Car profile drawings from Graeme Jenner

Graeme Jenner’s a man on a mission; this, to draw profiles of some of the world’s most iconic cars. The challenge is Graeme’s drawings are amazingly detailed and time consuming however the finished article is well worth the effort. The technique used is known as profile drawing, the detail though as precise as a technical drawing has a delightful warmth and feel to it with approaching 700 cars in the series Graeme’s focus in on quality.

 

Graeme informed The-Boomers: After gathering enough reference the excitement when starting a new drawing is almost addictive. I have about a 50 cars I’ve started but have yet to find the time to finish because although my original target was to draw a 1,000 different car profiles my ambition now or perhaps one should say ‘maxim’ has changed a bit to ‘quality rather than quantity’.

”I’ve always given priority and concentrated on British cars, but gaining over the years an appreciation of car design from an aesthetic point of view I’ve now a hankering to draw more Italian cars”

I seem to spend more time improving my earlier drawings than on new drawings as I discover new ways to improve them (one can do that with computer drawings). The target of 1,000 seems get further away and less important.

I’ve always given priority and concentrated on British cars, but gaining over the years an appreciation of car design from an aesthetic point of view I’ve now a hankering to draw more Italian cars. This I suppose is not surprising as the best-looking British cars (apart from Jaguars) seem to have been designed by Italians! ”

Searching through the portfolio of finished creations you’ll most probably find your, or your family’s car from the 1960s or 70s or maybe that dream classic you always wanted dating back as far as the ‘Oldtimers 1900-1940’ section. Family classics from Morris, Wolseley, Ford and many more are readily available.

”I first got the idea to draw profiles from a 19th century engraving of a traction engine that had been hand coloured”.

Tim’s car talk, a leading blooger from California wrote:
Two things make his work unusual. First is the extensive number of automobiles profiled, with more than 600 detailed drawings accompanied by vehicle descriptions in a wide range of automotive types. Second is that the drawings (as laser prints) are custom ordered. The car’s colour, nickname (if it has one), the license plate number, year, club badge, accessories, aftermarket items, can all be changed or added. Which makes them ideal as gifts or as representative of your own car.

Jenner has further divided the work into categories: Old Timers 1900-1940; Memory Lane 1940-1980; Modern 1980-2015; Commercial- Vans/Utes; American; Racing. Some categories are very long, others are still in the early stages but growing. Interestingly, while creating his work, the artist hasn’t limited his sources to existing photos and catalogs. He visits classic car shows where he can view the vehicles in the metal and occasionally calls upon owners willing to “pose” their cars for photos.

He generally supplies two A3 laser prints and one A4 laminated laser print. (Larger sizes are limited only to racing car orders). The size of prints for technical portraits are: 210mm x 297mm (8.3in x 11.7in.) and 297mm x 420 mm (11.7in x 16.5in). Maximum for laser prints is 320mm x 450mm (12.6in x 17.7in).

Generic prints, i.e.;vehicles without custom additions, are not yet available but soon will be. A specific site is under construction, titled Historic Transport Prints, which can be viewed in beta form at Historic Transport Prints.
I’m happy to report that the Classic Car Portrait site is well-designed, user friendly, and a pleasure to navigate, but I must add this warning: Graeme Jenner’s unique and handsome profile portraits can be very hard to resist.
For the full article please click here: http://timscartalk.ca

As we navigated the website we stumbled across a marvelous section illustrating the interior dashboard of the cars, now it’s one thing recognising your old car from a profile photo, but can you find it from these?

Graeme’s a busy man so has created the most wonderful website for you to browse and order from, please find him at : www.classiccarportraits.co.uk