
Classic Mustang Illustration – Ron de Haer
With a passion for classic cars and driving his ‘71 Ford Capri on sunny days, Ron de Haer has loved automobiles for years. Not only that, but this Netherlands-resident started his art career by doing illustration by hand for a publishing company. He’s moved up the corporate ladder and now owns his own business, where he creates most of his car art on the computer.
We contacted Ron to ask him about his latest piece, featuring a 1965 Ford Mustang, and to find out more about his process.
A.A. Where did your inspiration for doing the Mustang come from?
R.d.H.The inspiration for the in this case the Mustang comes of the fact that I love cars from the late 60’s to early 70’s. And surely one of the icons is the Ford Mustang. It is still to this day more popular than ever. You know I own the Europa’s version of the pony car, the Ford Capri ’71. There aren’t that many around and even fewer for sale. On the other hand you can buy and old mustang in quite a few places. You see them quite a lot in the summertime. So in short I like to draw the Mustang which appeals to many.
A.A. Describe your process in creating this piece.
R.d.H. When I start drawing I look at a lot of pictures of the car and start drawing by hand, but mostly direct on the computer. I am by trade a graphic designer/illustrator and work a lot on my Wacom-tablet which allows me to draw with a pen as it would be on paper. When I am satisfied with the layout I start drawing the accurate lines of the car. After this I start adding the colour on the car, recreating the shining paint and so on.
A.A. What does an average day look like for you?
R.d.H. On my average day I start around 8.00 A.M. checking my mail and start my work as a graphic designer. Most of my work consists of advertising design, brochures, logo’s and so on. Also my work consists a lot of illustrating, mostly technically driven. For example a modern stable for a farm magazine or technical drawing of suspension of cars. And the next day I am designing all the layout plus illustration for a new board-game. So there is much variety in my work. And beside this I draw cars for people who have a special car of their own.
I also sell occasionally my illustrations of cars to be made in posters, sometimes I use in my automotive illustrations in related designs, for example I used one the other day for a leaflet of a dutch car-organisation.
A.A. At what point in your career did you start using the computer for your art?
R.d.H. Back in the late 80’s when I started it was all drawing by hand and at the time I used the airbrush a lot. Mostly creating covers for magazines/ trade journals. In the following years
a small Apple Macintosh appeared, black and white with the possibility to create small ads with text. Later on these evolved in larger still at first black and white bigger computers.
You had to draw in black and white and allocate colours which you could later visualize at a small colour screen. So you could check what was drawn in colour. This was kind of tricky and a slow process of drawing. But as time went by the apple’s got better and slowly but surely the work migrated to the computer. And now I cannot live/work without it.
Nowadays I create everything on the computer. But nonetheless I still have to do the drawing myself, the apple doesn’t do anything. But it is a handy tool 🙂
A.A. What computer equipment do you use? What software do you use?
R.d.H. The computer I use is a Mac, the one I grew up with. A big PowerMac with a 30 inch screen and additional Wacom board to use the computer as a drawing board by hand.
Been using the Apple for about 25 years now. The programs I use for drawing are Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
For my other graphic work I use Indesign and Flash a lot, and all those combined with additional programs.
A.A. Tell us about the path you took to develop your style.
R.d.H. As far as my style is concerned, I try to recreate a photo like accurate style which kinda grew to one of my own. I try to put in much detail of the car.
A.A. What are you working on now?
R.d.H. At the moment I am too busy in my regular work, but I will get on with another one soon, don’t know which one just yet. My son suggests to illustrate a more modern one like a
Lamborghini or so, but I’m thinking perhaps the new Mustang is a good idea!
We would like to thank Ron for taking the time to do the interview. You can see more of his work at his websites:
http://www.rondehaer.nl
https://www.instagram.com/roncarart/