* The artwork in this book is the continuation of Quarnstrom's lifelong fascination with hot rods, dragsters, and custom cars, currently called Joyride Flatout. As the source of his earliest inspiration and having provided him with the raw materials for a lifetime of drawing, he revisits this subject matter often. These are the drawings he wanted to do when he was 12-years-old, but didn't have the skills to pull them off (some are drawings done when he was 12). The pioneers of wild style car design, Ed "Big Daddy" Roth and his contemporaries, were at the height of their powers as custom car designers, providing a panorama of challenges for thousands of aspiring pencil jockeys. They provoked, validated, and sustained his interest in the mechanical as art.
Author Biography:
Dan Quarnstrom's experience as a designer for 3D animation and visual effects extends from his 16 years as a Creative Director, Art Director and Designer at Rhythm & Hues Studios, in Los Angeles, back through a career that has taken him from the pages of Rolling Stone Magazine, designing the Coca Cola Polar Bears to designing for animated feature films.
Along the way in what he describes as a "restless career" Dan has covered a lot of design territory, editorial illustration, rock and roll posters, advertising, album covers, character design for animation and games, storyboards, layout for 3D animation, visual effects design, fantastic environments, vehicles and complex worlds. He delights in translating the world of ideas into a fully functioning multi-dimensional one, on the printed page or as computer generated imagery.
Dan's affection for his roots is apparent in Joyride Flatout: Hot Rods and Dream Machines, his homage to the 60s hot rod culture that brought him into contact with the tools and inspiration that would fuel his interest in a lifetime of design. That world, its design parameters, scope of ambition, and colorful cast of characters are intrinsically applicable to the design curriculum of today's up and coming designers. Who knew that within the cryptic outrageousness of hot rod monster shirts and car magazines existed a clear design vernacular and graphic language as sophisticated and applicable as any 3D computer program.That the lessons learned from a generation of gearheads can inform a lifetime of innovation. From thumbnail sketches to finished drawings, Post-it squiggles to thorough model breakdowns, Joyride Flatout is testament to holding on to your enthusiasm and bringing it to everything you create.
Recent History:
Sony Pictures Animation, visual development Arthur Christmas, animated feature
Cartoon Network, Art Director, Firebreather, animated feature
Rainmaker Entertainment, Art Director, Escape From Planet Earth
