VERY OLD ART

[JPL-ACE]

Hi,

I thought some of you might want to see some 50 plus years old art. Most of it is not dated as I was doodling or goofing off when I did it. You can assume the art is from 1960 to 1977 when I graduated from Cal Poly. I graduated from HS 1964 and was in the Army 1966 to 1968. My first pic is dated, 1967, so I was either in TX or Germany in the army. Also I spent 7 years getting my 4 year Engineering degree. Perhaps I could have spent the doodle time more wisely, but too late now. Lots of my old drawings are made in class or at workstations. Much of my work was monitoring something so I had lots of free time to kill. I will throw in a doodle page to show you the school work. From a civics class, probably HS or maybe a general ed class at Mt San Antonio Jr College. (2 years there mostly did not transfer well to Cal Poly.)

I plan to comeback about once a week or so, to put up a new picture. So if you like what you see, check back. I have a box full of them I found in storage and I have to scan them in, edit for size and contrast and maybe weed out the junk like in the schoolwork pic. Many of them were quite small and I had to enlarged them. Later I will try to show some drawings that led to models. I dont know how that will work as some moderators are picky about the correct forum (Art or WIP say). I maybe can link them, but I am not clear on that.

Hope you enjoy...old stuff  ?

[JPL-ACE]

This is a full body dragster. I am guessing I drew this in about 1971 when Don Garlits changed to rear engine dragsters. It is a little hard to see but The Hemi is at a 45 degree angle leaving room for the driver on the left side. I drew the dragster first and then tried to make a 3 view (never finished) to match the original design.

[W Humble]

Gary,

I guess we missed one another in The BIg Green Machine, datewise.  Nice drawings!  Many of mine from c. 1960 are pretty crude, but I loved doing them; also graduated into Big Daddy imitation "Wierdos" for my HS classmates.  Note; they didn't impress girls, however.  A degree in Art/Education followed, both BA and MA, but mostly I taught -- Kindergarten.  Well, they love art!  

If I can get my scanning stuff to work right, I'll submit a few more; some of them I attempted as models, as well.  Many now lost, but I still slave at it!  Wonder how folks will remember us oldies?  Wick

[JPL-ACE]

Thanks. As I mentioned, mine are from 60s and mid 70s. Girls not impressed? That have anything to do with my never had a date in HS? My degree was in Engineering and I went on to fly spacecraft (slight exaggeration, I never left the ground). Now I am a SpaceX fan boy.

I am using a $32 Cannon printer/scanner and slowly scanning in a box of drawings from storage. Tedious work but I want to put up some more before they fall apart. Yeah, I lost a couple favorites too. So keep them coming and we can remissness the good old days (or at least claim they were good!).

[Funkychiken]

Hi Gary, looks very much like what I used to doodle draw & sketch when I was a child, but yours look like they have a lot more technical skill! You should certainly try to pick it up again, I know I want to!

[JPL-ACE]

3 hours ago, Funkychiken said:

Hi Gary, looks very much like what I used to doodle draw & sketch when I was a child, but yours look like they have a lot more technical skill! You should certainly try to pick it up again, I know I want to!

Thanks Atin,

The hands just dont work as well now. and Its only been 50 years. Go figure...

So did you post any old (or new) drawings? I am kind of new to the forum and cant find any of your publishing's (drawings or models) in your profile. I notice you may be bit distant from California. Amazing to talk to friends around the world. Cool.

I will upload another one in a day or so. See ya...

[JPL-ACE]

OK, a few days later...  So here is another doodle I drew in 60s or early 70s. I thought it would be cool to treat the VW like an Thames or Willy's like Gasser. And then the hot rod is quite modern for that era, IMHO.

More to come in days ahead...

[JPL-ACE]

Another doodle, my wing rod, for lack of a better name. I liked to mix things up so I put a wing on a modern rid. Not bad for 60/70 era, if I do say so myself.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Cool stuff, very creative, advanced for the time.

I still have some drawings from way back then, and it seems to me that dinosaurs could still be seen occasionally out my window.  

[Spex84]

These are awesome! Thanks for sharing

I drew hot rods in high school too, but that was the 90s haha.

[JPL-ACE]

12 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Cool stuff, very creative, advanced for the time.

I still have some drawings from way back then, and it seems to me that dinosaurs could still be seen occasionally out my window.  

Thanks Ace. So show us your drawings, maybe? Not much action on the forum in Drawings recently, it seems. I am going to put some drawings on that correspond to some models I started years ago and put the models on WIP. Actually I am not sure how to do it yet. How do I cross reference them?

[JPL-ACE]

10 hours ago, Spex84 said:

These are awesome! Thanks for sharing

I drew hot rods in high school too, but that was the 90s haha.

Thanks Chris. Like I said to Ace above, show us your work. How does the 90s relate to the 60s? Lets see the contrast.

[JPL-ACE]

Well, I found some dated material to verify my poor memory for the time period of the drawings. A couple of 12th grade drafting class drawings I did for extra credit. And some large size paper drawings of the same vintage but undated, so a little questionable. Below are 2 of the best sheets. A full 2 part drawing and a partial.

The front and side view are trial designs for the Fisher Body contests offered in the day. I even labeled the last drawing that, though it was more of a doodle. The stylish big G is the emblem on the car. Anyway, they are dated 1964, my high school graduation year. I will upload a few more related but undated drawings in a few days. Later I will upload some drawings with related models. Some drawings before the model and some after. Stay tuned...

OOPs, sorry about the big blank area, part of the scan.

[Kenmojr]

These are very cool and nicely done. Many thanks for sharing.

[JPL-ACE]

8 hours ago, Kenmojr said:

These are very cool and nicely done. Many thanks for sharing.

Thanks Ken. More to come...

[W Humble]

Gary, et al,

I saved all of my stuff from about 1955-onwards, but I drew on school-surplus newsprint, and all are disintegrating so many decades later!  I had one pal in Modoc Union High School who drew very well, Tom Johnson -- we traded stuff sometimes, and even drew on one another's work; still have a few of his!  I'll scan and post a few soon _very busy, trying to become a self-published author on DKP ('young adult/historical fiction' category) with teen-age stories -- lots of cool cars -- beginning in 1959.  A PLACE ON MARS is the series name, if you want to risk a read.  I had two HS girls, my grand-daughter and a cohort, do the covers of the first two books.  

My drawings range from decent if imitative to wild and/or embarrassing, but what part of our past can we change?  Soon!  Wick  Class of '63

[JPL-ACE]

Thank you James. A lot in common here. Waiting for your drawings.

[JPL-ACE]

Here is another drawing but I dont know when except late 60s or probably early 70s.

[W Humble]

Gary, et al,

This is a lot of time to cover; 1960 through 2005-ish -- all on one of my favorite autos, the 1953-54 Studebaker coupe!  Influenced a lot by car mags!  Wish I'd had the guts to go to ink -- on decent paper -- earlier! Only Stude I've ever had i(that ran) was a '62 Hawk GT; gorgeous, but it was a crummy B-W automatic, and I never drove two-pedal cars!  I sold it in late '70s for about $2K, now it's fairly priced at ten-times that, but still local.  Now I have a derelict '54 Champ sedan that, should I live long enough, I'm converting into a two-door roadster, Chevy s-10 frame, '82 IROC-Z engine and T-5 5-speed -- so far!  My last 1;1 project!

Earliest are aboug 1960, then 'eighties, finally about 2005.

Ah, the stories!  Wick

[W Humble]

Wicks very old art:  Forgot to note, I'm building the 'Studebaker Shrike' Roadster in 1/1 -- as soon as I finish Dad's old '51 Chevy for my son, 1/1.  Using '54 Champ sedan body, shortened, w/s chopped 2-in., on S-10 frame with IROC-Z Vortec V-8 and T-5 five-speed.  Now to learn my new TIG welder!  Maybe MIG will have to do!

Also doing a resin '51 Chevy replica for him based on AMT B-A kit; 350.five-speed, M II front, power discs, steering, and FiTech FI, etc.  Ole' Wick

[JPL-ACE]

I took a little break, hope you are still listening. My family loved Studies until they died. I like the 53-54 design second to the Avanti. I just built a model more or less stock. Maybe I will put it on the Forum. My closeup work is not the best. Your drawings are great and remind me of my own in years past. Look back at our pics in this thread.

[JPL-ACE]

To "Thedragsterdude reacted to a post in a topic". I got an email with this quote from the forum but I can't find any post. Thanks for the comment anyway. That is if the reaction was positive ? 

[W Humble]

Gary, thanks; it's been a long time!  My favorite car (from my lifetime, anyhow) is the 1953-54 Studebaker coupe -- always has been!  Others are the 1961 Pontiac 'bubble-top' coupe, the 1955 Chevy (in such great taste, plus my first car, the one you never forget!), the Avanti, Datsun 240Z, 1951 Ford club coupe &/or Victoria, and... well, you get it!  I've been doing a little drawing lately; four book covers for my Kindle 'historical fiction' novels -- just about my teen-hood, fictionalized a LOT!  All have lots of cars, r&r, and teen angst -- and bad guys!  Covers are supposed to suggest comic-book art. 

Keep on doing art!  And making models, oc.  Wick

[JPL-ACE]

Wow, your art is better than mine ever was. Here are a few more of the old pics I did. I cant draw well anymore so no new stuff. Now I need to get a few pics of the Avanti and upload them.

Edited July 27, 2024 by JPL-ACE

[W Humble]

Thanks, but...   I was lucky through most of high school to have a 'bestie' who also loved to draw customs/rods, and was very adroit -- neither of us had lessons 'cause of living in a small, isolated town in NW CA, but we'd often draw part of a car then let the other finish it, for fun.  We also flamed and scalloped every car in magazine adverts, and cut some out to 'lower' or 'section' them.  It was fun.  Then he got in hot water and the probation officer offered him the famous 'join the Army' option to stiffer penalties, and he left town; Tommy Johnson.  There was another guy in our class who was a masterful cartoonist/caricaturist, Dan Sheflin.  I used to say that our HS knew the value of art, as it offered NO art classes -- mechanical drawing only.  Later, 'cause I think everyone called me an 'artist' because they didn't think I was any good at anything else, I got an MA in Art/Education -- so I should be a lot better than I am, now!!  GI Bill helped!

The novel covers were intended to be done by high-schoolers, but my grand-daughter did one and a classmate another (digitally) but I didn't include those as I didn't do them.  I paid almost $100 each for the two girl's work, but they said they weren't interested in doing more!  As a former fine arts teacher, I found that hard to imagine; earning money for artworks at age 16; were they in my class, I would have allowed it as a class assignment, and graded appropriately!  The time we live in!?

So... I literally backed into those cover jobs, and they weren't ideal.  Kindle didn't mind, however... !  I've only sold about sixty copies of the six stories, and some I boght myself to give away.  I also have a very long novel about the life of a (fictional) pioneer aviator, Bird of Ill Omen, coming out on Kindle Vella, a serialization outlet for ebooks.  I did the 'cover' for it also, as a -- get this -- tee-shirt.  Came out okay; acrylic craft-paint rendition of a Brewster Buffalo in combat in Malaya; just part of the action!  

Well, I have some more ancient art cleaned up; if my scanner works, I'll send some more cars, c.1962-65, to this topic asap. BTW, the A Place On Mars stories are only about $3 for ebook, and $5 (cheap, as MAD Magazine used to say) for the paperbacks.  Trying to get some ratings/reviews on Kindle!!

Thanks for being my pen-pal!  Wick, age 79