I've been wanting to do this for quite a while - paint an image I drew when I was a kid! I remember being in the phase of drawing hot rods when I was 8 - 10 years old. I was born in '66 when the occasional hot rod would rumble by and my friends and I dreamed of one day owning one. The next best thing was drawing them...or attempting to draw them with what little skill we possessed. There was a kid in my 3rd grade class that was much better than I - wish I could remember his name - anyway, whenever it was art time we found ourselves in a sort of competition to draw the coolest hot rod.
The neat thing is that while I was painting this one up in photoshop today I remembered what it felt like to make this drawing way back. Not this one in particular but the overall genre of hot rod drawings - the metal flake candy apple paint job was what I had no way of pulling off back then. Crayons always seemed to mess up a perfectly good drawing and the end result was always such a disappointment.
This was some good therapy today - I highly recommend it! Thanks Dad for saving some of my art! I'm keeping files of your grand kids' work... -oh, and I wish I came up with this idea but actually it came from a guy who's been painting kid's drawings for a while http://www.themonsterengine.com/
--Addendum: Susan Clement-Beveridge brought up a really good point that I had to include in the post: the idea of painting the image with a technology that had yet to be invented when I drew the sketch. Wow! How could I have missed that one? Imagine present Will going back in time and explaining to past Will age 8. "So anyhow, in almost 40 years I'm going to paint your sketch"...(imagine young Will with a stupid look)..."yeah, so I'll be working on a computer".... (blank stare)..."a computer is a electrical box you put on your desk that's attached to a TV type screen"...."There's no real paint but I'll be able to scan your drawing with a scanner thingy to get it into the TV type thing"....(young Will thinking about playing outside with friends)..."forget the scanner - I'll be painting it with electronic pixels with a tablet type thingy and an electric pen that won't write on paper"....( young Will - "I'm going down to my friends house now - we're going to play Rock em Sock em Robots)....
Cool idea, Will! I went through the same phase, first hot rods, then tanks. I have a bunch of my old drawings, I'll have to try this. (I thought Will was short for Wilbur though?)
ReplyDeleteI want to see it when you do Rob - I'll bet you have some fun drawings...I actually hated William growing up...don't a lot of kids hate their full name?
DeleteNeat!!...must be fun finding a past drawing and then years later colouring it digitally in Photoshop with the technology we have now.
ReplyDeleteSusan - I never even thought of that - wow! You're so right - painting a drawing with technology that hadn't been invented when I drew it. Imagine present me trying to explain how I would color this to past me - I'm going to have to amend the post to include this thought - too cool!
DeleteWhat a cool idea!
ReplyDeleteI wish I had some of my drawings from childhood, but I too keep my kid's best ones. If I kept them all we would have to have a 2nd house to store them in. I love how they are always doodling just the way I was 30 years ago.
Your hot rod was very good back then too!
Thanks Zoe! I only have a few that survived...I should be really grateful for those but I catch myself being upset that I don't have more. :)
DeleteYes...what a cool and funny idea!!! :-D
ReplyDeleteAnd you don´t see the 650 hp!!
That´s understatement!
Fine work terry..
Thanks Norman - I was tempted many times during the process to amend my drawing with my current knowledge and reference but resisted the urge to do myself justice...that sounded weird.
DeleteYes and it Even Sounded weird to my englisch speaking girlfriend :-))) (she translated) But it was a brillant Explantation. Justice was done! :-)
DeleteWhen I was 16 I started to redraw a pic from when I was maybe 9 but I kind of failed and liked the older one much better. The dragon, the flowers, there was special kid power in it and now I can´t get back to my skills of 16 to finish it :(
ReplyDeleteBeen there and done that one too...sometimes you can't remake or refurbish an original :)
DeleteI have been there too! Glad it isn't just me that can't get that "something" back to try a re-do. You did a great job Will!
Deletelove it Will :D I especially love you going back and explaining to 8 year old Will how you are going to paint it with technology ;)
ReplyDeleteThanks Karen! I'm glad I don't really have to do that - I'm afraid I would freak little Will out :)
Deletemaybe just a little ;)
DeleteLOL...the only thing certain is change! I still can't believe that a box of craft dinner could be purchased for a quarter. Technology sure has snow balled over the past few decades! Being a perfectionist and consequently, a big past paper waster, I for one, like the way things have gone. I can remember sluffing my way through a highschool cumputer course by working the whole semester on the cover of the course cataloge for the highschool on God only knows what version of corel draw, loved computer aided drawing then, and I am happy to have made the leap back to it! Cool car, must have been a full circle experience to have rendered it with newer technologies!
ReplyDeleteHa! yeah - I remember trying to draw with pixels by plotting coordinates on my Texas Instruments comp around 1981....wow.
DeleteI mean computer...
ReplyDeleteFist time on your site and just a quick couple of comments: 1) your artwork is amazing 2)What a great idea painting artwork from your childhood. I wonder if there isn't a book idea here using simple drawings from children around the world and finishing them. Perhaps incorporating it into a children's book or a themed picture book. Just thinking out loud here...well, you've got talent so whatever you do, keep it up! 3) I am a fairly "picky" artist. Most art lacks a sense of balance or just doesn't quite work. True talent takes a lot of work and dedication and is a rare find. Yours fits the bill. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Thank you! and Thank you again! :) It really would be a fun idea to paint children's drawings and turn it into a children's book - I have no idea how to pull it off but it sounds really fun. Thanks again.
DeleteI need to bug my parents and see if they kept any of my kid art. LOVE THIS! what a wonderful creative exercise and keepsake.
ReplyDeleteYou should - it was so much fun!
ReplyDelete