Ron's Art Process
Ron was a graphic designer by trade, but was also as a "mechanical artist." Which means in addition to his artistic talents, the early graphic artist also had to prepare the art for the end result - Printing. Ron's art was sketched on tracing paper, the art was refined and then inked on vellum adhered to illustration board. Vellum allowed Ron to work with a technical pen called a rapidograph, using black India Ink. He also used an X-Acto knife to cut clean edges.
THE ARTWORK STORY
The Original Artwork
I was fortunate to receive a CD-Rom from Jane with about half of the original art there. The rest of the art came from Jane's flat file drawers. After sitting down with Jane and pitching my idea, she opened the drawers and said "here it all is, and...I think I might have a disc as well."
Looking through the original art was thrilling -these art boards hadn't seen the light of day in nearly 30 years!
I was fascinated by Ron's process.
Cleaning Up and Scanning
Of the remaining "species" on artboards, a number were permanently stained by aged rubber cement under the vellum Ron drew on. Making a photocopy of the stained art and adjusting the contrast of the copy, gave me a cleaner version of the art suitable for scanning.
Converting The Art
Once scanned and "cleaned up" The original art was converted to vector art, making it editable and scalable without any loss of sharpness. This also allowed me to use the art for new designs.
