Two Wild & Crazy Clip Art Guys
Ron & Joe present ART PARTS
I met Ron through Chuck Green and have had an eye on the Art Parts web site ever since. Ron and Joe don't just have clip art... they've got totally fun and unique stock art and illustrations. What's best about their art is that it's not only snappy, it works well for colorization. Here, take a look at this quick color-up I did in about ten minutes. (See: step-by-step layers in Photoshop)
Let's stop in and see some of their stuff...
DT&G So Ron, thanks so much for visiting today... what a great little shop! Probably one of the truly unique places on the web. How did you guys get together?
Ron: Joe and I have been best friends since college. We met in the graphic design department at Cal State Long Beach. Joe went on from there to make a living as a freelance illustrator (editorial work mostly) and I followed my considerable nose into graphic design.
Long story short: After about 10 years we were both burned out. In fact, I actually dropped out by quitting my design partnership. One night, while sitting around watching the then California Angels get trounced, Joe proffered an innocent question: Is it possible to convert his illustrations into digital format for the computer? That led to the advent of Art Parts about three months later (in early 1992).
DT&G So tell me... which one of you actually does the work?
Ron: This is the easiest question of all: Joe. In the early days, I actually did a few of the illustrations but had to quickly face facts. Joe is an amazing illustrator, I'm not. And what makes Joe's work unique is not only his style, but the way he thinks. Let's just categorize it as skewed, since children may read this.
DT&G I love your "Freebies" area... do you collect those items just for the site, or were they things you've kept over the years?
Ron: Our Fun & Free section is my favorite too. It has several parts which all come from different places. Our Freebie o' the Month is usually eight to ten images - themed as appropriate - pulled from our clip art library. Ron and Joe's House o' Cheese is a store of cheesy items (such as rubber chickens and fez) which have been either created, or hand-chosen, by us.
DT&G Well, I just know people are going to really get a kick out of all that stuff. I particularly like some of the really innovative things from the past like the Chirstmas Greeting card...
Ron: 
yea, everyone likes that one. But we also have recipes from Ron's Mom (Carlene), photographs of several of our collections -- old greeting cards, bobble-heads and toy robots - plus cartoons about a dog and cat named Fracas and Ox. But our favorite parts of this section are the pictures of Silly Pets and Kids, all submitted by visitors to our site. Some are very funny.
DT&G So you have any idea which of your art collections is the most popular?
Ron: This is a tough question as there are several which sell about equally well. Here are a few, in no particular order: Cats and Dogs, Pets (Samp), Amusements, The Arts, Playtime, Son of Business, Health/Medical, and Food.
DT&G 
Ron, one last question -- Do you guys hire out? Like if someone wants some custom images?"
Ron: Absolutely, we love doing custom work. Just get in touch through the site!
DT&G ... and of course, if our readers stop in each month, they can pick up something new and interesting in the Freebie o' the Month library, right?
Ron: You bet'cha, Fred.
DT&G Well Ron, it's been a great visit -- we sure wish you and Joe all the best -- and you can bet we'll be visiting the web site often.
Ron: Thanks for visiting! Hope the readers had a great time. Come visit any time.
So there you have it folks! Those two wild & crazy guys, Ron and Joe! Now Ron and Joe, have actually entered the 21st century with the introduction of a new Art Parts search engine
Joe sez:
"I don't know, it just seemed like it was time to modernize the Art Parts section of our web site a bit."
Ron sez:
"Yeah -- it was either that or get the Gremlin detailed. I think we made the right choice."
The Art Parts product line is currently comprised of over 7,000 clip art images, plus nearly 600 stock illustrations. The new search engine allows the user to search by keyword and category to find an image. Single clip art images and stock illustrations may be purchased and immediately downloaded. Art Parts single-subject clip art sets, most with 50 or more images, can also be immediately downloaded.
For more information, please visit: www.ronandjoe.com
Hope you've enjoyed this little field trip. If you know of an artist or artist's site that DTG readers would enjoy visiting, just let us know and we'll schedule a visit and maybe even an interview!
Thanks for reading.
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