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The cutaway drawing and its artists


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#7401 TWest

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 08:02

And, here we have the Rover 820 from 1989. Again, credit Terry Davey and Haynes Manuals.
Tom West

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#7402 scorerr770

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 08:02

We have had the latest Deltic Engines through work here with tie-down schemes being updated so that it can travel in the C-17A Globemaster aircraft.

small world.
:wave:

Edited by scorerr770, 10 January 2011 - 08:03.


#7403 TWest

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 08:05

This Toyota Celica Supra was quite popular in 1986. We even ended up building a modelkit of it at MPC ... pretty decent model, but who really cared ...
Illustration by Terry Davey on the Haynes Manual .
Tom West

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#7404 TWest

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 08:09

Our last of the Haynes covers for tonight is the 1986 Volvo 760. By Terry Davey.
I haven't looked at that stack of prints lately, but there are quite a number of them in there yet to go. I had not realized how many of those were not Terry Davey pieces, a lot by Phillip Cox and David Kimble, plus a few others.
I hope that this helps make up for a bit of my lack of contribution over the last month or so. Thanks for hanging with me, folks.
Tom West

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#7405 Flightlinearts

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 08:14

Don't you find that you rarely get ill when under pressure of deadlines? My busy periods varied from three weeks to three months at a stretch, and I could be surrounded by plague and pestilence without suffering, but as soon as the workload disappeared, bingo, ill. During 37 years of freelance illustrating I was only too ill to work at a time when I had a major commission on one occasion, and farmed the work out, which was a disaster... My children would come home from school riddled with dengue fever, elephantiasis and rickets but if I was busy I was bullet-proof. I used to quite enjoy having a week in which to be a bit ill, and have no responsibilities. No, please Matron, not more ice-cream - Ooh! Lovely cool hands...

Too True. It is probably an injection of adrenalin and fear that keeps you going!

Tim Hall

#7406 Karabas

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 08:39

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Spad XIII. By John Batchelor


Dear werks prototype,

Which publication published these wonderful Batchelor's illustrations?

#7407 scorerr770

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 09:19

Our last of the Haynes covers for tonight is the 1986 Volvo 760. By Terry Davey.
I haven't looked at that stack of prints lately, but there are quite a number of them in there yet to go. I had not realized how many of those were not Terry Davey pieces, a lot by Phillip Cox and David Kimble, plus a few others.
I hope that this helps make up for a bit of my lack of contribution over the last month or so. Thanks for hanging with me, folks.
Tom West

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I have been buying the Haynes Cutaway calendars last few years and now looks like none printed for 2011 unless anyone knows different. So purchased the Haynes 2011 desk diary instead.

Edited by scorerr770, 10 January 2011 - 09:29.


#7408 Karabas

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 09:33

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Yoshihiro Inomoto
1939 Rolls-Royce Phantom III Sedan de Ville

Replacement for one of my previous Inomoto posts (much better quality)

#7409 Flightlinearts

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 14:52

The interesting thing is that all the blokes who get there share a common sense of humour. You have to have a laugh or you would go mad!!

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A picture is worth a thousand words. Flight cutaway staff having fun. From left Ira Epton, Tim Hall, John Marsden and lastly Frank Munger.

Tim Hall

Tim Hall
[/quote]


#7410 alansart

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 15:29

Don't you find that you rarely get ill when under pressure of deadlines? My busy periods varied from three weeks to three months at a stretch, and I could be surrounded by plague and pestilence without suffering, but as soon as the workload disappeared, bingo, ill. During 37 years of freelance illustrating I was only too ill to work at a time when I had a major commission on one occasion, and farmed the work out, which was a disaster... My children would come home from school riddled with dengue fever, elephantiasis and rickets but if I was busy I was bullet-proof. I used to quite enjoy having a week in which to be a bit ill, and have no responsibilities. No, please Matron, not more ice-cream - Ooh! Lovely cool hands...


As I'm struggling with "Man" flu and have not stopped coughing since Tony posted the cigar, I decided to have an extra hour in bed today. I got about half an hour before the phone rang.

I think I've had 2 days off through illness since going freelance in 1982 both as a result of car crashes.


#7411 JoeKane

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 16:13

The interesting thing is that all the blokes who get there share a common sense of humour. You have to have a laugh or you would go mad!!

Tim Hall

Great picture Tim! Looks like you guys knew how to have fun. Thanks for posting it and I hope you have more work photos for us.

#7412 TWest

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 18:44

I have been buying the Haynes Cutaway calendars last few years and now looks like none printed for 2011 unless anyone knows different. So purchased the Haynes 2011 desk diary instead.


Scorerr,
I wish that I had been able to get the Calendars, as I am sure there would be subjects in there that I have not seen ... and they would be much better quality than I have been able to have. Also, will have to check out the desk calendar. I must assume that is not all cutaway art.

#7413 tbolt

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 19:54

Golden Arrow by F Gordon Crosby, the uncredited 1000hp Sunbeam (slug) on page 132 is also by Crosby.

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#7414 Tony Matthews

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Posted 10 January 2011 - 22:10

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Yep, nice photo. Life with Jim Allington was fun in the early days, when I started there was one other employee, Bernard Porter, who never quite made it as an illustrator and eventually left to work for a local small engineering company. Before he left the ranks were swelled by A N Other, but that ended in tears. Then, later, we got up to four again, with Paul Castle and a rapid turnover of lads. Then it was Jim and me for the last few years, and although there were still moments of hilarity it bogged down, Jim was losing interest in the studio, I was left mostly on my own doing the tedious FMC seat drawings, and at that point I decided to chuck it in, pack a few belongings in a kerchief, cut a stave from a blackthorn bush and take to the road and seek my fortune... Oops, forgot the panto season was over.

Edited by Tony Matthews, 10 January 2011 - 22:10.


#7415 Graham Clayton

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Posted 11 January 2011 - 00:35

Although uncredited, this looks like another David Kimble drawing, this time of a Kurtis-Kraft speedcar:

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#7416 TWest

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Posted 11 January 2011 - 04:20

First, that Sprint car is a Kimble piece ...
Second, the Russian site lifted 6 of the Terry Davey illustrations that I posted last night. They usually don't take that high a percentage of the material ...
Should I be offended, or happy that the stuff is getting more attention that way? Hmm. Not quite sure.
Tom West

#7417 eldougo

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Posted 11 January 2011 - 10:52

Posted Image..Unknown if we had this before.

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#7418 Duc-Man

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Posted 11 January 2011 - 11:01

Posted Image..Unknown if we had this before.

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That is some serious cutting away there. I think I read the name once before. It reads Jollrill.

#7419 ibsenop

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Posted 11 January 2011 - 15:55

[quote name='eldougo' post='4784291' date='Jan 11 2011, 08:52'

..Unknown if we had this before.

Jensen Healey MkI by J. Attrill - page 113 - post 4497 (blue background) by Werks Prototype

Edited by ibsenop, 11 January 2011 - 16:00.


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#7420 JoeKane

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Posted 11 January 2011 - 15:55

...I think I read the name once before. It reads Jollrill.

I seem to remember a Jottrill name associated with cutaways. Not sure if it is correct... Interesting that the subject car is left hand drive and isn't it a UK magazine?
This represents the chainsaw style of cutaway work...

Edit - Ahh, Ibsen, thank you for your encyclopedic knowledge and dedication to our passion.

Edited by JoeKane, 11 January 2011 - 15:59.


#7421 scorerr770

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 07:54

Scorerr,
I wish that I had been able to get the Calendars, as I am sure there would be subjects in there that I have not seen ... and they would be much better quality than I have been able to have. Also, will have to check out the desk calendar. I must assume that is not all cutaway art.


Hi Tom.

Description has desk calendar with 12 cutaways and descriptions of each, so one at the begining of each month. Will post what cutaway is when I eventually receive it.

Regards

Roy

#7422 Duc-Man

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 12:40

I just found this blog page that has some drawing that might cause flashbacks for some english people here.

#7423 fnqvmuch

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 13:06

I just found this blog page that has some drawing that might cause flashbacks for some english people here.



not just the english - i daresay lashings of Eagle was consumed by colonials of a certain vintage ... went well with spotted dick, iirc ...
steven

#7424 Flightlinearts

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 13:50

[A picture is worth a thousand words. Tim Hall

Tim Hall
[/quote]
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John Marsden is 81 today. Photo taken by John Hostler - late 60's or early 70's. The job was the first Toyota imported into the country. It was at a garage in Dulwich. Note John is sketching onto a full sized piece of lineboard.

Tim Hall

#7425 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:04

[A picture is worth a thousand words. Tim Hall

Tim Hall

John Marsden is 81 today. Photo taken by John Hostler - late 60's or early 70's. The job was the first Toyota imported into the country. It was at a garage in Dulwich. Note John is sketching onto a full sized piece of lineboard.

Tim Hall


These photo's are brilliant Tim.

It is great to see the human side of things, in this way! :up:

#7426 alansart

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:07

These photo's are brilliant Tim.

It is great to see the human side of things, in this way! :up:



I quite agree. But I must admit, the first thing I thought of when I finally scrolled along the photo was......"Hhhhancock's Half Hour" :)

Edited by alansart, 12 January 2011 - 18:07.


#7427 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:10

Dear werks prototype,

Which publication published these wonderful Batchelor's illustrations?


Classic Fighter Aircraft. By Bill Gunston. You don't see many of his works around.


#7428 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:31

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Dagrada Formula Junior with specification. By Emily.

This has been posted before, by both Marc and Tom.

But this version also includes a little extra info on the car itself.

I don't know if we have dealt with this before but is perhaps 'Emily' a pseudonym? I would say, for Gordon Bruce, looking at the wheels?

Edited by werks prototype, 12 January 2011 - 18:40.


#7429 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:34

Posted Image
Lola Formula Junior By James Allington. With specification and photo of the 'superspeed ' 105E.

Again, a much superior version of the car itself, scanned by Tom West appears @3026.

Edited by werks prototype, 12 January 2011 - 18:43.


#7430 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:35

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Standard, Ford 105E. By Brian Hatton.

#7431 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:36

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1925 prototype, four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, Pietro Amati, rolling chassis.

#7432 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:37

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Moto Guzzi 500 8 V. By Paolo Riccioni and Guido Canestrari.


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Garelli 350 Two-stroke engine, split cylinder. By Paolo Riccioni.


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BMW 328, valve gear. By Schlenzig.

#7433 werks prototype

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 18:37

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Ferrari, gearbox. Testarossa. By Stephen Seymour.


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Ferrari 126 C and 126 C2 chassis. By Piola.


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McLaren MP4-17D rear suspension. By Piola.

#7434 Tony Matthews

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 19:01

......"Hhhhancock's Half Hour" :)

East Cheam School of Art. Bring your own Bovril.

#7435 TWest

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 20:15

Classic Fighter Aircraft. By Bill Gunston. You don't see many of his works around.


Actually, you see a reasonable number of the John Batchelor pieces used in some of the aircraft encyclopedias or histories. I know that he seems to be in all of them somehow, and not just for his cutaways.
If you want to read a bit about him, check his website:
http://www.johnbatch...om/mainsite.htm

Hope this helps.
Tom West

#7436 TWest

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 20:15

Classic Fighter Aircraft. By Bill Gunston. You don't see many of his works around.


Actually, you see a reasonable number of the John Batchelor pieces used in some of the aircraft encyclopedias or histories. I know that he seems to be in all of them somehow, and not just for his cutaways.
If you want to read a bit about him, check his website:
http://www.johnbatch...om/mainsite.htm

Hope this helps.
Tom West

#7437 jayban

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 21:14

Your comments on work and school struck a chord. I hated school and left without any O levels back in 1963. At 15 went into the Army as a Junior Tradesman and found I had to do my O levels then. When I left the Army after 5 yrs, I went to work for the Navy as a civilian and it was during that period that I found out about Technical Illustration. My Sister had a place on the Interior Design course at Portsmouth College of Art and pointed me in the direction of the course. I went to see the course on an open day and that was it. I had no art qualifications but I could draw, and got in on my drawing ability. I went on to take O levels in Art and Engineering drawing, but that was it. Found it difficult for the first term, then went from strength to strength. Portsmouth had a good Technical Illustration course run by Don Spetch. Left the course with the old City and Guilds Finals qualifications. I am sure there are a few people out there who remember them!
There were other good courses in the Country too, at that time. Sadly it has all gone. Tech pubs these days use solids to produce the illustrations - not much fun there. However I have seen solids starting to be used for IPC and maintenance manuals where they are used for animations. They work well and I think that in the near future all manuals will be on a DVD and be animated.
After working for an agency and then Flight for 30+ years, I found myself having to work as a self employed person.
Lack of work and being ill are the only two down sides of being self employed. You are constantly looking for work, you do get used to it, but it took some years. However working for yourself beats having people above you, who in a some cases have'nt got a clue.
The main qualifications needed to produce cutaways are: - 1. Being able to draw from life, 2. Having an intense interest in technical subjects and wanting to find out what goes on under the casing. (Technical knowledge can be acquired if you are really interested) 3. and lastly where most people fall down having the stickablility to work for long hours day after day, with a deadline approaching. The last one is where I have seen most people fail.
The interesting thing is that all the blokes who get there share a common sense of humour. You have to have a laugh or you would go mad!!

Tim Hall



Hi Tim

It has been a while since I posted here on the 'cutaway' forum but I couldn't resist when I saw you were posting. I was in my 1st year at Portsmouth whilst you were in the 3rd' - seems so long ago it's hard to remember most of the names now!
I remember Don Spetch - and who was his sidekick? - Gerry ?? - his son Peter was on the course as well. I can only remember Rob Brill (who spent most of his time drawing turtles!) and a few from my year , Roger Farrington, Roy Ennis, Steve Alcock and Dave Amy.

I have been freelance since 1976 (and will probably be for a good while yet) mainly working with 3D software now - (how things change!)

Good to see you have made it onto the forum

Jeremy (Banks)



#7438 Karabas

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Posted 12 January 2011 - 23:08

Actually, you see a reasonable number of the John Batchelor pieces used in some of the aircraft encyclopedias or histories. I know that he seems to be in all of them somehow, and not just for his cutaways.
If you want to read a bit about him, check his website:
http://www.johnbatch...om/mainsite.htm

Hope this helps.
Tom West


Thanks for the link, Tom.
Unfortunately, except for the biography, not a lot of useful information. Guys are not spent too much time and effort on presentation of the artist. Strange, because his illustrations (including excellent "old style" cutaways) can be found in dozens of books...

Classic Fighter Aircraft. By Bill Gunston. You don't see many of his works around.


Already ordered this book, thank you werks prototype!
I asked because I do not frequently seen such good quality Batchelor's cutaways. His illustrations in most of the books somehow very small. :confused:
Hope, now I will see them quite clearly.

#7439 Flightlinearts

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Posted 13 January 2011 - 08:19

[quote name='Karabas' date='Jan 12 2011, 23:08' post='4786395']
Thanks for the link, Tom.
Unfortunately, except for the biography, not a lot of useful information. Guys are not spent too much time and effort on presentation of the artist. Strange, because his illustrations (including excellent "old style" cutaways) can be found in dozens of books...

Perhaps this might help, I wrote this back in 2004. It was published in Aeroplane with some samples of his work. The article was in the series 'Cutaway Kings'.

Cutaway Kings
John Batchelor

John Batchelor has been associated with technical illustrations of military and other subject matter since the 60’s and I first remember seeing his cutaways in the Eagle boy’s paper. The cutaway illustrations, which appeared each week in the Eagle, were instrumental in getting many boys interested in drawings of technical subjects and one of those boys was myself.
I set off to visit John where he lives in Wimborne, Dorset and talk to him about his life’s work in illustration. I was greeted by a man who looked younger than his 68 years and ushered into his studio, which is packed with 2,500 books and 3,500 files of reference material. Immediately I felt at home and after a cup of coffee and a chat he started to tell me about his working life.

Born in 1936 and brought up in his early years in Chalkwall in Essex.
He lived with his mother and sisters in a house, which overlooked the sea and the Thames estuary. His father, who had been a pilot flying SE5’s in the First World War with 26 Sqn Royal Flying Corps, was mostly away working as a transport manager for ENSA. His earliest recollections of getting interested in technical matters was in 1940 when he was aged four and a half and out for a walk on a sea wall at Leigh-on Sea. He watched a low level dogfight between a Hurricane and two Bf 109 fighters. The Hurricanes caught fire and went over Canvey Island smoking badly. When he got home he drew the incident, and has the drawing to this day. It is captioned on the back, by his mother, ‘Leigh-on Sea September 1940’. Later an American Sherman tank was outside his house with one of it’s tracks off. John set too and completed several sketches of the tank and its mechanical details. Also at this time he got to know some soldiers who were billeted near to where he lived. They manned a gun position on the beach opposite the house and he would spend many hours watching them work and talking to them. Eventually he was asked if he wanted to help them strip and re-assemble a Lewis gun which they used, this leading to him being paid sixpence to strip, clean and reassemble the weapon and load the ammunition drum. This experience was also put down onto paper in the form of sketches of the weapon and its component parts. They also had a Oerlikon cannon but his hands were not strong enough to help with the stripping of that weapon!
His greatest inspiration came from seeing the cutaways by J.H. Clark in copies of the ‘Aeroplane’, which his older brother bought when he was home from the sea. He studied them continuously and never again wanted to do anything else with his life.
One of the big moments in his early life was in 1944 when his father arranged for him to sit in the Drury Lane theatre and watch Glen Miller and Ann Shelton recording two live radio shows – John being the only person in the audience.

His interest in aviation also grew with visits to RAF Rochford, now Southend Airport where after the war he would watch Handley Page Halifax’s being flown and be taxied over to the Eastwood Church corner of the airfield where the undercarriage would be collapsed and the breaking up of the aircraft would take place. John often making sketches of the scrapping.
His first flight was when he was aged ten in an Airspeed Courier from Southend. His next flights were in a DeHavilland Puss Moth and DeHavilland Tiger Moth still in its camouflage markings.

He was educated at the local school in Chalkwall and left in 1951 aged 15 and by then the one subject he excelled at was art.
He applied to go to the Imperial Art School at Southend on Sea, but was turned down, and can remember coming out after his interview being absolutely downcast that he had not been successful.
When he got home his mother seeing that he was very disappointed went upstairs and got out a folder containing a lot of the drawings he had produced of weapons and aircraft since he was four and said to him that he should not let the decision effect him, and should go out and find a job that should allow him to use his talents.
At first he did all sort of small jobs, but kept his hand in with drawing aircraft and other military equipment at every opportunity.
He was called up for National Service in 1954 and went into the RAF as Aircraftsman and was selected to be a wireless mechanic. He joined up at Cardington and then he went to the Wirral in Cheshire for eight weeks to do his square bashing. From there he went to Compton Basset to do his technical training, finally going to 4 Ground Radio Servicing Station at Chigwell. Typically he wanted to go overseas as unlike the bulk of the other trainees he had no girlfriend and found himself given a UK posting very close to home! He was based at Chigwell for all the rest of his service but did regularly go on detachment in the UK and overseas to bases in Gibraltar, Australia, Ceylon and Hong Kong and several other locations.
At the beginning of 1957 after his National Service he applied for a job in the Technical Publications Office at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. He had seen this job advertised in a paper and thought I’m going to go for this! At his interview he showed a carefully selected sample of his work to the Chief Technical Artist, who after viewing his work asked him “Have you got any sketchbooks with you?”
John replied yes and produced some sketchbooks showing sketches of aircraft details he had produced during his National Service in the RAF.
Typical of these sketches were details of the Hawker Hunter up on trestles with its undercarriage down and its panels off.
After thirty seconds he was told, “That’s what I want to see you’ve got the job!”
He was told not to worry about the technical side of the drawing that could be taught, the main thing is your ability and interest in aeroplanes.
In April 1957 he started at Bristol’s at Filton at the Technical Publications Office, the illustration staff then numbering 50-60 illustrators.
At first he felt like a fish out of water and was told to select a component out of a box and do a drawing of it. He remembers he chose an insulated clamp, which joined two pipes together. After a few months he had been given the geometrical training necessary to construct a perspective illustration and started to learn the technique of inking illustrations.

After two years he decided to leave Bristol’s, it had been an important starting job for him because it had taught him the disciplines and skills of technical illustration, which would be of use to him for the rest of his working life. Also when he was at Bristol’s he managed to get a flight in a Brittania and an Avro Ashton.
He moved on to Martin Bakers at Denham and worked in their Technical Publications Office with two other illustrators.
One lunchtime Jimmy Martin knowing he was interested in weapons took him to a building with a steel door and opening it took him inside to display a room full of weapon’s of every type including semi-automatic and automatic weapon’s. It was Jimmy Martins toy cupboard!
His time spent at Martin Bakers was spent producing drawings for their spare parts and maintenance manuals. His most frightening moment being when he was fired up the ramp on one of their seats – a tooth shaking experience!
In 1959 after a year at Martin Bakers he saw a job at Saunders Roe at Cowes in the Isle of Wight. This appealed to him as he liked sailing and fishing so he applied for the job and got the job. During his time there he worked on several aircraft including the Wasp helicopter and the SRN 1 hovercraft. The most interesting being a project for the United States Navy, which would have used three of the Princess flying boats, with a nuclear reactor to power the aircraft and its systems and would have allowed it to fly for a month without landing. The aircraft would have been used as an AWACS type aircraft, with its weapon’s being run out on rails from the fuselage similar to the system used on the Short Sunderland.
During his time spent learning the trade in Technical Publications he was also doing a lot of work in his own time in gouache. At first he drew, painted and collected antique handguns, learning how to use the media and get the effects he wanted. These subjects taught him to paint all kinds of materials and finishes.
In late 1960 he decided to go to an advertising agency and worked in their two offices in Portsmouth and Bournemouth. He soon found that it had been a mistake and in January 1961 he decided he wanted to try his hand at doing freelance cutaways, so he got on a train to London with the intention of going to Flight or the Eagle to obtain work. He decided to start with the Eagle and purchasing a copy saw the magazines address in Longacre. He made his way to the offices of Odhams Press where the Eagle editorial offices were and went to one of the secretaries and asked to see the Editor. He was told he would have to write in. John tried to explain that he was only in London today and wanted to see the Editor today. John did manage to see the Editor L.R.P. Bartholomew eventually and came away with six cutaways and a 56 week series of illustrations of antique pistols.

During the next five years he continued his freelance work for Eagle and also did cutaways for Autocar and Autosport. Another publisher who used his work was Fleetway Publications who published Tiger, Lion and Look and Learn.
In 1966 he was contacted by French publisher Le Journal de la France to undertake some illustrations for a parts work. The work expanded to the degree that he found himself visiting Paris on a bi-weekly basis for the next five years!
This was to be the start of a lot of colour illustrations work for weekly parts publications, which went on to him working for Purnells History of the First and Second World War for which he produced 1,163 illustrations.
Another World War series, which John conceived, was the World War Specials. These were paperback publications on the military equipment and weapons of the First and Second World Wars. John illustrated all of them and in 1976 after 10 million were sold the publisher hired the Imperial War Museum and got Sir Douglas Bader to present him with a solid silver Saladin armoured car made by Garrards. The publications went on to sell almost 20 million copies. Over the years, he has illustrated the history of the Second World War five times!
From the World War publications he went on to books for Macdonald publishers in conjunction with other authors the first of which was a book on the Tank, which Keith Macksey wrote and John illustrated. This first book was to lead to a dozen others in the series.
Over the years John has originated and illustrated nearly 30 books and had his illustrated work in nearly 150 (110 volumes for Time-Life books alone). Also he had produced illustrations for the British Ceramic industry.
It was in 1967 that John went to see his bank manager for a loan to fund him to visit the United States to look for work. At first the manager just wanted to slide out of the room, but as John showed him samples of his work, he became more interested and ended up loaning John £400 to fund a trip to the States.
So off he went to New York and after looking through the Yellow Pages of the telephone directory for publishers, he spent seven working days visiting publishers and trying to sell his work. It was on his last but one day that he walked into a publisher on 5th Avenue called Ballantine Books and met Ian Ballantine and after John had shown samples of his work, he asked John to come back the next day. The next day he was given work which led him to completing illustrations for 150 volumes of a parts series on weapons of the Second World War.
On his return to England John revisited his Bank manager with a letter from Ian Ballantine, which gave John an advance of $2,000 plus a contract for him to work on 70 volumes of the parts work. He certainly surprised the Bank manager and since that day has never had any problem borrowing from the bank!
It was from his first visit to the States that many more contacts were made with publishers, both for magazines and books. Those initial contacts leading to him working over the years for Time-Life books who he has illustrated nearly 110 volumes for, and various cutaway and other illustrations for Popular Mechanics, Microsoft, Readers Digest and numerous other publications.

Like all Technical Artists John loves to see the subject matter he is drawing, and this would often mean travelling to where the piece of equipment was being built. Often this would mean assimilating a huge amount of material in a very short time, the material being engineering material, photos and sketches. One of John’s biggest projects of recent years was a job for Air & Space magazine, which was to illustrate the USS Abraham Lincoln.
For this he was flown to San Diego, California and then flown onto the ship at sea in a Greyhound COD aircraft, where he spent four days on the carrier before being catapulted back in the air to return to San Diego. He has also recently produced a cutaway of the RMS Queen Mary II, which he spent several days on both at St Nazaire and at sea.
During a visit to Palmdale, California he met Hanna Reitsch, the famous German test pilot. He was able to spend some time in conversation with her. This was followed buy occasional correspondence with her. Just one of so many interesting people he met in his travels occasioned by his work.

In more recent years John has become very heavily engaged in producing artwork for postage stamps. He started his artwork for stamps in 1985 when he did some artwork for the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the Spitfire. in 1986.
His artwork has now been produced for stamps in over forty countries, and the demand for this work looks like it will keep him busy for some years ahead yet.

Like Mike Badrocke (Cutaway Kings May 2004) John has retained a great deal of his artwork, the exception being the artwork for the postage stamps, which the Crown Agents must retain. His collection of artwork is now over 3,500 pieces and he is constantly asked for ‘one off usage’ of artwork, which gives him a source of income from his collection.
Amongst his artwork are also paintings which he has produced, one of the being an oil painting of a Messerschmitt Bf109 flown by Adolph Galland and signed by the Galland himself.

During his working life John has been fortunate to be able to fly in a lot of aircraft and these include a B-25, B-17 and once a F-15.
He has also fired numerous weapons from handguns up to artillery pieces.
One of his most memorable ‘hands on’ experiences was when he was invited down to Lulworth gunnery ranges by the Army to fire the 120mm gun on the Chieftain. He had had a tax demand that week from the Inland Revenue and the costs of the ammunition for the Chieftain far outstripped the payment he made to the Taxman! A letter to the taxman who sent the demand, telling his that he had spent the £800 at 4,200 per second was not appreciated!

Something else John shares with Mike Badrocke is his love of fly fishing, and he looks ahead to slowing down a bit and being able to do more fly fishing and travelling, but like most of the Cutaway Kings John will probably never fully retire and continue producing his artwork, a way of life that has given him so much enjoyment, interest and an accolade much deserved.
At the end of my visit I asked him which job he had enjoyed working on the most? His reply, “The last one I worked on”.

Now at 68, John is busier than ever with two large projects under way. By July this year he will have made his 150th round trip to North America combining business with fly fishing in British Columbia for trout and salmon.
“How can anyone have so much fun and enjoyment over the past 44 years and even be paid for it”.

Tim Hall













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#7440 Flightlinearts

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Posted 13 January 2011 - 08:24

Hi Tim

It has been a while since I posted here on the 'cutaway' forum but I couldn't resist when I saw you were posting. I was in my 1st year at Portsmouth whilst you were in the 3rd' - seems so long ago it's hard to remember most of the names now!
I remember Don Spetch - and who was his sidekick? - Gerry ?? - his son Peter was on the course as well. I can only remember Rob Brill (who spent most of his time drawing turtles!) and a few from my year , Roger Farrington, Roy Ennis, Steve Alcock and Dave Amy.

I have been freelance since 1976 (and will probably be for a good while yet) mainly working with 3D software now - (how things change!)

Good to see you have made it onto the forum

Jeremy (Banks)

Nice to hear from you Jeremy, I remember yourself, Rob Brill, Roger Farrington and Steve Alcock, but I cannot place the other names.
The other lecturers I remember were Gerry Tucker and Mark Way

Tim Hall

#7441 Karabas

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Posted 13 January 2011 - 09:10

Perhaps this might help, I wrote this back in 2004. It was published in Aeroplane with some samples of his work. The article was in the series 'Cutaway Kings'.

Tim Hall



Thank you very much, Tim. Incredibly interesting and helpful! :up:
Saved in my archive :)

#7442 Robbie693

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Posted 13 January 2011 - 15:45

Hello,

First post - I stumbled upon this thread whilst doing research into drumming up some work and was amazed at the collection of drawings posted here, great stuff!

Also great to see Tony Matthews here amongst others, he was a big inspiration for me to get into Tech Ill - thanks Tony, beautiful work.

Anyway, I wanted to contribute so here's my only (to date) full-blown automotive cutaway. Done as a self promotional piece, based on an old Fiat I once owned, it's done in watercolour, on stretched paper, some airbrushing but mostly with a brush.

Do auto manufacturers commission this stuff any-more or is it all in-house?
 

x-19_copy.jpg


Edited by Robbie693, 26 October 2017 - 09:40.


#7443 Tony Matthews

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Posted 13 January 2011 - 18:33

Tony Matthews... he was a big inspiration for me to get into Tech Ill...
Posted Image

That's right, blame me.

Very nice illustration Robbie, and on stretched paper - I used that for some illustrations, but mainly for overlays, to change bodywork/colour schemes, sometimes technical bits. Did you use it because of the difficulty of obtaining board, or because you wanted a specific paper, not produced in board form? One thing I had to be careful of was shrinkage, as overlays obviously have to match the underlay. I should have been a carpet fitter. The shrinkage is only a tiny percentage, but over 20"x30" it adds up...

This might be the answer to those who want to use traditional methods and can't use what, if any, is available as board. I'll have to check paper sizes and availability. I've got miles of gummed brown-paper tape, I bought six huge rolls years ago, thinking that it might disappear too. Perhaps it has, but you can't use plastic tape. I used a heavy, melamine-faced drawing board as a stretcher, but the tape grip was marginal, a plain wooden board was preferable, but getting the dried tape off later was a game and a half. You can't win. This made it a bit cumbersome, but the normal backing material, hardboard, isn't rigid enough to take... ooh!... the... aghh! ... strain. I used CS2 NOT and HP paper, depending on how I was working, and what they had in stock at Tim's Art Supplies.

I don't know how much of the thread you've read, but the general opinion is that getting work is hard, but don't be put off by that, if you really want to do it, stick at it, youy never know what paydirt you may strike. Other contributors can tell you about the in-house versus freelance deals.

#7444 TWest

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 03:19

Guys,
I just want to finish up four of the Haynes covers that I did not complete with the last batch I posted here. This has been quite fascinating conversation about the day when Cutaways were King ... or at least the illustrators were. I know that I was on the back end of that whole curve, as I hit in the late 60s after all of the classic cutaway series had been stopped. It is interesting to see how much demand there was with some of the publishers in the UK, as opposed to what was being done here.
I am going to start the four pieces tonight with a Kimble illustration of the 1990 BMW 525. There are quite a number of these that were done after he got the contract from Haynes. After this was over, they pretty much closed down the cutaway thing and went to photos ... which were really bad.
Enjoy.
Tom West


Posted Image

#7445 TWest

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 03:22

This was a Terry Davey cover for Haynes, a Ford Capri 2 out of 1987. I never quite got the idea of opening the door on a cutaway as it seemed to defeat the point of looking through it in the first place .. but I guess that isn't what is happening here.
Tom West


Posted Image

#7446 TWest

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 03:26

Number three for the evening is a Cadillac sedan from 1990, also by Terry Davey. You can certainly see the simplification process for the cutaways by this point. Wish they had left them alone as this would have been a treasury of production car technical details ... which it tough to see when you have to simplify the illustrations so much.
Tom West

Posted Image

#7447 TWest

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 03:28

Late in the game for Haynes cutaways, Phillip Cox stepped in to do some of the pieces. Here we see one of his on the 1987 Corvette Coupe.

Tom West

Posted Image

#7448 scorerr770

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 07:58

I don't know how much of the thread you've read, but the general opinion is that getting work is hard, but don't be put off by that, if you really want to do it, stick at it, youy never know what paydirt you may strike. Other contributors can tell you about the in-house versus freelance deals.


Ditto on that, but don't give up. I finally got my Fiesta S2000 SWRC piece used by M-Sport and is now on the side of a 40ft truck and trailer. Got 1 commission last year so thank goodness for my full time job, a Jade Open Sports Car.

Next off to NEC on Saturday with a folder full of leaflets and business cards as companies do not seem to like responding to emails as they probably go to a junk folder. :confused:

keep smiling, we have to keep this rare trade alive and kicking.


#7449 scorerr770

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 08:00

Late in the game for Haynes cutaways, Phillip Cox stepped in to do some of the pieces. Here we see one of his on the 1987 Corvette Coupe.

Tom West

Posted Image


One of my fellow college course friends (technical illustration course) went to Haynes on leaving college in '86, do not think he got to do a cover illustration though as being a newbie.

#7450 Robbie693

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Posted 14 January 2011 - 11:09

Did you use it because of the difficulty of obtaining board, or because you wanted a specific paper, not produced in board form? One thing I had to be careful of was shrinkage,


Hi Tony,

To be honest it's been so long ago that I did it I can't fully remember but I think it was because I wanted to stain the surface with the sepia colour wash and CS2 tended to loose it's smoothness if it got too wet. I may have been concerned about scanning the final thing and thought it should be flexible too. I mounted it on a large chunk of 1" thick wooden board (side of a cupboard I think!) with the intention of cutting it off when done. However, as I used gouache underpainting in a few places I worried about the stuff cracking when the paper shrunk back so I've left it on the board!

I had it shot onto a 5x4" transparency which is ok but there is a bit of a light cast in some areas off the paint surface which is annoying. The images you've posted look very clean, were they scanned or photographed?

This might be the answer to those who want to use traditional methods and can't use what, if any, is available as board.


Apparently Frisk (the last makers of CS10/CS2) have gone out of business but I believe Strathmore are doing Illustration board again, though I have no experience of the quality..

I've got miles of gummed brown-paper tape, I bought six huge rolls years ago, thinking that it might disappear too. Perhaps it has, but you can't use plastic tape. I used a heavy, melamine-faced drawing board as a stretcher, but the tape grip was marginal, a plain wooden board was preferable, but getting the dried tape off later was a game and a half.


Gum strip is still available, it is a game to remove indeed - I have gouges all over the boards from trying to scalpel the stuff off! A good soaking helps sometimes (the tape, not me).

I used CS2 NOT and HP paper, depending on how I was working,


I gather you didn't use airbrush much - I'd love to know how you got those lovely smooth colours/fades with brushes and watercolour on CS2.

I don't know how much of the thread you've read, but the general opinion is that getting work is hard, but don't be put off by that, if you really want to do it, stick at it, youy never know what paydirt you may strike. Other contributors can tell you about the in-house versus freelance deals.


I've not read all 187 pages but I read a fair bit and got worried! It seems that what little TI is out there is done on computer which I have resisted to a certain extent. I have trouble visualising foreshortening and ellipse perspective when it's on a screen for some reason. I usually construct the old fashioned way and scan that in to colour it on screen when I have to supply digital but I'm going to have to bite the bullet and learn! Most of my work has been black and white line product drawings with the odd exploded view, usually on draughting film, and architectural impressions which I also enjoy doing but is now going the same, digital, way unfortunately. I did do a nice job for Bentley a couple of years ago though. Not a cutaway mind.

Thank you for the encouragement, I will keep at it

Cheers

Robbie