Automotive Illustration - The Art of the Automobile

I’m happy to present this post of automotive illustration, as it covers a lot of ground regarding my Illustrations, from distant past to recent times. The focus here is the Art of the Automobile. (Trucks, too!) Where to begin?…

Mercedes Automotive Illustration

Several years ago, I landed an assignment producing illustrations for Mercedes-Benz. The ad campaign was designed for newspapers nationwide. I produced a number of drawings for their S-series of automobiles. Here are three images from the ad…

Truck Illustrations

I did promise some trucks! Here is an illustration from the pages of The Wall Street Journal that I produced when I was young, and a staff illustrator at the WSJ, in the 1980’s…I was crafting the graphic identity of the paper in this period, and would relish the chance to portray the occasional ‘non-suit’-type for the A-Hed, (center column) usually a human interest story. Here was a profile of a woman 18-wheel driver… somewhat novel at the time.Staying with trucks, I worked on a calendar project for the specialty-foods company Tony’s, on the west coast. Here is a spot of one of the company vehicles:I landed a major job for Brown-Forman, the distillers of Old Forester Bourbon. I will only share one image of very many here. It was created for an in-house training program…This truck and its driver would drive (in their presentation, a parallax animation) through fields of grain, into the distillery, pick up barrels, etc, etc. It was a fun project.

Henry Ford Portrait

Ok, Back to cars…  I mentioned that I was pioneering a style at The Wall Street Journal, way back in the last century! Here is a special ’sneak peek’ at the birth of this iconic portrait style, known as the ‘hedcut’:Henry Ford, II. I was trying to work out the best way to illustrate a person’s portrait in miniature, for the purposes of newsprint. This was a trial which did make it into print in the WSJ. This was likely 1979. Notice the elaborate pointillistic detail and rather exuberant line-work in the hair and suit areas. I had a lot of kinks to work out in the process, but it was a start. Glynn Mapes, the front page editor, was satisfied with it.

Special Automobile Illustration

Lastly, I present my ‘gift portrait’ for a barrister friend in Ireland. He came into possession of this 1938 beauty a little while ago. I even got a ride in it on one of my many jaunts to the Emerald Isle! It really is a stunning period vehicle.