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Automotive Artwork

Automotive illustrations inspired by the work of Art Fitpatrick.

At some point during my high school years, I became very enamoured with the automotive art of Art Fitzpatrick, an American illustrator known mainly for the very successful Pontiac ad campaign which ran from 1959 through 1971. Mr. Fitzpatrick’s tight, ultra-realistic work seemed to set a high water mark in the genre. I soon found that I had a knack for it myself and seriously dreamed of one day working for a car company doing a similar kind of work. However, ability is one thing, timing is another.

Although Toronto’s TDF Studios did indeed have artists on staff whose job it was to paint cars for automotive brochures and advertisements, my application to work there was considered premature, since I had only just graduated from high school. I was advised to look elsewhere to find more interesting work than they could offer a junior artist, and perhaps apply again once I’d established myself better. In the end, however, I found work as a junior architectural renderer, and partly because photography had largely replaced illustration in the business, and partly because by the time I’d been working a few years my priorities had shifted, I by and large abandoned this ambition. I did in fact return to TDF for an interview some 15 years after entering the work force, this time seeking freelance work from them. By that point I’d come to realize that I’d never have lasted as a staff artist there (under a too-regimented, impersonal system), but all the same I sought extra freelance work instead. Ironically, they tried to persuade me to consider working for them anyway, but I politely declined, as I had built up my own business by now and was happy with it. A few years ago, the automotive bug stirred again, when I read a newspaper feature about an art gallery devoted to Formula 1 racing art and proceeded to arrange an interview. I had read about their commissioning artists to do ‘car portaits’, and, after being interviewed, was accepted for these occasional jobs. I had at last realized something of the dream, and have now done several of these portraits. The examples here displayed include some such portraits, as well as my own personal portfolio of pieces paying tribute to the tradition of automotive illustration, with particular reference to Art Fitzpatrick.Ted Nasmith (signature)

 

1970 Chevy Chevelle SS

1970 Chevy Chevelle SS

1953 Chevy Truck

1953 Chevy Truck

1962 Pontiac Parisienne Coupe

1962 Pontiac Parisienne Coupe

1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans Convertible

1963 Pontiac Tempest Le Mans Convertible

1972 Pontiac Ventura coupe

1972 Pontiac Ventura coupe

1962 Pontiac Parisienne

1962 Pontiac Parisienne

2005 Porsche Carrera

2005 Porsche Carrera

Cobra in California

Cobra in California

Ferarri F50 and Aston Martin Vantage Cabriolet

Ferarri F50 and Aston Martin Vantage Cabriolet

Lamborghini Fiero

Lamborghini Fiero

Porsche Spyder 550

Porsche Spyder 550

Aston Martin V600

Aston Martin V600

Ferarri Dino

Ferarri Dino

Ferarri Sinders Cabriolet

Ferarri Sinders Cabriolet

Ferrari 212

Ferrari 212

Ferrari 240 GT and Aston Martin DB4

Ferrari 240 GT and Aston Martin DB4

1974 Porsche 911 at Sebring

1974 Porsche 911 at Sebring

2005 Aston Martin Vanquish

2005 Aston Martin Vanquish

1963 Aston Martin DB4

1963 Aston Martin DB4

1964 Alfa Romeo TZ1 at Le Mans

1964 Alfa Romeo TZ1 at Le Mans

1963 Chevrolet Impala coupe

1963 Chevrolet Impala coupe

1962 Pontiac Bonneville coupe

1962 Pontiac Bonneville coupe

1953 Aston Martin DB3 at Silverstone

1953 Aston Martin DB3 at Silverstone

1972 Pontiac Bonneville coupe

1972 Pontiac Bonneville coupe

1972 Buick Skylark convertible

1972 Buick Skylark convertible

1972 Buick Riviera

1972 Buick Riviera

1971 Pontiac Ventura coupe

1971 Pontiac Ventura coupe

1968 Plymouth Fury

1968 Plymouth Fury

1961 Pontiac Tempest

1961 Pontiac Tempest

1963 Pontiac Bonneville

1963 Pontiac Bonneville

Pontiac Bonneville

Pontiac Bonneville

Ford Taurus (debut model)

Ford Taurus (debut model)

1973 Pontiac Ventura coupe

1973 Pontiac Ventura coupe

1973 Pontiac LeMans coupe

1973 Pontiac LeMans coupe

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