Designing

a few q's
alright So I'm pretty good at drawing but i want to design and every time i design it looks a lot like the real cars i draw. I dont like that. I want to be original. any suggestions and also is it possible to do a good job with crayola pencils and markers cuz dats all i got. and photoshop but im still learnin that


thanks and some of my work
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/67shelbymustang/mycar003.jpg
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/67shelbymustang/mycar002.jpg

When youre into drawing real cars for a long time, becoming free of all the conventions of todays car designs is hard.

Start with some free shapes. Don't think about drawing cars at the beginning, think about drawing shapes. Don't mind about whether the car would be useful, whether it would be even buildable. A usual car loos like that from the side:
_/_|_\_
-°---°-
A classich 3 box design, one box for the engine, one bigger box for the passengers and a third box for the trunk. That is quite boring.

Think about new shapes and different shapes like Pick-ups, Roadsters, Station Wagons, Hatchbacks, Fastbacks, Vans and all these so called "Crossovers".

Develop a shape and form it into a car. You may get messy results at the beginning, but just keep on playing.

Keep it simple. Don't think about details like bumpers door handles and all that stuff. Try to be radical. Don't mind about side windows which are only one feet high. Use LSD or gullwing doors, do whatever you like, but, for gods sake, draw at least a thick dark line around your rims. There are so many car designs without any tires, they all look crap. The rim needs the contrast of the black tire.

Also, it's best to start with side views first. They give you the general idea of your design theme. Many designers do thumbnail sideview sketches where they develop an idea, then they try the idea in a 3/4 view.

Everything I said is "can-do", not "must-do" I justwant to give some hints.
I'd really like to see some designs soon!

Oh and I like your drawings! The boss is really nice!

Thanks for the help Knight it really helps me out. I think i might print it out and stick it on my wall in big letters lol. Also though can any one give me advice on how to make my drawings that i put up better and my second question?is it possible to make good renderings with crayola pencils and markers?

btw my Last name is Knight man lol

For the drawings you posted, they look alright but you have potential. One thing I notice with them is that they are done in black and only black. I would suggest to use a pencil to sketch. This will allow you to shade and the car will take its form and look 3D. There are some perspective issues and ellipse troubles but that will come with practice.

It is possible to create a nice rendering with marker and pencil crayon. You can create a nice rendering with only marker or pencil crayon. I don't know if you have seen this but I did a how to on rendering. I used markers for the main reflections and the wheels but airbrush on the rest. What you can do is use pencil crayon instead of the airbrush. It won't be as smooth but it is possible.

http://www.freewebs.com/rmdesigns/renderinghowto.htm

yeah Rm I do my Drawings in pencil then out line them in Sarasa pen then erase the pencil lines that was a very helpful tutorial but i dont have prismacolors yet just CRAPPY CRAYOLA

here is my progress on the cobra in photoshophttp://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/67shelbymustang/inprog.jpg

my taillights a wrong right now and the roll bar but pretty good for a first try I'd say myself

I don't know Crayola pencils, but I think you can also achieve good results with kindergarten pencils, if you know how to use them properly. Of course it's easier with better pencils. but for a start, they are all ok.

Btw, actually we have the same family name. my real last name is Ritter, which is German and means knight, bro!

Cool we're family man
heres some concepts that i dont really like but i guess its cool for a first designhttp://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/67shelbymustang/img001-1.jpg

im gonna photoshop it really nicely later

Hi all

I hope someone can give me some advice on designing cars. My son is in high school and we are starting to talk about what he really wants to do in life. He, like a lot of you no doubt, has been drawing cars for years. He's fanatical about it and he's very good at art. I'm talking to him about aiming high and doing something he has a passion for, doing whatever is necessary to achieve that goal and what he wants is to design cars as an adult. I started looking at university brochures etc, to see what sort of degree he would require - something in engineering I suppose? -. I wondered if anyone knew ideally what degree he would have to aim to get into to achieve his goals. Artistically he is all there, but I would assume there'd have to be some knowledge of physics and engineering to design "real" cars yes? Any advice from anyone? Thanks in anticipation.

Krisy.

The official or most common name is "Transportation Design" In the United States, you can study it at Pasadena, CA, maybe somewhere else too, I'm from Europe so I don't really know. In Europe, you can become a Bachelor of Transportation design after 4 years and Master of Transportation Design after another 2 years. It is an Arts Degree, not a Science Degree. Again, I don't know whether it's different in the US. Overhere, at least, the studies tend to be more art than engineering. There's a difference between "car design" and "car styling", but when it comes to technical stuff it's the engineers job. This might be different in the US aswell.

I am 20 years old and I'm planning to study TD next year, too. They told me that it is a very challenging study and a time-consuming job. You must live this job, cars must be in your heart. You can't go home at 6 o'clock and forget work until next morning, you rather draw a sketch on a napkin while having dinner with your family. That's at least what I heard.

You can get much info about the design topic on cardesignnews.com.

Thanks so much for the reply. I'm in Australia, and the Uni brochures I've looked at don't mention anything like that, however I'm sure I can go deeper in my search here. Thanks very much for the information. That makes sense. I'm going to check it out.

And, yes he does have a passion for it. He has so many sketchbooks full of car sketches. I am always asking what he's doing and he says "drawing cars" lol.

Talk again soon. Krisy

I cant really add any tips. i have kinda the same issues u have. that whole art school concept free flow sketching just not me. But from what i see ur stuff is awesome. im sure you'll get it.

http://www.carbodydesign.com/directory/car-design/car-design-schools/

Here's a list of design schools which offer Transportation Design courses or similar. Unfortunaltely, I haven't seen one in Australia.

carbodydesign.com is also a great ressource for the car design issue.

Also, check out Designertechniques.com, a tutorial and info site maintained by a professional Transportation/ Automotive Designer.

I'd be really interested in some of your sons sketches. Maybe he would like to sign up here and show us some of his work and have a chat about it. He should not be afraid to show it to others.

Greetings

Robin