Going Places | Driven to details

Just had to share the current exhibit "Going Places" at Norton Museum in West Palm Beach. Although the exhibit focuses on the art of 20th-century transportation design, I was impressed with the enormous collection of original illustrations of automobile concepts chronicling the development and design of cars of the 1950s-1960s and the advertising that ensued.

Air brush and gouache watercolor in perfect detail! Having wielded the air brush in art school, I have immense appreciation for the ultra smooth finish that can be applied with that instrument. Can be applied...with great patience, a steady hand and expertise!

With the digital tools of today, there is a loss of that careful, hand eye coordination and precision control. Not to say that there isn't precision in the digital world of art, where one can measure the distance of a drop shadow to .001 pixels! But digital control is not the same as human interaction.

Whether it is tactile or digital, attention to detail is sometimes not recognized immediately. But to be sure, detailed execution sets the work apart. Of course, there is no substitute for a great conceptual design to begin with!

#detail #illustrations #airbrush #advertising