I'm always interested in hearing about how other artistic types work, and how they got into doing what they do! Most of us began as kids, and developed our techniques over the years, gradually expanding our horizons as we went! Anyone want to share a little bit about how they work and what got them started? Ok, I'll go first: I used to scribble and draw on scrap paper that my parents would give me as a kid. They knew they could keep me quiet and occupied for hours on end at the kitchen table with a pad of paper and a pencil, so they provided me with the tools to get started....OFTEN! The first thing I ever learned to draw fairly well (aside from the obligatory house with curly smoke coming out of the chimney!) was Speed Buggy! He was my favorite cartoon, and I soon mastered the simple lines that make up the gabby little Manxx! I drew Speedy EVERYWHERE....on paper, notebooks, folders, homework****ignments, paper bags, and anything else I could get away with doing so! He sorta became my trademark! <img src=http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid84/p0bfdea3f52224d574a88d8e1c9f62c55/facc4c0c.jpg> Then, it was a host of superheroes, along with Godzilla that captured my fancy and became my favored subjects for many straight years. Godzilla was often drawn for every school art project, along with cameos by Spiderman, Iron Man, the Hulk, Batman and Ghost Rider! I drew countless comic books featuring my favorite characters in stories that often saw them visiting MY world and included ME in their capers, of course!!! Eventually, cars became my central focus once more, and I found that Speed Buggy still flowed effortlessly from the tip of my pen, and so it came to be that most of my hot rod drawings tend to have eyeballs for headlights and squared-off, flat sided tires with deep slotted wheels!!! CARtoons magazine became an influence as well, with Trosley and Kerri being my favorites there! I could never quite capture their trademark styles, but from my Speed Buggy origins to my own perceptions of 'tooned out rods, I sort of developed a style that suits me...even if it isn't as cool as what most others are capable of! It's still the way I do it today! Along the road from geeky little kid with a pad of paper under his arm, to....ummm...well, whatever I've grown into, there have been some pitfalls, gaps and set-backs, for sure! It used to REALLY bother me when family, friends and casual acquaintences would tell me that I should draw for a living! They all had this grand notion that I could be the next Charles Shultz or Johnny Hart, and I think it was THEIR secret dream...but it was never MINE!! It eventually drove me to swear off drawing all together, and I flat REFUSED to touch a pen for about ten years...I even considered the breaking my hand to silence all the comments I was so tired of hearing! But....then came my introduction to the HAMB, and to the many of you who have come to be friends of a sort since I arrived here almost one year ago! I slowly began to consider picking up the pen once more, and found myself visiting Speedy again and drawing a few cartoonish creations to share with y'all on Fridays! The positive reactions have been wonderful, and I enjoy being able to contribute a few of my goofy images to random posts now and then! They kind of take me back, in a way, but the challenges of capturing specific people and their cars also pushes me to strive for the ability to master NEW lines, as well as ones I'm more familiar with! It's a growth process, and every new picture teaches me something, even if it's only a new line, shade or angle now and then! Before I took my long hiatus, I did some of my best work sitting in bars as my friends played on stage in a local rock band. I was out with them usually 4-5 nights per week, and I drew alot while listening to their sets. Today, I find myself popping in a home video tape I have of them...filmed on the road at a bar called the "Twist N Shout" in Indiana back in 1992! The sound quality on the tape isn't the best, but playing it as I sit working on my newest creations puts me in the right mood for some strange reason...and by the time they get to their duealing guitar solos...I'm usually about finished with whatever I've been working on! I can draw WITHOUT them playing in the background, but I enjoy it more when they're "there" with me, I guess! One member of the band, Cheryl, is also VERY artistic (far more so than I!) and in addition to music, she also paints and does pencil drawings. We often talked about art and shared ideas and even drew an impromptu Monopoly board together on the backside of a band flyer at a bowling alley bar in Lapeer, Michigan one night...we included references to several local Detroit area bands of the day, and it was one of my favorite memories of the time I spent with them. Cheryl has gone on to become successfull as an artist, and has even had a few showings at area galleries...she does some cool stuff and is actually doing well with her art! We have TOTALLY different styles, but it was always cool to have someone to bounce ideas off of! Anyway, enough babbling...I just figured I'd open up a little and share some background info with ya on where my "art" comes from and how it gets done! I'd love to hear some of YOUR tales and origins, too!!!
OK, I'll be next...started drawing hot rods when I was about 12...in school, in bathrooms, in books, in classes, in alleyways...graduated to paper in junior hi...found something new: pencils and Big Chief tablets...then on to hi school...drew hot rods inside of book covers, spent lots of time in the school library (they had lots of books in the library with blank inside pages!). Took art as a legitimate class...got a good grade for it. Teach told me I had talent and should put it to use, earn a living from it...went to commercial art school in Omaha, NE...teachers there told me "there will NEVER be a machine that can replace you or your talent." Yeah, rite!!! Back then, in the early '60's there were no computers!!! Never say NEVER!!! Moved to Denver, went to work for several ad agencies, tired of that, started...and quit my own boutique shop...was working too much, not getting enuff sleep...went to work for a uniform manufacturer, designed race crew uniforms for the likes of John Force, Larry Dixon, countless Top Fuel car teams/crews and funny car teams/crews...won several Best Appearing Crew awards...designed uniforms for Indy car teams and several NASCAR teams...I loved it, I was in heaven, I'd finally found a job I was great at!!! Manufacturer went broke, I was out of work! Started designing T-shirt art on my own...have done shirts for NSRA, Bandimere Speedway, International Harvester, Winston West cars/crews, countless local and regional rod runs, even did one for GoodGuy's...still do them today...Need one? I do my art the old-fashioned way...pen and ink and still cut overlays the old fashioned way, with X-acto knife, acetate, ruby-lith and register marx...I draw hot rods in good old fashioned India Ink...above is one I did for a client. I've never regretted being an artist...I can still do things a computer can't! And I've made a good living from it. I'm not near as talented as some of the people on this board, but I get by. You can look up my "classified" in the HAMB-o-dex...or PM me... R-
When I was in grade school i drew all the time, actually all through the school years. Then one day i just stopped, several times through my adult life ive tried picking it up again. But seems talent is lost...or hiding real good. I see the work here onthe HAMB and am awestruck by all of it, and at the same time jealous of the talent. I wish I would have stuck with it.
i've been drawing since i was old enough to hold the trusty crayons on my own...shortly thereafter, i also started eating them... had art classes all the way through elementary and middle school...then 4 years of advanced independent art in high school. got a few scholarships to art schools here in michigan...didn't go. had a few art classes in college...then i got the chance to start tattooing. been doing that ever since. just picked up pinstriping not too long ago after watching jeff shea lay some lines. jeff was right, striping is like crack.
[ QUOTE ] jeff was right, striping is like crack. [/ QUOTE ] Just be careful. Jeff Shea is a homo and likes to**********..
I'm just bumping this to the top so I'll be able to find it when I get to school and attempt to try and post some stuff. Great stuff, by the way. <font color="pink"> ~Molly </font>
I'm only 18 and still developing skills......but, I always draw and always have. Art runs in the family my grandpa was incredible, my dads good and I'm hopefully falling in line...I have placed in several Junior Duck Stamp contests (2nd twice, 1st, and Best Of Show) which is ironic because I hate wildlife! I have also was choosen to paint a large mural in the local fire department after Sept. 11 and have won various other art related awards. I am now working at a monument company designing and laying out headstones, it isn't what I want to do for the rest of my life, so I have decided to take a risk and in January I am moving to Minneapolis to attend the Minneapolis College of Art and Design where I have recieved a $24,000 scholarship (when your talking about art school that hardly makes a dent but every little bit helps!)...and planning on majoring in illustration.... Here is the portfolio that got me my scholarship....not much I like there but oh well: http://wat.midco.net/bradberr/portfolio/
been dragin' the pen since I was 8 (I'm 30) fed on a steady diet of comic books, monsters, 1970's car flicks, and KISS visuals, I developed my style early! all self taught with little encouragemnt from others, I filled sketchpads with countless works of practice art. I dig laying down: oil, acrylic, painted objects, shift knob sculpting, metal sculpture, tattoo work, kustom metal fabrication on kars, and lately (past 4 years) pen and ink. this latest style has brought plenty of shop logos, dvd covers, t- shirt designs, and a possible future as a comic book artist for a big company! deluxe mag did a feature, and garage magazine is going to include some work for an upcoming issue. a few galleries, and included in moldy marvins rat fink party yearly, also possibly in his new gallery at kustom city! GHOULS! hold on to your BOILFRIENDS! at: SPEEDANDTERROR.COM
grew up skateboarding and around hotrods...the skate graphics influenced me alot...been drawing or painting my whole life,tattooing for ten years...just started striping stuff 2 years ago...and paint most everything in enamel now
I started studying art in High school I was able to major in it(art). My focus then was (Ceramics and Photography). College I went to an art school in Columbus OH. CCAD Columbus College of Art and Design. I majored in Ceramics and Glass Blowing. After that I went to Grad. School for Sculpture .I met Tingler there. Now Im an****istant Professor of Art here in KY. I've been teaching ceramics and Art edu. Classes .Later BS
I copied most of this, because 1) It was a true, just a few details here and there 2) Greg's a better writer than I am. I used to scribble and draw on scrap paper that my parents would give me as a kid. They knew they could keep me quiet and occupied for hours on end at the kitchen table with a pad of paper and a pencil, so they provided me with the tools to get started....OFTEN! The first thing I ever learned to draw fairly well (aside from the roses I used to draw for the chicks in kindergarten, also, that was the last time I was popular with the chicks) was Speed Buggy! He was my favorite cartoon, and I soon mastered the simple lines that make up the gabby little Manxx! I drew Speedy EVERYWHERE....on paper, notebooks, folders, homework****ignments, paper bags, and anything else I could get away with doing so! He sorta became my trademark! Cars were always my central focus once more, and I found that Speed Buggy still flowed effortlessly from the tip of my pen, and so it came to be that most of my hot rod drawings tend to have eyeballs for headlights and squared-off, flat sided tires with deep slotted wheels!!! then I discovered that if you drew the cylinder for the tires with and extra line offset to one side, it looked more realistic, like in the tire ads. If you left out the line and offset the "rim", you could draw radials. CARtoons magazine became an influence as well. This is where Greg and I story splits... Along the road from geeky little kid with a pad of paper under his arm, to....ummm...well, whatever I've grown into, there have been some pitfalls, gaps and set-backs, for sure! I was encouraged when family, friends and casual acquaintences would tell me that I should draw for a living! I took all the drafting and art courses I could in H.S. I took photography classes too. In jr. college, (my parents couldn't pay for my college, I had a 40 hour a week job, an apartment, and I liked beer) I took all the drawing classes I could until I quit my job at Home Depot (I was there in the first couple years after they started, and no I didn't take the stock option, yes, I'd have been a millionaire by now...remember, I liked beer) and decided to be a graphic artist. I was going to be a graphic artist, like all the family and friends and casual acquaintences told me I should... those idiots. People who want to be graphic artists that have no schooling in it make minimum wage here... $5.35 an hour at the time... I made $7.50 at Home Depot. I eventually got raises and got other jobs where I could list my experience, but the school would have helped, for no other reason than I could go to larger companies and better benefits and more time off (a lot of the time I was the only employee who did this stuff, so I rarely got time off). In order to make extra money for a while, to buy parts for the '46, I would go to cruise nights and do those cartoon drawings for $15, I would stick them in a dollar store plastic frame. Each one would take me about a half hour. When about 60% of the locals had one of my drawings leaning on the hood latch, I quit doing it. I also bought a home computer or two and did some freelance work, I haven't done any in a couple years. When I finish up my degree, I'll probably start up again. I finish up the A.A end of summer, and probably another year or two to finish up the classes for a B.A. in Fine Arts. Did I mention I turn 41 in September? Then came the HAMB, and photo-chopping cars, it's damn fun! no money, but it's fun. I did a couple for people that would ask when I was doing the cartoon drawings, I only charged them the $15 I usually did. I was thinking about putting an ad in the HAMB-O-Dex, but I don't know if I'd have time for a real, paying freelance career right now. Mike P.S. I also had to write a autobiographical speech this week, so the other half was already written too.
My father used to draw Roth monsters, etc. I got in trouble for drawing hot rods and monster trucks in kindergarden....it was the ONLY thing i drew.... then i was into comic book drawing for a little while... then I got into motorcycles and wanted to pinstripe my own bike..so practiced...and im still practicing pinstriping.
My first experience with corporal punishment involved breasts and 'leche'. I was in 2nd grade and drew a pair of****s which a girl added to by writing 'leche' across the bottom. This was found by my teacher who sent me to the principal who busted my**** with a wiffle paddle. This solidfied my artistic credentials with the school From there, I drew everything all the time, fueled by my headcase mom who was an artist herself with LOTS of issues. When I made it to my senior year of highschool, I was awarded a full scholarship to junior college for art. When I came home and told my parents, my mom said 'You're not an artist'; she never won anything in her life... I kept drawing, painting, sculpting, etc. I never learned computer added stuff like Adobe or CAD but I plan to one day. Since I moved to Austin, I bought Jeepers Creepers and have started doing artshows whenever I can. Influences: -'Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials'-found this at the library when I was eight. -Books by Ames-this guy has helped tons of artists my age... -Horror Movies especially Hammer -Dragstrip launch pix-every garage I ever went to had the old school off the starting line pic of the garage sponsored car -CarToons,Eerie, Creepy, The Uncanny X-Men, and Heavy Metal magazine -Artists-My mom,Moebius,Art Adams,Neal Adams,Bernie Wrightson,Jaxxon,Richard Corbin,Rick Griffin,Gahan Wilson,Maurice Sendak Todd McFarland,Rockwell,Rackham,Dali,Mucha,Beardsley and Robt.Williams
I'll play. My dad was a mechanic as I was growing up, but no one else in my family really showed artistic tendencies, except for my Grandpa Max. He used to keep me occupied in church by holding me on his lap and drawing trains/cars/tractors (he was, and still is, a farmer). I took to drawing cars early because everyone in my family was interested in them and I could draw them fairly well. I studied all types of art through high school and then went into college intending on a major in illustration, but instead I found industrial design, which let me draw mechanically and build models and prototypes. I'm just starting to get back into the illustration by drawing cars here on the HAMB, so it's come full circle. That's it in a nutshell.
Well it starts like this....as a young lad i remeber my dad drawing rat fink on napkins on the dinner table...used to get my mom wrecked! i was infatuated with monsters instantly. i have been drawing and into art since i was in the 4th grade. i was a big fan of comic books and Cartoons magazines. my aint was an incredible artist and my mom was an awesome sculptor. it's a shame she never pursued it. in the 6th grade i was drawing influence from skateboard graphics especially powell peralta & pushead. i remember the first time i saw an article in thrasher magazine about robt. williams...i was in love. the way he combined surreal images, cars, kids playing with knives etc. then in high school i started dabbling in the art of graffiti. i still do graff art to this day..it's a great medium and the local authorities love it! went to college to learn the computer stuff and got my degree in graphic design. i'm a fan of pop art and screenprinting. now i try to get involved with art shows locally and statewide. my latest love is religous paintings. _T
Cool thread, it's seems that their are some similar stories. I won my first art award in first grade. Drawing came easy for me, I drew the normal stuff, superheroes (mostly Batman!), cars, monsters and naked chicks. My Dad is also a mechanic, so we always had old cars around. And being in So Cal didn't hurt either, my Dad would always take me to cars shows, drag races, and junk yards. I didn't take my art too seriously until after high school, when I realized I could make money and have some fun. I went to a junior college and took all the art courses I could. I continued my education at Platt & Cal State Long Beach. At the height of the comic book industry in the early '90's, I work for a very small independent comic called Missions in Tibet. Looking back, the comic was*****! But hey, I was working on a published comic. Then I went to work for a few ad agencies and design houses, producing ads and brochures for cable TV companies to skin cream. My "9 to 5" paid the bills but I needed an outlet for the "cool stuff." It seems that every artist that I have talked to always has a "side project." Hell, I do. I kept drawing cars, but this time using Photoshop & Illustrator programs. A year ago I got a job with Muscle Machines as a designer on the Original line.Yeah, all day long I get to play with cars and toys and of course art. I am even working on a new line of Traditional Hot Rods & Kustom cars for Muscle Machines. Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to be on a Q&A panel at a die cast show with George Barris, Tom Daniels, Chip Foose and a few other die cast toy designers. So yes, art has been very, very good to me. Sean
Unless you new here, you know I do the HAMB calendar for the past 2 years as well as the artwork for the past 2 Hunnert Car Pileups. I've posted plenty of my hot rod art over the years. Here's some background and some info on the day job... I started drawing at a young age. My first published work was at age 6, for a drawing of a John Deere in Childrens Playmate Magazine in 78. Took college design classes while in High School. In college, I won the LaPorte IN convention and visitors poster contest 2 years in a row. Graduated with a BFA in graphic design from Ball State in 93. Spent the last 11.5 years at*****iardini Design Studio, a chicago packaging firm. We recently changed the name to Red Orchestra, so I cant really show a company site at the moment. Its in development. You have all seen my work outside of the the HAMB. I designed the Trivial Pursuit 6 package, Trivial Pursuit 1990s edition, American Tradition paint at Lowes, and did the much need Rave hair spray redesign in 03. I've worked on every Helene Curtis brand (Salon Selectives, Thermasilk, Finesse, Degree, Dove, Suave) and I work on many Hasbro brands including various Monopoly editions and a multitude of kids games. My package for Chatitude for Hasbro was included in the 2004 Graphic Design USA Design Annual.
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