I drew a car. If you’ve been following my blog since around this time last year, you would know about my “50 Days, 50 Cars” art mission.
Recently I decided to doodle 1 and some. And frankly I think I’ve gotten better and I certainly more confident.
It just goes to show that practice makes near perfect.
*Update: Thankyou Elisha for pointing out that it’s a Chevy not a Ford.
Finally, finally, FINALLY!
I’ve made it to day 50 and it feels good. As you know about over 2 months ago, I went on a mission to improve my car drawing skills in 50 days. Technically we’re probably on day 60 or 70, I lost count. If you were following from the start you’ve witnessed my ups and downs, my perfectionism, my constant need for breaks, etc. To sum it up, it’s been interesting. And although we’ve come to the end of the road, I must say I’ve come along way from where I’ve started.
In the beginning I wanted to see how fast I draw a car and how close I could get it to look like an actually car. So I choose something I thought would be simple, a Chevy (not Ford) Camaro.
Here’s my doodle.
Yeah, not…good.
After that one I figured I would have to slow down and really observe my references. On top of that I started getting better at using curves and being more attentive to the wheels (they tend to be wonky) as well as proportion.
That worked well by the time I got to day 25.
Much better from day 1 but after awhile the reliance on curves were taking away from my original goal of being able to draw a cars free handed and to rely less on references. By day 39 I was through with both.
This way, I was better able to focus more on perspective and proportions instead of how well the actual car looked. By the time I got to day 50, I’ve become more confident in my free hand ability.
Not bad, huh?
Looking at the comparison, I’d say I’ve improved. I thought that when I started I would only be able to draw cars better but instead I learned a lot more:
Now, being done with this mission you’d think I was a car drawing expert. Not quite, I am better than I was before but now the thing is to be better than I am now.
No, I’m not going start a new car mission but I do plan to keep practicing and I will post an update of my cars at some point.
Until then, I’d like to say “Yep, I can draw cars”
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
Also, you can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Week 10 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
This week I decided to just freehand draw the cars. And again, no references.
Day 43 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
The Tacobile
Day 44 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 45 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 46 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Okay Tocabile had the help of my curves but the others are all ol’ lefty in action. Overall I’m not crazy about my car ideas but I can say it’s more easier for me to freehand cars.
Now with 4 more cars to go, I think I’m going beck to the references just a few more times.
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
Also, you can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Week 9 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
This week I decided to draw cars out of my head. No references to drag me down.
Day 39 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
The “Pound Cake Mobile”.
Day 40 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
The “Mean Mobile”
Day 41 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
“The Toebile”
Day 42 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
“Lè Hornè”
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
Also, you can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Week 8 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
I took a break last week, why? I don’t know exactly. But, I’ve been reflecting again, as I always do, about my priorities and goals. And I realized, “Lighten up, Sharon. It’s not that serious”
I went back to basics, no real structures and looser drawing. To get myself back in the groove I drew all the cars upside down. That way I don’t get hung up on drawing it right. Just draw it. No longer is it about likeness. It’s all about capturing the feel of the vehicle.
Also, I got a snazzy calligraphy brush. Yay.
Day 36 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 37 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 38 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Back in the driver’s seat, I look to ride this as best as I can. And hopefully, no more hiatuses.
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
Also, you can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Week 7 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Last week I burned out. The trucks got the better of me, I admit. So, I took Saturday off to watch a tutorial.
It was the first part of a 3-part series on car design and it focused on perspective. I must say it was quite good. After viewing, I’ve learned some new things:
The next day, I was a bit refreshed and inspired enough to draw a “Thumbmobile”, using one of the methods I’ve seen in the video demo.
Cool, huh?
My mission this week is totally different from the previous weeks. This time I’m not going to draw the cars in detail. Instead the focus is going to be on perspective and proportions. I’m still using references but there’s no point in mentioning what cars used for this. Here’s what’s been drawn this week.
Day 31 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 32 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 33 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 34 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
Day 35 of 50 Days, 50 Cars.
There are 15 cars to go, I plan on doing the proportion & perspective for the next 5 cars and then I go all out for the last 10. It should be fun to see how this concludes.
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
Also, you can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Week 6 of Days, 50 Cars,
After hitting the halfway mark Monday, I thought I’d be psyched about this week but it was no meant to be.
Day 26 of Days, 50 Cars.
Here’s the a picture of a ’81 Chevrolet Silverado Pick-Up.
And here’s what happens when I watch a car drawing demo before I do a daily drawing.
Note to self: Do not ever again watch a tutorial about drawing cars before doing your daily drawing, you’ll end up trying to draw like the person in the video, and you’ll fail.
Day 27 of Days, 50 Cars.
I got back on track, I randomly choose another Chevrolet Truck.
And here’s the result.
Day 28 of Days, 50 Cars.
After doing Chevy SUVs for 2 days straight, I’ve decided to draw something more basic, Hummer H2.
I used my brush markers and I regret it but, hey…
Day 29 of Days, 50 Cars.
I realized I said it was all gonna be about all big trucks, from SUVs to Semis. So it was time to pull out the big guns…a 1939 Divco Milk Truck.
Not bad, right?
I have a confession to make. I am BORED of this. Maybe it’s because I haven’t drawn much else but cars lately or I’m thinking too much about my flaws. Anyway, I may take tomorrow off to rejuvenate and watch a perspective tutorial.
And remember:
I am not, I repeat, NOT giving up on this. I just need a short break.
And ,as always, feel free to comment, offer suggestions or better yet, some encourage.
You can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Day 25 of Days, 50 Cars:
I’m at halftime of the 50 Days, 50 Cars mission. And man have I come a long way.
When I first started this mission, I choose any random car to draw. I didn’t even bother to save the reference.
At the time, I thought I did better than expected. But compared to what I’ve done recently, this is pretty hideous. And to make things worse, I found the actual picture of the car I drew. It’s a Toyota Camaro.
Here’s the photo to drawing comparison.
Don’t they look alike?
As a show of progress and in honor of this being the halfway mark, I’ve decided to draw the same car for Day 25.
Pretty nice, huh? Let’s see how it looks compared to the Day 1 Drawing.
There has definitely been some improvement mades. But, there’s still ways to go. The problems are pretty much the same as Day 1 but not as severe. The wheels came out nice, though.
Overall, I feel good about my progress. I figured that I wouldn’t be as good as I am at this point.
Maybe by Day 50, I’ll be able to get the front end perspective right. Until then, I’ll just keep just keep on truckin’ on.
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
You can check out the first 25 days at www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Now that the week has come to an end, I look back at the work done. I realize I’ve spent a little too much time on small model cars. It’s now time to get bigger. So starting this weekend, I going to draw bigger cars from SUVs to Semis.
Day 23 of 50 days, 50 cars.
Lately, I’ve been drawing from my personal reference folder of cars. I have hundreds of cars on file. Most of them are, however, luxury and sports vehicles and there aren’t a lot of larger models. So, I jumped at the first large make available, a Dodge Magnum.
Since I plan to get into rendering cars soon, I figured I should whip out the markers.
I haven’t said this in a while but I should be more mindful of the angles and proportions. Yeah, I’m being a stickler but it’s still a (minor) issue.
Either way, I like what I see.
Day 24 of 50 days, 50 cars.
I couldn’t find any more references in my folder, so I found a Volkswagon Touareg Pickup online.
Ran out of scrap paper, grabbed the next best thing, notebook paper.
Nothing much to say about this one, I like it. But I should’ve made the rims a bit bigger.
Tomorrow will be the halfway mark of this project and I’ll have a special post for that with a comparison of the “Day 1 drawing” to the “Day 25 drawing”. So keep a look out for that.
And ,as always, feel free to comment or offer suggestions.
You can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Week 5 of 50 days, 50 cars.
This weekend, I had too much on the plate. I only had time to do one quick brush pen sketch.
I like it but, frankly I’m tired of drawing whole cars. I’m not getting enough out of it anymore. So, that means its time to switch it up.
Time to focus on my problem areas. Namely, tires and ellipses.
That is the one and only mission fornow until further notice.
Day 18 of 50 days, 50 cars.
The first day of my ‘detail improvement’ project. I figured since I pretty much approached constructing cars as I would a figure drawing that I might as wheel treat it more like a ‘figure’. In other words, like you would do gestures and studies the parts of the human anatomy, do the same with the car.
My mission, as stated before, is getting the wheels/ellipses right. So I choose to draw this BMW because it was an angle I was used to and the wheels seemed wouldn’t be much of a problem.
Here is the study.
Not bad but can use some work. I can’t be hard on my self about this because how many people can draw an ellipse perfectly free handed? Not many, if any.
The only thing I’d do different is choose a better reference with simpler rims.
Day 19 of 50 days, 50 cars.
I did what I said I’d do. I choose a better reference with simpler rims. Here’s the car of choice, a Mercedes.
Another study.
I could’ve spent more time on this one.
Day 20 of 50 days, 50 cars.
Another day, another study. The car to be drawn is an Acura.
And for a change I’ve decided to draw the whole car but the focus was still on the tires.
With a little more attention to the details and a slower pace, I ‘d say I did a good job.
As for the car- a teacher of mine once said, “If you draw something 20 times, you’ll be able to draw with no problem from then on.”
Day 21 of 50 days, 50 cars.
The car of choice is a Panoz-Roadster. Why I choose it? Small and simple.
After I scanned in the drawing, I felt like rendering it a bit.
Next time, I’ll make sure to clean the edges.
Day 22 of 50 days, 50 cars.
I decided to draw a bigger car, a Chrysler SUV.
The medium of choice was my light blue primsacolor marker for under drawing and the purple brush pen for the finish.
Why a marker study? I got bored with the pencil and figured it would be cool to show my process and its flaws. Also, you can see I’ve had a few restarts.
In closing, there was progress with ellipses, I just have to keep in mind the scale of thing, like the rims and the actual tire. The best part is NO MORE WONKY WHEELS.
If you like what you see and/or have any suggestions. Feel free to comment about it.
Also, you can check out my progress on here on www.flickr.com/photos/artbysaw/ under the “50 days, 50 cars set”.
Art by SAW 