Just wanted to say for all of those guys out there (on this forum) who are into sketching and drawing cars who want some help. I see it all over the place. You people write in your posts 'Any comments will be accepted', well there is a site where there are people who will help you out tremendously. Here you will get only praise, maybe the experienced guy every now and then. There, the people are all design students, or they work for designing companies. They will help you out with perspective, ellipses, shading etc. Here you will only get praise, no help. With the site I will tell you in a sec, you will get help. In the long run, your work will drastically improve with what critique they give you over what praise you get here.

www.cardesignnews.com

In this post, I mean no harm to anyone who tries to help out around here, I am just trying to help out those who seek it.

I all ready posted that site so have others. Thx anyway.

One question why would I go to that site? Most of our cars are not designs (ones rendered here) they are actuall real cars that someone else designed. It seems cardesignnews.com is for people designing new cars why would I post a car that some else designed at that site?

Oh about the grid technique you are in-correct the grid technique is not for begginers. It is for professionals too. Trust me I know the history of the grid technique, why do you think they call me the "book worm".

The great Masters of the past used it.

Griding is simply a tool it doesn't degrade the artist nor his/her ability plus I can draw with out it, want to test me...hee hee :)

al

I agree completely, but in my eyes, it is like a standard transmission over a sequential one with paddles ir buttons. It just doesn't seem like what it is supposed to be like. As for CDN, most of the time, they give you advice on technique rather than your insight on cars. If you have some flaws in you technique, they will help you on those before they help you out with your actual "prototype". If you want to go off reproducing a picture exactly, then good for you, have fun, but if you want to improve, take a picture of your fave car, grid it or whatever, then draw that car but on a slightly different angle. Much more interesting than just redoing a picture for a few hours. I did that type of thing for a loooong time, quite well near the end. Then I got bored so now I put my own thoughts on paper.

I see what you are saying. Good point about trying to reproduce exactly what you see. What is the point why not just take/keep the photograph. I have thought the same thing. See graphite drawing is not my reall goal. I want to render and paint cars using various media like acyrlic, water, and even Adobe Ill.

I notice that most of the folks at your site are students actually studying design, that is really cool. But I do not have the creativity to make up cars in my head. So instead I want to take a photo as a reference for just the pose and like Randy, and Paula, "make it my own" by using paint/pastel what ever. Sometime I think it is amazing if someone can actually reproduce with hands and tools a near perfect copy, just to say it was hand made. I have seen graphite works of art that you would swear they are photographs. That can be very cool.

Anyway.

Post some of your designs.

Thx for trying to help us out over here.

al

Oh this forum is new by the way and we are still trying to make it better. See most of us are not design students nor professionals so it is hard to provide constructive critique but we do have some real critisism going on here.

Most people I think are working on the comp. challenge perhaps you and some of your peers from cardesignnews can come over and critque based on rendering techniques, seeing how we are not actually designing a new Lambo....:)

Oh believe me I wish I could provide more constructive critiques to try and help better folks but I don't have the know how plus my reall life takes a lot of my time up.

al

Oh, I am glad you mentioned that about our forum. I think I will try to be more helpful in my posts to other people. I want to see people improve. As I want to improve also.

Currently, the only work I have on computer is my most recent design of a trackday racer. I will post that and a reproduction of a Lotus 340R (excuse the crap quality, it was taken through a digicam). As for my friends over at CDN, I just signed up to those forums yesterday, and I already had a guy mailing me his drawings, wnating me to critique them. Keep in mind that htese pictures are all drawn by me, a 14 year old who just likes drawing cars for the hell of it, I will get serious when I get to grade 11 :D. For now, here is some of my stuff. I know there are numerous things wrong with my racecar, please don't mention them if they are obvious (headlamp height, windshield and chunky rear.). Anything else will be accepted and taken into account.

A design for a track car, me and my friend are going to make one in the future, decided to brainstorm some ideas now, so less work later on.

http://www.digitalpose.com/mbr/1/20864/p/351203_2962096068451204918_vl.jpg

And a Lotus I did a while back.

http://www.digitalpose.com/mbr/1/20864/p/351469_8832191588674019453_vl.jpg

Once again, I apologize about the pic quality, it was from a camera. It looks quite nice in real life. Also, the Lotus was done entirely with an HB pencil, that is it, nothing else. the Trackday Special was done by standard pencils (the whole range), water colours and a pen. Now that I look at the Lotus, it looks as if it leans a bit to the right. It was drawn in December I think. I had just turned 14 in Spetember at that point. The date is the time the pic was taken, not drawn. Enjoy...

The people in this forum not only praise, but we use that praise and add critique, or at least the ones who know their stuff. There are those who aspire to be able to draw half as good as Asaenz, or you for example, so when they see the drawings here they compare to their own work. There are those like Asaenz that know what they're doing in certain areas and are only "qualified" to critique those areas, as Asaenz does for pencil drawings. He has provided tutorials, different reading material (his favorites so it seems :D ), and give words of praise and encouragement to entice his fellow sketchers and drawers to keep moving forward. At CDN, everyone has their own knowledge of how to draw to cars, but some of them might not know how to draw them in pencil realistically. Some may, some don't, same as here. As Asaenz said, this forum was just started so we are still building on our "community" right now (and if you want to tell CDN about us also that would be great). Thanks for the help though, I've been to that site also. :bigthumb:

To critique your drawings, taking in mind you are 14 and not too serious:
They are good drawings and a good imagination, but they are too cartoonish. Cartoonish isn't bad, but you're in the 9th grade (just guessing by age) so you need to start practicing a little more realism, cuz that kinda talent doesn't just come over night. It'll take about the three or four years you have till you graduate to gain the talent needed to be able to design a more realistic design to use for the racecar.Also, the lines are choppy, smooth them out a little. On your first pic, you might try to make the back a little taller, and a little farther back and then you could widden the wheel well. With the back a little taller, bring the wind up a little bit more and it will give the car a meaner look. Also, there are no seats. The front left fender looks kinda like it's drooping a little. Other than that, they are good drawings to get your idea started. Good luck on the track car, hope everything goes as planned for you. :wave:

I think it is pretty obvious that these are getting a little cartoony, but if I were not to highlight the stronger lines in pen, then it wouldn't give that impression. As for the lines, they flow a lot smoother on the real thing. This version has been cropped/resized etc through different programs, many tiems after it was originally scanned, so that's why the lines are scratchy. As for the interior, I just didn't think that the seating arangement was necessary at that stage, so I just left them out. As for realism, I will try going without my pen for tomorow, I'll see if I can get some scans up of my work then...

Cool man, I hate scanners and programs that take away from the quality of a good drawing. If you go without the pen, try to make a few areas a little darker, giving a little 3-D look. It will bring out those lines without you having to use a pen. Good luck.

I used a bit of watercolour on that particular design for shading, maybe if I used more of a darker colour for the shading, maybe a tinge of blue, then I could essentially use that to shadow in certain areas. Here is the picture that I stare at for hours just to search inspiration from. Stumbled up it a while back, which led me to finding CDN, and this forum... Yes, I guess next time I will use a mixture of 9h-b pencils to do shading, and maybe the help of some watercolour. Here she is, my shrine.

Note: this is not by me, I could only wish for such a hand...
http://www.digitalpose.com/mbr/1/20864/p/351712_2649331365807684939_vl.jpg

Nice pic. That's a great inspiration "peice" to go by. Check the F-150 Lightning progress and critique my truck. I like to hear the things I've done wrond so far, that way I can fix those mistakes early in the game.

Here's what a guy told me off of CDN:

-front hood goes down to much, its almost a 45 degree angle.

-front looks like it's bent towards the camera.

-no seats?

-mirrors too small

-needs smoother lines

-rear too long and goes down too much.

Overall pretty nice. I'm being pretty picky here, so if you see any critiques that you dont see as useful, ignore them.

------------------------------

Makes sense, some of it... I think I'll redo that exact picture, but with a less cartoony take to it. If I can wake up in time tomorow morn, and get my dad to scan a pic of mine, which is completely non-cartoony of a track touringcar...

Your last pic is a huge improvement on your rendering skillz.

I personally would have posted a new thread for your cars.

Can you give a brief description on how you did your last rendering w/ water color. I mean just quick steps.

Can't help you from a design prospective, however I did notice that on your front tire the spacing from the rim to the edge of the tire is off, near your highlight. The ellipse breaks away to much from the rim.

Other than that, I like the sketchy look with water color.

al

Sweet, it's always good to see new things. Yeah, the mirrors are too small, but the front end is fine the direction it is going. The only problem is that the front right fender (facing the car) looks like it is falling off. If you make that line straight across like the other fender, it would be great. Like you said you didn't really care about the interior or you would have done it, so don't worry about the seats. Another thing is that it's your design, and depending on how high the bottom of the windsheild is off the ground and how long you want the front end, then the angle of the front end doesn't really matter too much. Also, since the angle of the car is forward and to the left, the way the front left fender (facing the car) curves around to the front makes that angle look much steeper than it really is. I mean, there are minor details that we could be picky about, but it all comes down to that you really didn't care how "real" it could look, you were just trying to get a design. Now that you have the design, you should try and take this same car and make it as real as you possibly can. Add seats, level out the fenders, Square off the windsheild and the cross bar, create smooth flowing lines, make the back end a little bigger, just the minor details. Other than that it's a great design for a track car.