Ken Kearney

Kearney, US Navy Experiences circa:1958-1961

Cruise Book cartoon map from 1960.

Deck-hand Kearney aboard the USS Southerland, comes along side another Destroyer for a "high-line" drill, out in the Pacific.

"Tin-Can" sailor Kearney holding on during a storm at sea!

US Navy days!

Hamamatsu, Japan. I went to this village to visit a friend Saburo Ito, and these folks showed up too. Shot with a plastic Kodak Brownie camera. circa:1959

Studio photography of Seaman Kearney, shot in Yokosuka, Japan.circa:1959

Join the Navy and see the world! Well, what's a guy to do after he gets out of High School? Maybe head down to San Diego,CA and go to USN boot camp. It gives a young guy a new out-look on life. Because I could draw cartoons, that did get me into some interesting projects. My first assignment out of boot camp was working on training aids at the US Navy Training Center, San Diego. Then after a year of shore duty it was out into the Pacific for three years on varies ships. Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines, Hawaii...were some of the ports. I also went through the stormy seas of "Cape Horn" around South America, just like my ancestors, only they were coming from Ireland. They were on small wooden sailing ships, I was on an Aircraft Carrier.

Kearney the old salt! In Kobe,Japan. I knew how to put that curl on my sailor hat and wear it low to the eyebrows! At this time I was aboard the USS Dixie, a Destroyer Tender. Our home port was Yokouska, Japan a very wild town!

Being 6'2" meant remembering to keep your noggin down when going through one of those many solid iron hatches!

This was one of my water color impressions of a beautiful Hawaiian Island scene.

This was from one of my illustrated letters to home, when I was aboard the Aircraft Carrier FDR. Note: my nick-name was Spike.

Kearney hits the port of Rio de Janeiro here in front of world famous "Sugar Loaf".

Post card of Rio, showing Sugar Loaf.

The Disney movie "Saludos Amigos" featured a terrific song: "Brazil". That film and song along with "The Three Cabelleros" made a big impression on me as a kid. They had wild and wacky animation. Little did I know I would later visit "Sugar Loaf" and also work with Bob Carlson,Lee Blair,Larry Kilty, Disney animators who worked on those films. I even worked as an "in-betweener" with Bob on national TV commercials.

Kearney works for NASA circa:1964-1968

NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California
Only a few years out of the US Navy as a deck hand and now working in the Graphics and Exhibits Department for world famous NASA as a technical illustrator! Just because I could draw! My first job out of the Navy was working in retail at Valley Fair,San Jose, CA. Then my brother Phil, helped me get into a "job-shop" as a technical illustrator. That lead to the NASA job. This was before the moon landing.

Kearney at his best in jacket and tie, with poster art he designed.

Kearney at the drawing board. This was when Leroy pens and India ink were used for lettering illustrations.

In NASA jump suite setting up an exhibit in one of those large hangers at Moffett Field.

Kearney at work drawing animal cartoons for kids at NASA 1966 Christmas Party.

Cartoon Doodle. Some times it felt like this being a technical illustrator.

At the desk, Ames Research Center, April 1964.

Kearney with Frog 1976 Carmel, California

Frog costume created by Kearney as a mascot for a clothing store.
Photo by Larry Kilty

Aptos Village Studio,California

Wide angle shot by photographer Greg Pio of Kearney in my studio... Aptos, California. My feet are resting on an animation desk from Hanna Barberra Studios. Before I took over the space, I had been working there as an animator with ex-Walt Disney artists Bob Carlson and Larry Kilty in the early 1970's. This studio was destroyed in the October 1989 earthquake.

Redwood Village, the new studio location after the earthquake of October 1989. That's my 1981 Buick Skylark that later was in a San Francisco movie.

Found Photos

I really like "found photos"...pictures from old family albums and yard sales etc. They show a candid slice out of the "time machine"!

circa:1911 What a wonderful candid Santa Cruz beach shot! The bathing suits are just great! This was from a Kearney family album. click photo for details

I know nothing about the people in this candid shot; I found it at a flea-market. It looks like the period was around 1900. I call it "Girl In The Park". You can see how proud the adults are with the young girl. A story could easily be written based on this one picture.

1925 picnic. Old family album snapshot that was from one of my Aunts collections. Everybody looks like they are having a great time...but look at that dreary landscape! How about that grand old automobile! Those outfits are very fashionable!

1920 car crowd. It's April Fools Day and everybody is out to have a good time! (my Aunt Jean's collection.)

This is the kind of view-finder camera that people would use for these snapshots from the 1920's.

Pith helmets were the fashion for visitors to the Philippine Islands in the 1920's!

Kim:a favorite model through the years

Kim and Ken, May 2007. We kept in touch through these many years!

Kim circa:1976 She is modeling a "Crazy Horse Leathers" outfit. note:location of this shot was Lost World.

"Wolf" (Ken)and Kim...circa:1980. At the time there was a costume shop down the street from my photography studio in Aptos Village, California. The shop owner would lend me outfits for photo tests.

Kim at "Lost World" in Scotts Valley,California. circa:1976. For years "Lost World" was a big roadside attraction. It featured the life size Dinosaurs and the "tree circus". You could see them from Highway 17 on the way to Santa Cruz. I shot a series of photos there with Kim in it's last days. This is a sample of one of the prints that I hand-colored.

Kim and another model in a "penthouse" room at the Bay View Hotel, Aptos Village,CA. circa:1976 note:the Bayview Hotel is still there to this day and has been upgraded to a bed and breakfast Inn.