North Pole Mail Hot Rod Drawing

I love this time of year – there are so many nostalgic things that remind me of the carefree excitement of my childhood Christmases. Among them are the classic claymation Christmas specials like Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town with Fred Astaire. We were watching it this week and I thought S.D. Kluger’s Model T snow truck could use a little hop up.

You remember S.D. Kluger, the narrator and postman from the show, voiced by Fred Astaire. He drove around in an old red Model T snowmobile that slowly trotted around the snowscape of the North Pole.

It’s a pretty cool rig, and apparently they actually made these in the early nineteen-teens. Since there’s always room for improvement – and perhaps S.D. needs to deliver his letters extra fast this year – I thought I would help him out with this North Pole mail hot rod drawing.

I sketched the truck out in Micron pen and added a layer of Copic Wide C3 strokes to give the drawing some texture. Next, I filled in the body with four shades of Copic reds. Finally, I used Posca white to reinforce the shiny reflections.

I think this would be much more fun for S.D. to rock around the snowy banks of the north. His rig now features a hopped up flat head ford with lake headers and dual carbs. I chopped the convertible top a little bit to give it the appearance of a rake, but I kept the ride height so he can maneuver around fallen branches. The half track was swapped out for a couple of cheater slicks on smoothie caps – though I don’t think that’s going to help him through the snow too much.

That’s a wrap on the North Pole mail hot rod drawing. I thought this was a fun take on a classic, and this original sketch is available for sale in the shop, here.