R.I.P. Ralph McQuarrie

Last night I heard the sad news that Ralph passed on Saturday. It was probably just as sad to learn that he had been suffering from Parkinson's disease, meaning he probably wasn't been able to paint for some time. It may have been the reason he retired in the 90's. After all, most artist, don't usually completely retire unless they are unable to produce work.

The Force was strong with this one. Most Star Wars fans know who Ralph McQuarrie is, as for the others, Ralph was the talent who created the pre-production paintings that helped George Lucas sell Star Wars as an idea for a film.

Being both a science fiction fan and a fledgling artist in the 70's, I was a huge fan of Ralph McQuarrie's work. When asked of my artistic influences, his name is always one of the tops on my list. I may not be quite the sci- fi fan I once was but, I still have all three of his portfolios from the original trio of Star Wars films.


There are so many good examples of Ralph's work to choose from. Not only does this one show his talent well, it features Darth Vader in what appears to be an old Harley sidecar. How cool is that? I believe it was originally used to announce Industrial Light and Magic's move from North Hollywood to Marin County.

Pete Millar's High Flying Santa

Pete Millar's cover art for the Jan. 1963 CAR toons. Millar did CAR toons for Peterson Publications before he started his own comic Drag cartoons.

It's not motorcycle related, but Pete is an Art Hero. Taken at an exhibition of his art the summer of 2008.

Mann Hunt

Every now and then I get questions from readers in regards to certain David Mann illustrations.

Here's the latest inquiry from Scott:
I have been watching MCArt for a couple of years. After a whole lot of searching, I thought you might be somebody to ask about a Mann illustration.

Somewhere, I came across one of his works which featured an orange bike in profile - as if on a drawing board, in the planning phase. I don't remember what kind of bike it was, just that it was in profile and there was a sketch of the exhaust along with it.

Does that ring any bells with you, or do you know where I might find an example of it? I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

Well, that put a bug up my butt since I knew I have it and had looked at it recently. The trouble was, what issue was it in?

I thumbed through some old issues and was puzzled why I couldn't find it. I then remembered I had a folder of saved samples of David Mann art from issues I had tossed.


I thought I'd share this one since it's a bit different from the more common bike scenes that David did. It's sort a playful dance between 2-d and 3-d with the art and the art process being being part of the still life. Dave like to incorporate these types of illusions in his art and did so from time to time, but it's also sort of a behind the scenes look at a bike he'd probably like to have built. It's a tight little bike, reminiscent of his own pan/shovel shown below.


The current owner restored Dave's bike to a slightly earlier version than how it looked when sold. Photo ripped from the Bikers, Hippies and Tattooed Freaks blog.

I don't know what month/year issue it's from since I tossed the rest of the magazine. I thought it was a shovel, but it turns out that the art bike has an Evo engine. That and since it's a stapled center spread, means it's likely from the mid to late 80's.

A Creative Artist

I've been out of town for more than a week with no TV or Internet, so I hadn't heard the sad news of Frank Frazetta's passing until today.

Frank's fame and influence went far beyond just fans of Comics, Fantasy, or Sci-Fi books. His art was featured on covers of heavy metal music, movie posters, and was often copied and painted on the hoods of cars, the side of Vans, and of course, MotorCycle gas tanks.


One of us. Frank relaxes on his '48 Panhead. Little did he know, one day his art would adorn many a chopper.


The "no swipes or photographs" statements makes his art that much more impressive. Early in my art training I remember being very disappointed to find out that most professional artist took photos or swiped images and traced their references.


Frank was a master of the human form. Based on his statement above, we'll cut him some slack on the bike.

Frank's passing marks another end of an era. He'll be missed by many.

It's a Von Dutch Thing

I had seen the Kenford truck and read tales of the Toronado, but it was really cool to hear that one of my biggest Heroes owned the same kind of car as mine. Since I had already known how Dutch felt about "all things German", and of his personality, it figures that he owned a VW Thing.

I first got wind of Dutch's Thing (in 1995), while reading Hot Rods by Ed "Big Daddy"Roth. I was intrigued when Roth wrote, "Dutch started goin' to the Santa Paula Airport every mornin' cause he wanted to build a VW Thing airplane. He was gonna make the wings outta electrical conduit." I didn't know what to think and wondered what it would look like?

The mystery was finally revealed in 2002 when it was featured in a magazine.

This was Dutch's daily driver up until his death in '92. While not converted into a flying machine, it has various airplane features. It has a Pitot tube for airspeed up front, or knowing Dutch, is that a gun barrel?


I agree with the message on the back, "Have Fun, Don't Grow Up".


Dutch's humor/obsession with the obvious. Every where you looked, he painted labels or initials on the fenders and panels indicating "things" like, L.F. for Left-Front, and Right or Left, and so on. This guide key was painted on both rear side doors to keep it all straight.


The pilot's cockpit features only one seat, no passengers. Levers are for dropping Bombs? If it was anything like his Toronado, that would mean empty beer cans. The Horn Button is inscribed Von Dutch '85, so he seems to have owned it for a little while.


The Thing sports two fuel gauges. On the hood, a ball inside a plexiglass box connects to a float in the fuel tank, the other, a simple indexed sight tube, is inside the cockpit.


Dutch figured the engine lid may as well be useful if it was up while on the side of the road.

On the subject of planes and beauty, Dutch once told Roth , "They are not designed to be beautiful, they are designed to work and that's what makes them beautiful". I'll bet he felt the same way about his Thing.

Dutch Treat, as in Von

That's Kenny holding up the tiny Honda chopper. I believe it was called Teeny Weenie. I remember it from another magazine, maybe a later Choppers magazine. They re-ran some of the early issue features and bikes in the later large format magazine.


Big Daddy gives lots of good information about this mysterious man who had already become a character of legend in '68.

Von Stool

You guys got it right and quick. Here's a shot of the freshly painted stool I posted in the Quiz. The second thing about it: I checked the seat at the auction and it looked to be a small Harley solo off an early Sportster, K model, or yes, a Hummer. Looks like he painted the toe of his shoe when shooting it.

A David Mann Favorite

The old school flathead 80 and simplicity of the art just nails it! From Easyriders#80 Feb.1980

Earth Day, Ecology, and Ron Cobb/Art Hero

Originally I was just going to post this image. This sticker is still on the old art supply tackle box I used for school in the early '70's.

I was all set to just do a simple Earth Day post and thought, with all the talk of green these days, why don't you see the ecology symbol or flag any more? I always thought it was a cool flag so I thought I'd look it up for today's post. To my great surprise I found that the symbol was designed by one of my all time Art Heroes, Ron Cobb.

Ron Cobb's original design (October 25, 1969).

Here's what it says on Wikipedia: Ron Cobb created an ecology symbol and published on October 25, 1969, placing it in the public domain. The symbol was a combination of the letters "E" and "O" taken from the words "Environment" and "Organism", respectively. Look magazine incorporated the symbol into a flag in their April 21, 1970 issue. The flag was patterned after the flag of the United States, and had thirteen stripes alternating green and white. Its canton was green with a yellow Theta replacing the similar Cobb symbol. Theta was used because of its historic association with the Greek word “thanatos” (death), in the same way that skull and crossbones are used in modern times; the symbol would later become associated with Earth Day.
I'm not buying that last part about theta, thanatos, and the skull and crossbones.


Old timers might remember this Ron Cobb album cover for the Jefferson Airplane (After Bathing at Baxter's 1967).

Ron is a great but little known artist. He's worked on Disney animation, underground cartoons, Famous Monsters magazine, and has designed sets, creatures, costumes, and hardware for a ton of films.


I have this long out of print (1981), book on Cobb's art. If your into art, try to find one.


LA Earthquake poster 1968. I remember seeing and digging this poster way before I knew who did it.

Here's a link to a bio: http://www.shimmerytimbers.com/starticles01.htm

Ron's website http://www.roncobbdesigns.com/ is under construction but I found this back door link that has a time line of his work and contains a few gallery images:
www.roncobbdesigns.com/Endeavours.137.0.html

To see more, I suggest doing a Ron Cobb Google image search.


Ron did the aliens in the Star Wars famous cantina scene.

List of notable films Ron has work on: Dark Star, Star Wars, Alien, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Special Edition), Conan the Barbarian, The Last Star Fighter, Back to the Future, The Abyss, The Rocketeer, True Lies, The Sixth Day, and Red Planet.


Preliminary art for the Back to the Future Delorean.


Our Legacy? Ron's concerns reached farther than just the planet.

I know this got a little off the topic of Earth Day or bikes but, it's a good reason to spread some info about this great but for the most part unknown Hero/Artist who's influenced our culture even more than I realized.


Ron's cartoons were always concerned with social and environmental issues.


Sometimes we forget, the planet isn't just ours.

Think Green. The planet you save may be your own!

Iron Cross Inspector

I was going through the LIFE HA photos (mostly checking the ones with bikes), so I buzzed right pass this one. Keep in mind, this was 1965. From the 100+ photos, this is the only one I saw featuring our hero.

Big Daddy Roth Fan Club

Two Heroes for the price of one

Ed Roth by Pete Millar, Drag Cartoons 12/64

Ed Newton, Art Hero 2

We're on a black and white art roll.

Another by Newt. In my book, he's The King of Line Art! I love that the whole ad was hand drawn with only the photos of parts and body copy dropped in. Even the name of the shop is hand lettered. You'll never see an ad done that way today.

Merry Finking Christmas

Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, by Pete Millar.

This is one of the original pieces of art on exhibit in Pasadena last summer. It was the cover art for the comic Pete Millar presents... Big Daddy Roth, Dec. 65-Jan. 66. Only four issues were produced. Like I said in earlier posts Roth and Pete are Hero's of mine. Both left us too soon.

David Mann, Art Hero

I've been way over due to post some of Dave's stuff.

Summing it up. This ran in the "In the Wind "section preceding the center spread.

I'd been digging Dave's stuff since I first saw those tiny images of posters in the Roth ads. Choppers were mysterious machines so, I used to squint at those ads, trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.

In the Wind On Friday Night. This classic art was in the same issue (8/72), as the Bandit post below. Could be up the coast by Malibu or Ventura.

I like his early works the best. While not as detailed as his later work, there's a feeling and directness to them that just nails it.

Pete Millar, Art Hero

Issue #2 December 1963


Photo from the exhibit, Tales from the Strip

Pete Millar is another BIG! hero of mine. He started Car toons for Peterson Publishing and later his own publication, Drag Cartoons. He was the best in his field.

#15 May 1965 One of Pete's most popular covers

I collected Drag Cartoons as a kid and was very influenced by his work. My interest in Choppers was partly fueled by Ed Roth's ads that appeared in them.


Pete collaborated with Ed on projects and put stories about him in Drag Cartoons. In 1964 he even created a comic devoted solely to Ed. Only four issues were produced, but, afterwards he continued to feature Roth in Drag cartoons.

Issue #1

After finding Pete's website, I sent an email to him explaining how much he had influenced me as a kid and artist. He was kind and flattered. Sometime later I found out he had passed away. I now regret not printing out his email (lost on a downed computer), or making the effort to meet him, as he lived very near by.

This last summer I was jazzed to see some of Pete's original art at the exhibit: Tale s from the Strip at the Pasadena Museum of California Art .

For more on Pete's work, go to:
http://www.laffyerasphalt.com/

I'll post more from the exhibit in the future.

Ed Newton, Art Hero

Ed Newton produced most of the best T-shirt, decal and concept art for Roth Studios in the 60's. I took this photo of the original art at the preview for the Brucker auction in May 2006. The detail and line work is unreal. His art is almost too good for t-shirt printing.

I can't tell you how cool it was to see the originals of art, that up to that time, most I'd only seen the size of postage stamps. There were a bunch of others but, because they were roped off, you couldn't get close to many of them. My memory says most sold in the $5k range.

The Master himself, on the left
Photo: Dave Lindsay

That day, I had the extreme pleasure of meeting Ed, talking with him, and hearing him speak of those days.

When I was very young I would look at the ads in hot rod magazines and copy his work thinking Roth did them. A little later I realized Newt did them. I knew back then that this work was in a class of it's own. It is definitely among the most inspiring in my life.

I'll be posting more of Ed 's work.