Hi Tony, oh no, I didn't wish to suggest I didn't think the thread worth looking at, only that late at night when I found it, I really couldn't go through it from the beginning. I also wanted to effectively apologise if I doubled up somewhere. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I WILL get through it all, eventually, but my connection is SLOW. However the long winter nights are coming too quickly for comfort!
I did go back to the very beginning and found Andrew Kitson's posts. Boy, did that jolt the memory card! I still live in the Wisbech area and did once join that course at Isle College part time, to learn how to use a paint brush. The tutor seemed amused but very helpful to me. I could illustrate alright and airbrush, etc. I knew all the then current techniques, but I'd never pushed a sable round a page and felt a few weeks of tuition there might help. I didn't realise that at that time Bob Freeman had been there and done that with his wonderful pencil and brush style, which I still see as the finest expression of technical illustration as almost an entertainment. Of course, it would be plagiarism to do anything similar.
Unfortunately I got busy suddenly and couldn't continue the course, but used the College shop for subsidised materials supplies for a few years. CS10 board, Ellipse guides, Mars Pens, (my preference) and Letratint/Letraset, Pantone pens,etc.
No doubt that faculty is all gone now.
Also found it amusing to read about English contractors abroad. I too was part of that for a time, working for Cebra Design in the wonderful Wasserburg, just outside Wolfsburg. Having an office in the tower of a 14th century lakeside castle is really something!
I was asked over to dig a friend out of the mire, who'd taken on too much work. I had a fortnight to draw and paint a large one-off illustration of the then new engine delivery plant at Salzgitter. The final painting ended up on Dr. Porsche's wall which pleased me no end.
I can't recall how many hours it took, but I was so well paid I didn't need a job back here for 6 months!
I would have loved to have stayed, but there wasn't a need after the engine plant job.
Much later I went back as part of the vast English contract mob as a clay modeller and hard modeller, starting at Wolfsburg and moving on around Europe working for anyone who would pay the pieces of silver.
I would work in Wolfsburg and dine at the Am Wasserburg restaurant opposite my old office in the castle.
One of the old guys I worked with was a millionaire purely on what he'd earned as a contractor over so many years. Of course he had a trail of unfinished houses, broken marriages and failed projects back home, but seemed to thrive on it.
Although I earned outrageous money over there as a modeller, I always wanted to get that call from Cebra Design asking me to draw again. I miss it and have started doing paintings of classic engines just to amuse myself, now the computer has retired me off.
Cheers,
Martin
Hi sl, so very disappointing that you feel the previous pages aren't worth reading, but the thread has a life of it's own, and I would find it hard going to read the lot, although I do dip into it at random sometimes, out of curiosity! Fascinating to hear about TC's felt-tips, he had a distinctive, slick style, and of course, if the artwork is going to be heavily reduced, you can get away with murder full-size. I always woirked on the assumption that the original might end up 'gracing' someone's wall, quite possibly an important someone - but also, I get no pleasure from doing anything to a lower standard than I can manage, allowing for deadlines and cost!
Interesting about copyright, too. However, the internet has rather blown everything apart, with no-one being traced and prosecuted for breach of copyright in this area - I don't mind if I post a sample of work that is a) not my copyright and b) I've been paid for - it doesn't hurt me, but if it is my copyright and I hope to make money out of it, well, that's a different tube of gouache!
Nearly bought an RS200, but then sat in one that was on display in TriMoCo's Dunstable showroom and couldn't operate any of the ccontrols, none of the pedals, the steering wheel or the gear-lever, it was built for midgets. It looked the dog's doodads, though!