THE ART OF CHRIS DUNLOP

‘Pinstripe Chris’ Shows Us His Favorite Ford Renderings

‘Pinstripe Chris’ Shows Us His Favorite Ford Renderings

Hailing from Rockville, Maryland, Chris worked as an automotive painter who specialized in custom and high-end restoration work on classic and exotic vehicles. During these early days, he gained much hands-on experience and education in automobile form, lighting and colorwork.

As time passed, Chris experimented with airbrushing, pinstriping and Sharpie art. After living a double life as a full-time artist and full-time car painter, Chris and his wife, Caitlin, decided to open their own paint and body shop.

It was then that necessity became Chris’ artistic inspiration.

As a way to illustrate paint schemes and build ideas with his ever-growing client base, Chris began drawing cars more and more.

His experience as an automotive painter and illustrator dovetailed like the lines on a ’69 Mustang. Chris is not a classically trained artist, but he learned by doing, by trial and error, and by countless hours of practice. He also looks to automotive artists like Chip Foose and Steve Stanford for their expertise.

Eventually, Chris and Caitlin decided it was time to get serious about his craft. The custom car industry mecca—Southern California—was calling, and so they sold everything they had and moved across the country to Huntington Beach. Days after their arrival, Chris landed a job as an apprentice at a local hotrod shop, and Caitlin found a job at the Happiest Place on Earth.

While working, Chris spent his evenings drawing and freelance pinstriping at other shops. After a year and a half of building a West Coast client base, he decided to break out as a full-time automotive artist.

He has been creating automotive designs and renderings full time since then, though he still squeezes in some airbrushing, pinstriping and Sharpie vehicles for fun.

Chris’ preferred mediums are markers and airbrushed paint on illustration paper; he also produces digital renderings. In the following pages, we’ll show you some of his favorite Ford drawings, along with his artist’s notes.

INSPIRATION COMES IN ALL FORMS, including necessity. Such is the case with Chris Dunlop, a.k.a. Pinstripe Chris.