His latest project is Amistad America, whose original name was La Amistad. In 1839, the ship transported a group of slaves in chains from Mendi (present-day Sierra Leone) to the Americas. The slaves revolted and took control of La Amistad but were later seized off the coast of New England. John Quincy Adams defended their freedom before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the slaves eventually returned to their homeland. Historians later referred to the case as "the Amistad Incident."

"This was a famous civil rights case," Campbell says excitedly. "The legacy I want to leave to young people is my knowledge of sailing ships."

Calling himself a walking encyclopedia of sailing ships, Campbell says many painters shy away from drawing sailing ships because it requires a great deal of research.

"If you don't know the rigging, it's like drawing an antique car with square wheels," Campbell says. His studio in the mountains of Santa Cruz is walled with shelves of books about ships, waterways and nautical charts.

He says that of the various painting mediums, pen and ink can best capture the fine lines of sailing vessels. The point of the technical painting pen he is using is like a needlepoint. But the challenge of the medium is that once a line is drawn, it cannot be removed or changed.

"You have to think carefully before you put down a line," Campbell says.

Known for his precision and accuracy, Campbell has been invited to exhibit his works at the Maritime Museum of San Francisco, the Scrimshaw Gallery in Sausalito, the Boat Works in Carmel, and the Maritime Museum of Monterey.

Among his many accomplishments, Campbell was named artist of the year by the Santa Clara County Art Association in 1976.

But he didn't set out to be an artist when he was young.

Campbell had always wanted to be a writer. A high school teacher told him he could learn more about writing if he worked for his father in a small-town newspaper printing shop in Ohio.

"I didn't learn much," Campbell says. "It was pure work. I sat, typed and mopped the floor. I did everything."

His experience in the newspaper industry helped him land a job in the distribution department of the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Examiner.

When he worked for the Examiner, Campbell used to go to Fishermen's Wharf and draw the fishermen, Teamsters and stevedores.

"The wharf was a working wharf, rather than a tourist spot, in those days," he says. "People would ask me, 'Hey, kid, what do you want for that?' I could never get over that people would pay for my drawings. I think I was San Francisco's first street artist."

With the same determination and passion, Campbell also realized his dream to become a writer as he published many articles about the history of famous sailing ships in Seaways' Ships in Scale, the nation's major workshop and research magazine for ship lovers and modelers.

The self-taught artist especially likes to show off his dexterity.

Four fingers of Campbell's left hand were crushed in an accident when he was 13. When his father took him to the emergency room, the doctors told Campbell his fingers needed to be amputated. His father refused. Although he kept his fingers, Campbell had to learn how to grab a pen between his thumb and the rest of the twisted fingers when writing.

Before, his classmates made fun of him because he was left-handed. After the accident, his ways of holding a pen attracted more teasing.

To overcome that trauma, he trained himself to use his right hand. In his promotion shows, he draws with both hands.

"It's enthusiasm and drive that made me successful," Campbell says. "With these two qualities, you can be the best of anything in the world."

Campbell's talents are not limited to drawing—he has excellent penmanship as well, with a signature that resembles a sailing ship, with the two i's in his name linking each other like sails.

He has also designed 28 cachets for stamp collectors throughout the world.

In 1998, he designed the cachets commemorating the 150th-year anniversary of California's statehood, and the stamps he was commissioned to design for the centennial of Big Basin Redwoods State Park, California's oldest state park, will come out this weekend.

Looking at the thousands of pictures he has drawn over the years, Campbell says he wants to redo most of them—they are not yet perfect in his eyes.

"The best drawing I've done is still in my eyes and in my hands," he says. "If I am satisfied with what I've done, I don't have to drive to become better."