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Ever see these pony automobile postage stamps produced by the US Postal Service? Having our very personal authorities create automotive artwork for day by day use is one thing that we don’t at all times get to expertise. Tom Fritz, the gentleman who illustrated them, was on the current Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale 2023 public sale, and the ClassicCars.com Journal caught up with him to study extra about him and the way the stamps got here to be.
In case you missed out on the horse automobile stamps (that are nonetheless accessible), listed below are those within the sequence: Fathom Inexperienced 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, Huge Unhealthy Orange 1969 AMC Javelin (replete with all of the mod sweet), Burgundy 1967 Mercury Cougar XR-7 GT, Plum Loopy 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T and Brilliant Yellow 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302. So the place’s the Plymouth Barracuda? It really has not been uncared for, as Tom additionally painted the 2013 sequence of muscle vehicles that included a Limelight 1970 Hemi‘Cuda, Hemi Orange 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona, Darkish Blue 1967 Shelby GT500, Cranberry Pink 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS and Burgundy 1966 Pontiac GTO.
Tom grew up within the San Fernando Valley of California, a suburban land of promise and motion within the Sixties. He’s been creative his entire life, with drawing a Tom Swift cartoon being his earliest inventive recollection. It was not straightforward, however lastly he was in a position to make the attitude work. “I nonetheless bear in mind the joy of replicating that,” remarks Tom.
He was a cartoonist in junior excessive however, as a toddler of Lockheed in Burbank, Tom by no means fairly acquired the encouragement to chase his creative muse. Whereas his grades had been alright, Tom clearly wasn’t heading in the direction of being a physician. Upon commencement, Tom attended California State College, Northridge, the place he earned a BA in 2D illustration. His first job out of faculty was (satirically) working within the protection business, beginning as a technical illustrator for ITT.
Throughout this time, Tom labored on his automobile and motorbike illustrations on the aspect. He’d attend artwork exhibits repeatedly, demonstrating his expertise with a brush, the place he would get observed over time. By 2005, Tom wrapped up a 25-year profession and give up his job as a employees artist for Northrop Grumman so he may dedicate himself to his creative pursuits full-time.
After all, Los Angeles was a hotbed of cruising and racing within the Nineteen Seventies. As Tom had been within the thick of it, he had all of the inspiration he wanted. His subject material relies on his timeless private interactions, together with his kind following the uncooked performance — the “machine artwork” — of the automobiles and topics he paints.
In 2008, the US Publish Workplace approached Tom with the concept of illustrating muscle automobile postage stamps, which lastly had been launched in 2013. The horse automobile sequence was the identical — the USPS approached him in 2017, and the stamps appeared for public consumption in 2022.
Tom paints day by day. In reality, he was portray once we interviewed him as a result of that is how he earns his hold. Although he’s been doing this professionally for 18 years, Tom remains to be creating as an artist. For the previous 25-30 years, every thing — his strategy to brushing, model, sense of composition, paint-handling, understanding of sunshine and coloration, and automotive sensibilities — has advanced. All contribute to the tales he tells.
The distinctive stylistic components Tom chooses in kind, coloration, and composition, and the best way he handles paint to evoke a second, are all his. Not solely is it a praise to work professionally as an artist, however Tom tells us, “Nothing is larger than having the stamps turn out to be accessible and somebody calls and asks, ‘Did you illustrate these stamps?’”
You possibly can go to Tom’s web site at http://www.fritzart.com.
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