My First Try: 1970 Chevelle

[Young Gun]

This is my first shot, took me about 16 hours to do, so I could use any help from you pro's, I still want to make some more changes but it is mostly done...until I get everybody's input!

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/4466/chevelledraftlw3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/chevelledraftlw3.jpg/1/w1280.png (http://g.imageshack.us/img223/chevelledraftlw3.jpg/1/)

[70TWO NOVA]

not bad, diggin the stance! :thumbsup:

[DVierstra]

Are you looking for a critique? If you are, then I would say the stance, and proportions are right on. I see the wheels are Photoshopped in. My main critique is that it needs more definition and detail and light source and reflection also needs a bit more detail. Not sure if you did the artwork was in Adobe Photoshop but it looks to be low resolution (a case of the jaggies on the outlines)...300 dpi is a good resolution. The roof line needs to be fixed a little.

I would say you are off to a good start! Keep working at it and you will find that you will become faster and better with each rendering that you do (it takes a lot of patience and determination). :thumbsup: It's all positive feedback which can only help you improve.

[Young Gun]

Thanks a lot Don! I am looking for a critique, I would like to get the rendering as dead on as possible... I dont know how do make a good wheel so I had to photoshop those in... I have struggled with getting the proper lighting, and I do not know what would be best to do to illustrate the light. I did do the work in photoshop, I have heard illustrator is better to work with so I plan on trying to teach myself that. I just noticed the roof line, I am going to try and fix that now. Again, thank you for the input! It is greatly appreciated!

Colin

Are you looking for a critique? If you are, then I would say the stance, and proportions are right on. I see the wheels are Photoshopped in. My main critique is that it needs more definition and detail and light source and reflection also needs a bit more detail. Not sure if you did the artwork was in Adobe Photoshop but it looks to be low resolution (a case of the jaggies on the outlines)...300 dpi is a good resolution. The roof line needs to be fixed a little.

I would say you are off to a good start! Keep working at it and you will find that you will become faster and better with each rendering that you do (it takes a lot of patience and determination). :thumbsup: It's all positive feedback which can only help you improve.

[city_ofthe_south]

I'm all Ai, all my work is done with Illustrator. That said, it's not easier, just a different way to use somewhat similar tools, that may be easier for some folks - like me :). I don't like working with layers and I find Illustrator matches my brain's way of seeing things. Just look at Don's work to see the difference. He has many complete illustrations both created in Illustrator and PS, but as you look at them, you'll begin to notice the difference. PS can allow you to much more effectively accomplish realism than Ai, but because of the tools in Ai, you get that "vector" look which is what some artists are looking for, or they need to scale the project up to a very large size. Vector art can be scaled without quality loss, while allowing the artist to work with a relatively small file when compared to a similar file in PS.
Some others might want to chime in on this part, but both programs have a pen tool and I think that for cars, it is extremely valuable to most artists who use Adobe products - PS or Ai. It may play less of a role with other subject matter but because of the hard lines often found on cars, you'll want the pen tool in your arsenal. For a second reason, if you dig the outline look, toon-style or not, the pen tool plays another important role. You will draw your outline and use stroke path. Ask away on any of these points and people can break it down the way they do it. For Illustrator, the pen tool is the only tool, without it, Illustrator is not the direction you want to go. I'm exaggerating, but it's a truthful enough rule of thumb. I'm going to post a tutorial in the new tutorial section and I'd say, the more of them you can read the better. They are great for new ideas on how to attack your drawings. deviantart.com is chuck full of them, and I would also point you to this link: http://www.motorburg.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32 Look at the tutorials from lemorris. I promise you'll come away understanding the pen tool and how it applies to drawing cars in PS and Ai to some degree.

[Young Gun]

I'm all Ai, all my work is done with Illustrator. That said, it's not easier, just a different way to use somewhat similar tools, that may be easier for some folks - like me :). I don't like working with layers and I find Illustrator matches my brain's way of seeing things. Just look at Don's work to see the difference. He has many complete illustrations both created in Illustrator and PS, but as you look at them, you'll begin to notice the difference. PS can allow you to much more effectively accomplish realism than Ai, but because of the tools in Ai, you get that "vector" look which is what some artists are looking for, or they need to scale the project up to a very large size. Vector art can be scaled without quality loss, while allowing the artist to work with a relatively small file when compared to a similar file in PS.
Some others might want to chime in on this part, but both programs have a pen tool and I think that for cars, it is extremely valuable to most artists who use Adobe products - PS or Ai. It may play less of a role with other subject matter but because of the hard lines often found on cars, you'll want the pen tool in your arsenal. For a second reason, if you dig the outline look, toon-style or not, the pen tool plays another important role. You will draw your outline and use stroke path. Ask away on any of these points and people can break it down the way they do it. For Illustrator, the pen tool is the only tool, without it, Illustrator is not the direction you want to go. I'm exaggerating, but it's a truthful enough rule of thumb. I'm going to post a tutorial in the new tutorial section and I'd say, the more of them you can read the better. They are great for new ideas on how to attack your drawings. deviantart.com is chuck full of them, and I would also point you to this link: http://www.motorburg.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32 Look at the tutorials from lemorris. I promise you'll come away understanding the pen tool and how it applies to drawing cars in PS and Ai to some degree.

Thanks loads!

[DVierstra]

O'Dell puts it into perspective. I love the different looks I get from both programs and different artists prefer different styles. I have bee using Illustrator heavily latley because (my day job) I am working on a large project (started in late Sept and ends next week) I have been cramming to get 150 illustrations completed for a Chemistry book layout (day job). Illustrator give me a lot of flexibility without having a plethora of layers that I use in Photoshop.

Join the Motorburg forum and there are a lot of helpful artists that will give you great input. I love it there!

See you there!

Here's something I am currently working on...Adobe Illustrator:

http://www.hubgarage.com/photos/0036/6501/Boatster_revise_detail.jpg?1228892961

[city_ofthe_south]

just wanted to see how the drawing is coming along. Havin any luck?

[ZVT]

Cant give you anymore advice than what colter and don gave just to practice more and more till you get it perfect(well not perfect as our renderings are never done) pretty soon after you've done a few you'll develop your own style and shortcuts to rendering.Btw once you start rendering your own wheels be prepared to spend alot of hrs.LOL

Great job so far though Colin email me if you need any tips or critique on your work in progress renderings.:thumbsup:

[Young Gun]

just wanted to see how the drawing is coming along. Havin any luck?
I have not been able to do much work as I have been out of town the past week and a half so I have very minor changes... I have been doing some reading and I think I may try to begin my next attempt with a drawing and then move it into illustrator, I have begun to start getting a feel for it and with a little more practice I should be more comfortable using it. I will keep you updated and post it once I get a chance. I have an 8 hour flight on Saturday so I am pretty sure I will get some work done then!


Cant give you anymore advice than what colter and don gave just to practice more and more till you get it perfect(well not perfect as our renderings are never done) pretty soon after you've done a few you'll develop your own style and shortcuts to rendering.Btw once you start rendering your own wheels be prepared to spend alot of hrs.LOL

Great job so far though Colin email me if you need any tips or critique on your work in progress renderings.:thumbsup:

Thanks Zee,
I keep looking back at the rendering you did for me to try and understand how things should be proportioned or shaded and it has helped immensely! Thanks for the offer, I will be sure you hit you up!

[SRD Art]

Flight time is good time to draw. I had some folks complain once aboput my stinky markers so now I usually just take a sketch pad with me when I fly. You can never sketch too much.

If you haven't looked at it, look in the tutorials section at the Illustrator stuff. You can get a pretty good feel for how to do it by looking at the wire frame then back at the finished drawing. Just get a good grip on the pen tool and the white "open selection" tool to adjust anchor points. It's all down hill from there.

Same here with questions, I'm happy to share any help I can. Feel free to just start a new thread with your question and we can all give our input. There are different ways to do the same effect sometimes, you just have to find which idea fits your drawing style.

[awr68]

That's a great start! Keep at it!