Sizing Up Design Sketching

Sizing Up Design Sketching

Transportation designer Allan Macdonald explains how to choose the right scale for design sketching.

Car Pencil Sketch Tutorial

30 minutes long video tutorial that shows the complete creation process of a car pencil sketch on paper, done with Prismacolor black pencils.

Car interior sketch tips

Car interior sketch tips

A short tutorial with some tips on the creation of a handmade sketch of a car interior concept.

How to draw Cars - Chapters

Click on link to go to How to Draw Cars Fast & Easy by Tim Rugendyke with Andy Cheung
Chapter Index 
How to draw cars - fast and easy

MILES WATERHOUSE - Three Beginner Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

1. Perspective; the ability to understand and draw in perspective is vital in car design. Many amateurs start off drawing three-dimensional objects without perspective. This can sometimes work for product design but is not acceptable on cars. Cars are large objects which are viewed close-up, which means perspective is very important. In fact it is better to exaggerate perspective than have none at all. To get a feel for it, experiment with wide-angle viewpoints and distorted perspective. Then move back to something more normal and easy to digest.

Be aware that of your two vanishing points, at least one will usually be a long way from the car. If you are finding perspective lines difficult to imagine, try covering your desk with paper and use a point that is way off the page that you can draw lines to. Eventually you will be able to guess where your lines should go. Trace real cars as a reference. There is no substitute for practicing and studying how real cars behave with perspective.

2. Symmetry; make sure your car has a definite centre and that the design is balanced equally either side of it. The combination of this and perspective takes some practice so be patient. You must respect the form and plan-shape of the car and understand when features will not be visible. Cars are not boxes and can't be constructed as easily or as logically.

Flip the page over and check if the design still looks ok. If you are refining a series of under-lays, try flipping the image over each time you begin a new one. This will help you see errors and allow you to correct them before it is too late. If you want to clearly show both headlamps make sure you choose a viewpoint that includes them both from the start. One of the more common mistakes by beginners is to try and show too much of the far headlamp. This creates the impression that the car is distorted and is something to be avoided. It really helps to roughly sketch your design in different views so that you can understand the form you want before progressing to more detailed renderings.

3. Wheels; get your wheels right and you're half-way to producing a pleasing sketch. An otherwise perfect rendering will be ruined with incorrect looking wheel ellipses. It's a difficult thing to get the hang of in the beginning for some people. If this includes you make sure you tackle the problem early on! Using ellipse templates alone will not produce nice wheels; they must be positioned correctly and you can practice this freehand.

If you are struggling to work it out just trace over existing cars and examine how you would construct the wheels. Using a combination of correct perspective and symmetry you will be able to get all the wheels in the right position. Almost fill the arches with the wheels when sketching but always include a slight gap. Large wheels usually improve the appearance of cars but if you make them too big your work will look like a cartoon or caricature and won't be taken seriously. Keep the wheel design simple to begin with until you can get the basics right. The reason why you will often hear the recommendation to use real cars or other professional sketches as under-lays is so that you will get a feel for these three vitally important aspects. Get them right and your work will take a leap forward in credibility and communication.

Respect your perspective lines and construct your ellipses logically to start with. You will build up a feeling for what works over time and be able to work more freely. Draw the axle lines through the car and then draw lines perpendicular (90 degrees) to these where you want the centres of the wheels to be. Your ellipse should touch the perpendicular line at its narrow ends. Then experiment with how fat or thin the ellipse needs to be to look right. On front wheels you have freedom to make the wheels turn and can adjust you ellipses accordingly - don't attempt this until you can draw them in-line, and be careful not to obstruct your design communication with turned wheels. Remember to tighten the ellipses for the distant wheels to account for perspective.

Early in my career I used to work on a large drawing board covered with paper which would subsequently get covered in lines and airbrush ink. I was not afraid to go over the edges of the page I had taped on top which gave a lot of freedom and meant I could always draw accurate construction lines. Do whatever it takes to get the desired result on the page

ALLAN MACDONALD SKETCHING QUICK TIP 01

One of the things many students of design ask is how to achieve the fast and speedy but still neat line work of the pros.  The kind of lines that have the accuracy of a curve drawn with a sweep, yet the looseness of a curve drawn by hand.  The kind of lines that have so much tension it is almost like they could snap!  Well, one way to try and improve your line work is to practise drawing from your wrist or from your elbow.

This technique is something that most designers do so naturally they may overlook this when trying to explain their techniques.  However, by drawing curves from the natural pivot points in your wrist and elbow you can control your work with a far greater degree of accuracy.  To do this you must make sure you have a large enough work space, as you will need to rotate your drawing round as you work on it.  Depending on the curve you wish to draw you need to line it up with the arc generated by the pivot point in your wrist or elbow.  You will also need to ensure that the height of your desk allows you to rest your elbow naturally on the desk whilst drawing.  You must feel completely comfortable!

In the picture to the left you can see how by resting my drawing hand on my wrist, and pivoting my hand (and of course the pen) around this point, I will generate a clean curve matching the roof line of the car I am drawing.  Of course you can adjust the arc by adjusting the position you hold the pen, either before or during the stroke.  All this may sound a little contrived, but it is actually very natural after you have tried it with a few sketches.  It may be an idea to try drawing a whole bunch of different curves on a blank sheet to get the hang of this.  With each line you should be aiming to go over the same line and again and again.  This should improve your accuracy.

Using the pivot point offered by my elbow you can see that much larger curves can be created.  Apart from this the technique is pretty much the same as the wrist born curve.  Here however you have the option of throwing a little wrist movement in at the same time.  Varying your curve even more.  I think its important to repeat that you don't over think this technique.  Once you try it even just a few times it will start to feel very natural.  And remember that the curves you are creating are still just sketch curves.  You only aiming to increase the speed and tension in your linework...not take away the looseness and spontaneity of the sketch.Have fun! 

Car drawing tutorial

A visual tutorial that shows the creation process of a car drawing using pencils, markers and pastels. Click on it to see enlaged view.