Friday, April 3, 2020

Vintage Toy Inspiration - Atomic Man


Years ago, my wife and I bought a replica of a vintage toy robot, called Atomic Man. For years, it was my online persona, where I was actually calling my freelance graphic design service Atomicman.  I kept that URL for years, starting as a portfolio site, later for personal projects, then eventually, it became the just a holding place for hosted images. I eventually realized that dreams of it becoming anything bigger were gone, so I just let the name go.

Fast forward to a few months ago. I managed to get a copy of book, documenting vintage toys. Inside was a pic of the original Atomic Man. Needless to say, I was inspired again. This time, it became the subject of a new drawing.

I decided to do this sketch on the iPad with Procreate. For this drawing, I wanted to get a bit more loose with the sketch, to take advantage of the pressure sensitivity of the Apple Pencil. I also wanted to play around with color. Using the pic of the vintage Atomic Man, I was able to sample some of the amazing vintage colors achieved through patina and age.