The technical illustration enthusiasts' page

29/03/2025

Some really lovely, and huge, technical drawings at the London Museum of Water and Steam at Kew Bridge. I think they might be hand coloured

10/07/2024

Excellent new free ebook just landed from NASA which is just up my street, as I suspect it will be for many of the people that follow this page. Enjoy

🚨 NEW BOOK ALERT!

rejoice: Our newest book, A Wartime Necessity, is now out. This work takes a look at and how applied research generated aeronautical advances critical to the war effort, both in the U.S. and abroad.

Download the free e-book: https://go.nasa.gov/45W70Vq

22/06/2024

I had a rare hour to spare in London yesterday morning so spent it having a walk around the wonderful Science Museum in South Kensington. Here are some random shots, mainly from their model gallery:

31/07/2023

Interesting question that came up at work last week: Just where are all the technical illustrators now? When I was younger, there were quite a lot of well-known technical and scientific illustration courses in the UK that turned out regular cohorts of grads who went on into industry and now there don't seem to be any. Has CAD made the tech ill specialism complete, have they merged into graphics, general illustration, computer science or animation or has something else happened?

27/07/2023

Excellent auction of Irwin Allen-related film memorabilia happening in the next couple of days. Lots of interesting production artwork and models to have a browse through and includes this stunning John Berkey original artwork for the Towering Inferno poster with an opening bid of $50,000! https://entertainment.ha.com/itm/movie-tv-memorabilia/original-art/original-john-berkey-final-poster-artwork-for-the-towering-inferno-tcf-1974-/a/7351-89737.s?ic4=GalleryView-Thumbnail-071515 #

World's Largest Collectibles Auctioneer

23/06/2023

If you have an interest in military history, engineering and technology and happen to be in San Francisco, you mustn’t miss SF-88, a gem of a place tucked away on the Marin headlands near the Golden Gate, the only restored and preserved Nike missile site in the world. At ground level, it doesn’t seem like there’s much to see but it’s what’s down through those yellow doors that is amazing. Then, coolest of all, once you’ve seen the underground magazine, they raise one of the missile to the surface and raise it to its launch position. The friendly docent-led tours are great. More info: https://www.nps.gov/goga/nike-missile-site.htm

08/06/2023

Nearing the end of an incredibly busy period at work so I popped into the RAF Club in London for a bit of quiet contemplation and inspiration. I never fail to be staggered by this work

30/05/2023

Plan and elevation drawings of the US Marine Corps Memorial in Washington DC. Images from the US Library of Congress

21/05/2023

If you happen to be in Brighton, UK don’t miss the Brighton Toy and Model Museum, an absolute little gem of a museum tucked away under the railway station forecourt

18/05/2023

Since:
A. It’s
B. I had a rare spare afternoon off
C. It was a beautiful Spring day
I spent a quiet hour wandering around my local museum, the marvellous de Havilland Aircraft Museum. As an added bonus a classic car club was having a day out there

06/05/2023

Farewell Bruce McCall. A brilliant artist with an equally brilliant sense of humour and he really knew his aviation history too. His 2008 Ted talk is a riot: https://www.ted.com/talks/bruce_mccall_what_is_retro_futurism?utm_campaign=tedspread&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=tedcomshare

18/04/2023

A few of the gems I found in some old copies of the Aeroplane Spotter in my dad’s office. Beautiful cutaways by Clark and some of Chris Wren’s oddentifications. While whimsical, Wren’s cartoons performed a really serious function