LOST ART OF PEN & INK ILLUSTRATIONS

[TOM H. S.]

I just wanted to give a shout out to the Lost Art of Pen & Ink Illustrations found in antique operator manuals and antique parts catalogs. I have a 1920s Sears Roebuck and Co., Chicago; Automobile Supplies and a 1929 Plymouth Automobile Operator manual and am so very impressed with the illustrations that appear to be done by hand by artists of the day. Please let me know if I'm wrong which would be sad to hear. I so love these old school pen & ink illustrations. Thank-you

[Gary_Ash]

I think many of the drawings were done by taking a series of photos and then using semi-transparent paper to trace the important lines and shadows in India ink.  An example below is from the 1929-40 Studebaker parts catalog.  The shaded views you show took a lot more work and skill but may have been started in the same way.

 

[Walt G]

Shaded areas were most likely added in after the ink was drawn in and the shadows were done with an air brush.

I taught art for 35+ years and one of my Professors in college was a commercial artist in the late 1920s thru the early 1950s. very very interesting man to talk to. I stayed after class often to just listen to him. He would also have classes at his house near by so his students could look at all the books he had collected on art/illustration. Totally amazing.

I am a good listener and do not dismiss anyone or anything that "took place in the era " of prime hand illustration at its peak.

( I also had a Spanish teacher in college who was the former President of Cuba just before Castro took over, again I used to stay after class and he would answer questions about cars and dealerships in Havana pre WWII era - Lincoln, Cunningham etc. he was amazed I knew or even heard of a Cunningham car) , like I said I am a good listener and rarely forget anything ( except what pills to take each morning to keep me vertical and my ticker ticking)

[Gary_Ash]

I'm not sure what might have been used as early as the 1920s for shading/hatching, but a little later Zip-A-Tone and Letratone enabled subtle shading and hatching to drawings.  It would have been tedious and difficult to draw all the hatch lines by hand.  The drawing in the first post shows machine-like regularity in the hatch lines - how was it done?  Here is one take on the use of the Zip-A-Tone material:

http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/05/dead-tech-zipatone.html

 

Someplace here in a desk drawer or file cabinet, I still have some rub-on Letraset letters that I added to drawings 30 or 40 years ago.  Previously, I had to wait for the company's drafting department to draw diagrams and charts and ink them.  When I finally got an Apple Macintosh in the late 1980s, computer generated artwork was possible and infinitely faster.

 

Zip-A-Tone patterns

[TOM H. S.]

Hi Walt & Gary, Great Insight into early times of printing. As I examine under a magnifying glass the engine cut away of the 1929 Plymouth in the "Instruction Book", I can see that the lights and darks are done in a series of varying shades of dots which may have first been drawn by hand and then when photographed for reproduction got transferred into the dots method, but either way I love the 2D look to the drawings.... PS. Presently I'm creating some 3D Automobile Wall Collages for a friend's classic car shop in Mendon MA. Once completed I plan to post the finished displays of which there will be 5. Also there will be about 3 smaller displays for his office area. Time will tell. Thank-you all input about those LOST ARTS.