Stage 1
Draw your car as accurately as possible lightly in pencil
This should be the longest stage of the process as accuracy and detail are crucial at this point.
Tip: Don’t even think about moving to stage 2 until you are totally satisfied that your drawing is in proportion and looking realistic.
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Think about possible reflections, highlights and lowlights and add them in pencil.
Tip : Ask friends opinions of your drawing and look at you work from a distance in good light trying to spot any issues before moving on to stage 2.
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Tip: It is NOT wise to apply colour to your original drawing in case you make a mistake and ruin lots of hard work and effort – very demoralising.
Stage 2
Using a black fine-line pen define your sketched lines so it will be clearly seen when you use this as an underlay, below the marker paper.
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For general sketching, design sheets and quick sketchy rendering using markers I always recommend using regular copy paper since it is easily available, has a highly processes white finish and it’s inexpensive.
However there are times when the advantages of marker paper will be necessary and you might need this for a high quality rendering. One of its advantages is that at 70gsm it is slightly thinner and more translucent than copier paper making it ideal when rendering over your pen drawing.
Another is that the waxy backing will not bleed through and destroy your pen drawing. Sadly it is about 10-15 times more expensive than A3 copier paper at about £12 for a 50 leaf pad.
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Various makes of marker pads are available from art and craft stores. They come in A4, A3, A2 and A1 sizes and are usually 70gsm.
As you can see below there are advantages and disadvantages to using specialist marker paper, but the most crucial to students is often the cost.
Advantages:
Disadvantages:
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A light box or a large window can be use to great effect if either are available in your D&T department as both will allow you to clearly see your working underlay. However rendering on a vertical window will not be easy and should be done only as a last resort.
If you do use either it is always advisable to join your underlay to overlay using a little masking tape in the corners.
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This was scanned with the underlay attached and you can see the faint lines under the marker paper. This is as much as you can normally see if not working on a lightbox.
WARNING. If you do work on a lightbox every colour and pen will look thinner and lighter than it really is so you will have to keep turning the lightbox off or removing your work to see if the colours are correct.
Stage 3
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Here I have added just two colours: ‘cadmium red’ and ‘blood red’. Cadmium has been used as a single layer for the paler areas, whereas several layers of blood red have been built up to create a range of reds and creating the reflective look to the paintwork.
Leave a minute between layers since the colour may change as it dries.
Leave crisp edges to create the contrast effect.
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However small the detail, it is worth spending extra time on it. Your attention to detail is what makes the difference between a great rendering and a mediocre rendering.
On this rear light detail closeup you can see that I built up the red and also used a fineline pen. The image on the rights shows the final stage of the light with some white pencil and highlights –you can use white gouache on a very fine paint brush for this.
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Stage 4
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Next, add further elements of detail using markers. Focus on one section at a time.
Here a range of warm greys were used to create the matt plastic diffuser and rear grill.
The rear grill was then drawn using a ruler and a black pencil, followed by a white pencil to pick out highlights on the mesh.
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Close up you can see the way the layers and techniques have been used to build this section.
Stage 5
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Using pastels and a sharp blade, scrape along the pastels you require to create a fine dust pile.
You can mix powders to create the right colours.
Apply in a gentle sweeping motion using a ball of cotton wool.
Stage 6
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Remove excess pastel with a clean and soft rubber.
Cut the rubber if necessary to create a sharp edge.
Create highlights by removing pastel to reveal the paper.
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Markers and fineline pens should be used on top of pastel to create shadows, dark reflections and details.
Stage 7
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Some blue or (if the car is red) purple can be added to the roof to suggest the blue sky's reflection.
If the mirror is visible add a high contrast horizon line leaving plenty of white and some blue for the sky.
Showing the same crispness in the body reflection will give the impression of a high gloss.
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Build up tyre depth starting with a cool grey 5 and add darker shades cool grey 8, 9 and 10 to create the shadows under the car near to the body work. Add tread detail with a black 900 or black pencil. Add highlight details using a white pencil.
Tip: It doesn't need to look perfect up close in order to give the right idea.
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Using a heavy black shadow to ground the car is both quick and effective. It doesn't need to be precise, in fact the opposite can be very effective.
Stage 8
Use the earlier pastel technique to add some pale blue above the car. Use the “less is more” approach. More blue was added here to the top of the windows.
Tip: Don’t create a larger than necessary pastel dust palette, you will just waste your pastels
Glossy carbon coloured wheels are produced using various cool greys 4-11 with lots of contrasting white highlights to show the high gloss finish.
To show a matt finish use less contrasting highlights and no white. More contrast = more shine.
See the chrome tube below:
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Add in details if you will see them, such as disk brakes and brake callipers. Your attention to smaller details will improve the overall rendering.
Add the wheel spoke shadows using a darker grey onto the brake disk to add realism.
Tip: Details don’t have to be perfect since they will become just a small part of the bigger picture.
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The End
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