where to start?

i was wandering where all u great artists start to draw cars from the side, and from an angle.

what do you mean? ... take a pencil and start drawing .. is this what you wanted as an answer? or.. what else?

I draw the wheels and then a general outline of the body. Just be sure you don't go into details at the beginning. First the general layout and when you're satisfied, the details.

Also, check this out:

http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=-4690667587092316389&q=car+design

it's a video where I do a 5 min side view sketch.

I think I know what you mean. I generally start with the line that creates the bottom side of the car (rocker panel). That dictates what general perspective I'm going for. The longer and more horizontal the line, the more of the side I'm going to see. I follow that up with a line that would create the chin of the car. This seals the deal as far as perspective. Where those 2 lines meet is where the corner of the fender meets the nose. From there, I determine how much of a front overhang the car has (distance between front of the wheel and front of the car). Modern cars generally have a shorter overhang than older ones. Now that the front wheel is placed, I estimate how long the wheelbase is, add the rear wheel and the rear overhang after that.

Once I've got the length of the car set, I draw a vertical line marking how wide the car is on the far side of the nose. Now I have all the horizontal proportions of the car. Next I estimate the height of the fender above the top of the wheel in relation to the near top corner of the nose. I sweep a line back that resembles the shoulder line. Then I draw a line describing the far side edge of the windshield and follow it up with the near side A pillar and top of the windshield. Roofline and side windows are last.

Hope this helps!

i just start with the right headlight and then go to the grill then left headlight... after that i got all the front lines of the winshield bumper and the roof.....

SieG (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=447851) i meant where to start to draw the car from

thanks for the advice everyone .

PS.hdesign (http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=473283) that sounds a little complicated but i respect the different ways that people draw.

I'm the same as Si-Vtec, start with right headlight then grill then left headlight and so on. listening to the rest of you guys, thats probably why i suck with perspective. gotta start somewhere though, i guess.

I start with the wheels, dependine on the elipse, angle, and distance between them I'll get an idea of where everything else should be.

I start with two horizontal lines across. Then the three lines down, and a half dome for the A-Pillar to C-Pillar. The steps below is a tutorial I made for people in other forums. Basically, this is how I start my drawing.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/S01.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/S02.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/S03.jpg
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/S04.jpg
Skipping a few steps
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/S08-10.jpg
Eventually there's more but here's the final drawing of it.


Stock
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/S25.jpg
Kitted
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a48/xspeed/SBonus.jpg

thank you xpeed for the tut . it will help me and others. i can believe that you drew a car from just two parallel lines

No problem. If you want the whole tut, pm me and I'll give you the rest. :D

xpeed--nice tut.
We have similar techniques, but with CAR-toons I start from the sill/frame line and work up.