Ruger Collectors Association

Jim Triggs was known for his exploded drawings.

Love THAT piece of history!!

Don,
I am by no means an artist/illustrator/etc. but I like to learn how things were done. How would he have drawn all those pictures, and this one in particular? Would he have taken the gun apart and then visualized and drawn the parts? Or would Ruger have give him other, maybe rougher drawings to work from?

I had a few years of mechanical drawing classes and some architectural drawing classes but what he did is really something special (with a capital S). One of these shows this year I'll sit down and talk a bit with you.

I never thought to ask him but I bet he would take the gun apart to draw all those parts so precise.

d findley wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2023 1:39 am I never thought to ask him but I bet he would take the gun apart to draw all those parts so precise.

+1

Hello guys,

There are several ways to accomplish this, they would for sure use the shop drawings (blueprints) which indicated the scale, and the actual parts. They may have set up some parts at oblique angles and taken a photo. There are several other methods that can be employed to help create an accurate drawing. Each artist has his own technique.
Now, Jim Kritz also did cutaways, industrial art and exploded drawings, he was highly skilled in mechanical art as well as portraits and other styles of painting. Jim Triggs was a highly skilled portrait artist and illustrator. In my opinion neither of these guys get the recognition from the art world at large that they deserve. Triggs was known in and around the NYC galleries. Kritz was more obscure. He was actually painting a portrait of Lucille Ball when she passed away.
Donnie can tell us more about Triggs than I can, they were close friends. I was close to Kritz, so I know more about him, and have had the joy of viewing a lot of his work, including the completed Lucy portrait (which the family didn't want), much of his work is in a private collection.
I have examples of personalized work from both artists in my collection, I regret that they are no longer with us.

Regards, John

Hello guys,

How about a bit of interesting Ruger trivia? Look at the letter at the top of this post, you will notice that there is a ghost looking eagle at the top and some faint lettering. Notice there is no big red eagle at the top of the letter. This document is a "carbon copy", the letter was hand typed on Ruger letterhead, but the carbon copy, using a sheet of carbon paper was done on the back of an old Ruger price sheet, thus the backward bleed through. Ruger used a lot of the surplus price sheets to make their "file copies", why use expensive letterhead when the these sheets will work just as well.

regards, John

You have to love a thread like this, great historical artwork with information. I have always been a fan of Triggs talent, he was a true artist. Thanks Don and John for sharing.
Bennett

What words... super, remarkable idea

sassa