of what I believe are Roy jones prints I don't know much about them but I would sell as a complete set if anyone's interested

 

I cannot believe I haven't stumbled across this thread before. I go searching for things on Roy at least a few times a year! I lived in the building next door to Roy's, on Woodman, for years, and we became very good friends--fellow motorheads. Other than sitting in his apartment and talking cars for hours (he taught me so much), the most vivid memory I have of Roy is sitting on the wall in front of the apartments, watching for interesting cars, and again, talking for ages and ages.

Roy was the inspiration for much of what was done to several of my cars at the time. I still have them, and along with many books his brothers graciously gave to me when he passed, I am reminded of him whenever I'm in my garage, and indeed whenever I see him smiling up from a picture under the glass on this desk. Roy will always be, to me, one of the finest human beings I've ever known. Modest to a fault, incredibly talented, but unassuming and kind to everyone. I cannot think of him without becoming completely choked up--we were deprived of his friendship, his talent, his wonderful sense of humor, his vision, while he was still so young.

I would welcome hearing from anyone who remembers Roy as fondly as I. Amity, I'm not sure who you are, but I'm sure we met many times. Enjoyed reading your post very much. dave@wagonmeister.com is the best way to reach me. Thanks, H.A.M.B. for the space!

 

I am jealously holding onto a small stack of original art, large stuff. Much to large for me to properly photograph or post. I have at least one set of the prints from the stuff he did for Drake too. Cherished possessions.

 

Anybody still interested in Roy Jones? All the things said about him in the above posts are quite accurate. He was an exceptional talent, but the world has many who fit that bill- he was more importantly a fine human being. One of the reasons he was not more famous and prolific was the amount of time spent on catalog work- that was his bread and butter and he felt a deep loyalty to it. My brother was a good friend and client. He probably has a dozen renderings of car and boat dreams/ideas, most of which never came to fruition, but is one more impressive lot of fine art. I have an acrylic of my fake Daytona Ferrari (Hey, what other good was an '82 'Vette??) my brother had Roy do for my birthday.
Besides sitting in a barber chair, in the very early Seventies, at Robert and Suzanne Williams' house as a young teenager from a small town in Mississippi listening to Bob and my brother negotiating the sale of a '34 Ford (during which Suzanne interjected at some point using the word "FUCK"-the first time I'd ever heard a woman use the word), being invited to tag along on a visit to Roy's apartment was the thrill of a lifetime for me. His talent, imagination, and attention to detail is astounding and reflects his deep passion for automobile styling. An unsung hero if there ever was one. I'm going to add a couple pics, but will post this first as I have a knack for losing text.

 

I'm still interested! Still doing my searches a few times a year, just to see what's being remembered/posted about Roy. In rearranging my office late last year I had the opportunity to pull out all the Jones art I have and browse through it wistfully. What a talent. Hmmm. Maybe a Facebook page!!!

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