About Us
The Company
The genesis for the company was the admiration for the great engineers of the past such as Brunel, R.J. Mitchell, and W. Boeing. In previous generations, engineers were venerated like rock stars or athletes are today. The very best engineering designs often have the same elements that make great art great. One of our goals is to return engineering and engineers to the spotlight.
The principles of the company collected blueprints of airplanes, engines, ships, and other great designs. Gradually, we realized that a set of blueprints could be distilled into a cutaway that captures the art in the design. After much experimentation, we settled on the profile cutaway as the best way to showcase engineering art. (We also can create isometric cutaway illustrations if the design calls for it.)
Our first product type, a wooden cutaway model in a frame, is a hybrid of a model and a print. It is a print that has real depth and shadows or, from a different perspective, is a model that never gets dusty and can be hung from the wall.
After launching our wooden models, we added color to our cutaway drawings and placed them on everyday items like coffee mugs, coasters, and t-shirts. We use the latest state of the art printing methods available and the ink is extremely bright, color accurate, and stable. The color printing process also has almost no setup and allows us to make extremely small production runs.
The business is evenly split between doing historic titles and art commissions. If you would like to commission of any of the product types, please call 650-245-0035 or e-mail billc@delphic.com
The Artists
Bill Clark
Bill has a life-long interest in aviation, design, and the art of engineering. While growing up in the industrial Midwest , he loved to learn how everything worked. As a teenager, he flew small planes across country with his dad. After buying several sets of blueprints of WWII planes, he discovered that he had a passion for cutaways. He always loved the symmetry and elegance of an airplane and saw the framed cutaway as the perfect way to showcase them. He loves researching airplanes and learning the most arcane details. He strives to show the parts of a plane that made it a success.“I love to draw cutaways of airplanes because I end up really knowing how an aircraft is put together. I always look for why a particular design is superior to its peers and try to reveal the secret of its success in the cutaway.” Bill lives in Menlo Park , CA with his wife and three children. You can reach him at billc@delphic.com.
Dave Garcia
Combing his industrial technology and architectural drafting education from Cal Poly, SLO, a 40 year Naval Aviation career, wood working skills, and the ability to use the laser engraver, Dave comes aboard as the overall Naval Aviation technical advisor and laser engraver for our laser wood aircraft model cutaways. He adds a unique and personal dimension to our design work having actually flown the F-4, F-14, A-6, A-4 and A-3 aircraft off of US Navy aircraft carriers and in actual combat. His desire to "get it right" has helped assist in producing our very detailed and to scale wood aircraft model cutaways. "Working for Bill and the gang has allowed me to combine my military experience, computer skills, and wood working abilities, which has made life after military service extremely enjoyable!" You can reach him at dbgarcia@me.com.Jan Jacobs
While growing up in a small Ozark Village in northern Arkansas, Jan got the aviation bug at an early age. After earning a BS in Mathematics from Arkansas Tech, he attended Aviation Officer Candidate School and was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Navy. He received his Naval Flight Officer wings in 1972. He flew back seat in F-4s until late 1975, completed an overseas shore tour, and resigned his Navy commission in early 1977. He then worked for various companies around San Diego for 12 years, including a six month stint as a flight test engineer for the Tomahawk program. While working in the civilian world, he accepted a Naval Reserve commission and flew F-4 backseats at NAS Miramar on weekends and other odd times from 1978-84. He transitioned to the F-14 Tomcat as his squadron did and flew for another three years. Jan retired from the Naval Reserve in 1992. In 1989, he went to work for the Tailhook Association as The Hook magazine's managing editor and performed those duties for 22 years. You can see some of his photos on his website, http://www.oldro.com or e-mail Jan at f14ro@aol.comTadeusz "Ted" Kneblewski
Ted's life as an artist began at a very early age. As a young boy growing up in the beautiful region Gdansk, Poland, he cherished the time spent in public school art classes. He was driven to capture the atmosphere and architecture of Gdansk in his art. At the age of ten, Ted was the winner of a regional competition "Chalk On Asphalt" with the topic of "100 to 1000 Years of Historical Gdansk". As well as being inspired by nature, he was fascinated with the movement of mechanical parts, which became the focus for his creative talents. Ted attended a Graphic College, earning his diploma in printing, graphic design, technical drawing, and mechanical illustrating. As a young adult, in 1974, Ted moved to Canada and continued his profession as a lithographer. Ted has embraced the new digital illustrating techniques that have replaced the early tools of the profession. Ted's original pencil drawings, oil paintings and watercolors continues to garner interest with increased exposure in local art galleries and worldwide via the internet. Many of his drawings are available to collectors as limited edition reproductions. You can reach him at vitaartstudio@xplornet.com.Employment
Illustrators- We are looking for people who are passionate about about cutaways. Our number one criteria for employment is the desire to create heirloom quality art. Our compensation is two fold: For commissioned art work, we pay competative hourly rates. For titles that you own the rights to and that we sell in our channel, we will pay a royalty on product sold. Computer Experience is preferred but not required in any of the following: Maya, 3DMax, ZBrush, CoralDraw, Illustrator, Photoshop, AutoCAD, or SolidWorks. Interest in learning new software and techniques is a plus. Please include your portfolio along with your resume.
Telesales Reps- We are seeking individuals to sell our technical illustration services into corporations’ human resources and sales organizations or sell our historical titles into the consumer gift market. Knowledge of online CRM applications like Salesforce is a plus. We offer competative compensation, flexible hours, and the ablity to work from home.