David Kimble's Cutaways: Techniques & Stories Behind The Art
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Author: David Kimble
Publisher: CarTech Books
ISBNs: 978-1-61325-173-7
Binding: Hardcover
Pages: 192
David Kimble is synonymous with automotive cutaway illustrations, and his work has been used by magazines and manufacturers alike for decades. Starting in the 1960s, Kimble has drawn everything from McLaren race cars to factory Corvettes, industrial manufacturing facilities to the Starship Enterprise, and just about everything in between. Looking at one of his cutaways pulls you in slowly, as you see the shape and color of the overall subject that fades away into amazing detail as you get closer and closer. A joy to look at, even more impressive is seeing how Kimble does it, and this book answers that question.
While the book is packed with Kimble cutaway illustrations, it is the process that is truly fascinating. Every step of Kimble's process is detailed, from creating the drawing to adding color, shading, and highlights. There is ample discussion on media, discourse on the benefits of ink and airbrushing, and individual techniques used to achieve the amazing results.
Once the basics are described, the book then provides pages and pages of examples, explaining how each illustration built on those core skills. There is a chapter on the cars from the Golden Age of classics, one on just engines and transmissions, and one on the Corvette years. Other subjects include foreign cars such as Ferraris, and modern NASCAR race cars. Each page of the 192 pages in this book has an interesting illustration or two, sometimes showing a completed project, others showing the process, making this an engaging read no matter what page you start on.
For those who are familiar with David Kimble's work, or who want to get started in the world of traditional illustration, I highly recommend picking this book up. My thanks to CarTech Books for the review copy.