Design

Presentation in Car Design

A while back we figured it would be fun to start a new category in our presentation series called ‘Design’  and so  we are kicking off  with  ‘Car Design’, where we will focus on some great tutorials and presentations.

At first glance you may think what has this got to do with SketchUp ?

Since we at SketchUpArtists are primarily focused on presentations and post-processing work rather than on modeling itself we thought that the following tutorials created by some of the best artists and designers in the industry would be a valuable resource for all your professional  post-processing work, regardless if you use SketchUp, draw by hand or use a combination of  different techniques.

With the help of these tutorials, some imagination and a little practice, we believe that you will be able to create great and unique personal styles of your own , or as Allan Macdonald rightly put it:  “these tutorials aim to inspire… not to instruct!”

In the following articles we hope to cover architecture, graphics, products and in fact any other type of professional design presentations out there.

Tutorial: Quick Sketch Technique by Allan Macdonald

Tutorial: Quick Sketch Technique by Allan Macdonald

Although we all like to see and admire well crafted illustrations, as a professional designer you will find that these constitute a small percentage of the work you will produce. As a designer your job is to create many and varied ideas in a short space of time, and to do so in a way that others can see and understand your thinking. A good sketching technique can fulfil both of these. When practicing to sketch it can be very hard at first to know when to stop, and subsequently every drawing becomes a time consuming rendering. It is important to learn not to be overly ‘precious’ when sketching. By doing so you will produce more and improve much faster. See full tutorial at Car Design News.

Tutorial: Full-size side view rendering in Photoshop by Harald Belker

A fully rendered side view of a design is still key for showing off your design and perhaps having it selected to become the project winner and turned into a full size model.

With today’s large-size printers, no one should have to go through the pain of producing a full-size, tape rendering, with all the masking and paint spraying. A scanned line drawing of your design is all you need to render your car in Photoshop, and make it look like the real thing. Print it large, hang it up on the wall, and blow away the competition. Read the full tutorial at Car Design News.

Tutorial: Rendering in Photoshop by Cor Steenstra

During sketch development I find that I understand what I would like to ‘sculpture’ in my design from the section lines I draw as a base, as well as from ‘leaving out’ areas. However, if you want this to come across to the people making the decisions, you need something that stands out and jumps off the wall in a presentation.

Traditionally I would create presentation sketches by using the base sketch as an underlay, over which I would then draw the clean lines, and would put some marker and pastel on it to to express the 3D form. However, if you did this quickly, it would look too sketchy, and if you did it properly it would actually become an elaborate rendering and be quite time consuming. Another risk would be that in ‘cleaning up’ the linework, some of the character of the original concept sketch would be lost. See the full tutorial at Car Design News.

Rendering Tutorial – Vauxhall VX220 by Allan Macdonald

With this tutorial I am going to guide you, stage by stage, through the methods I use to produce a rendering. I have developed this style over the past couple of years and find it the most simple and efficient way to produce a good drawing. Just remember however that there is no right or wrong way to render. This tutorial aims only to inspire… not to instruct! Study the full tutorial at Car Design News.

Tutorial: Rendering with Marker and Airmarker by Wayne Westerman

As a designer in the auto industry the majority of my time is spent creating and communicating innovative design ideas for the vehicles you might be driving in 3 to 5 years time. The spectrum of ideas ranges from the sculptural development of completely new exterior form languages through to technical solutions for cup holders.

Unlike engineering there are no set formula to solve any of these design conundrums; it simply comes down to creativity and problem solving. Most designers have their own sources of inspiration (architecture, computer games and nature to name a few) and will draw upon them to generate new design solutions, often ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Having settled on the most appropriate solution it is the designer’s job to present the idea to management using simple sketches, colour renderings and digitally modified pictures. Find the full tutorial at Car Design News.

Quick Sketch Tutorial by John Frye

I start out with an 8.5×11″ piece of cover stock weight (takes marker well and holds up to abuse over time) recycled style paper. I buy this in large packages at the office paper supply store (much cheaper than getting a similar paper at an art store). The paper here is Neneh brand Desert Storm. I start out with an erasable blue or regular lead pencil and quickly put the idea down on paper, simultaneously considering the product I am designing, the purpose, it’s buyer, current trends, future trends, styling theme, dynamic perspective, realism versus excitement (cheating proportions) and other sketches from the project that this sketch will play off of or create new design directions. See the full tutorial at Car Design News.