Tag Archives: trucker

Monster truck!

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KC1DMA ham radio cartoon QSL by N2ESTKC1DMA’s monster-truck QSL is one of the most challenging QSLs I’ve drawn. Because I happen to like drawing cool vehicles, it’s also been one of the most rewarding.

Here’s the back story:

Ken, KC1DMA, was referred to me by John, W7SAB, whose hot-rod QSL I lovingly illustrated in the style of “Big Daddy” Ed Roth. It’s one of my favorite QSLs.

KC1DMA pencils 01Ken’s thing is monster trucks, those jacked up pickup trucks and SUVs with the oversized tires. Ken sent me a few pictures, so I got to work and came up with this, keeping it cartoony and loose.

“Not quite,” Ken said. Could I make it a little more dynamic? He wanted his truck literally crawling over his granite call sign, with the letters more dimensional. It was a cool angle, but it would also force me to draw the truck’s complicated undercarriage (or at least a reasonable cartoon facsimile of it).

KC1DMA pencils 02This was my second pass. With a few minor cosmetic changes, Ken signed off on it. The finished product is above, and it may be another one of my favorite QSLs thus far.

Truckin’ with ham radio

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KB8ILD cartoon QSL by N2ESTRaymond, KB8ILD, is a long-haul trucker who wanted his semi  — not just any semi, but his semi — on his QSL card. Easy, right? Well, sort of. While there were plenty of reference images on the Internet to help me get the the general dimensions correct (and he did send me a picture of his truck), a rig like this doesn’t easily fit onto a postcard. To balance it out, I moved the call sign above the trailer rather than placing it on the trailer itself. I also hand-lettered the entire card, something I do from time to time. I worked for years hand-lettering comic books for Marvel, Dark Horse, First and other publishers, so I’ve had plenty of practice.