[smj]

Hey,

First time at this forum, i am trying to learn to sketch. I am really interested in concept design and drawing cars and vehicles.
Does anyone know of any good books or anything to head me in the right direction?

Thanks

[Ian Jones]

My advice to you, is to absorb all the knowledge you can out of this forum. Browse around, read and try to understand things as best you can. You will learn, and understand things so much better if you work it through in your own mind, don't rely on anyone to spoon feed you. I personally have learnt more about art (drawing, painting, etc..) here, than all my years in art at school (I'm an Aussie).

There are so many things to learn, an enourmous amount. How do you digest it all? in time... unfortunately there is no quick fix. I learn through repetition, not forced in any way, but from reading a snippet here, snippet there, and in the end the repetition of that and development of your understanding is so much more complete.

So if someone says to you, "warm colours push out, cool colours recede" you may sort of get it first time, but I can assure you that after a while you'll hear it again somewhere and you will truly grasp the concepts better. It all happens over time.

Ok, so I'm beating around the bush a bit... , but I just wanted to share my own experience. A 'general overview' sort of thing.

In the immediate future you want to learn more specifically about concept design and drawing cars and vehicles. You need to learn to draw first. I'm not sure what level you are at so far, but from a beginners standpoint I think the most important thing to learn about is 'form'.

Example...

If you asked the average person to draw what they saw, in this case a human face viewed from head on, then it is likely that they will draw and position things and make judgements based on how it looks. Purely and simply translating the position of things as they relate to each other, such as the nose eyes and mouth onto the paper.

But what if that person was then asked to draw that same face, from the side... this time without being able to actually look at the models face. Chances are they will fail miserably. That is because they do not understand the 'form' of a head. They do not understand the 3d, physical space that a head takes up, and what exact sculptural shape it is. 'form' is the 3d shape of something, rather than a 2d drawing of just one angle, like the head on view of the face.

So an artist understands form, and is able to 'imagine' that head from any viewpoint, whether it be side, above, below, behind... etc. With that understanding of 'form' they are able to draw that viewpoint, and any other imaginable.

When an artist draws that same face head on, they are not just thinking about it as a 2d arrangement and positioning of lines, they are infact thinking continuously and subconciously about its 'form'... just what makes it look like that? So if you understand that the head has depth as well as width and height, then you should consider it when you draw it, because we are living in a 3d world, so we should damn well draw like it too!

Essentially thats what 'form' is in the context of drawing. A beginner draws the shapes that make up the face. An artist draws the 'forms' that make up a face. An artist moves his pencil up and down, left and right on the paper, as well as pushing and pulling the pencil in and out of the paper (figureatively speaking). So as to 'feel' the actual 'forms' of the head in 3d space.

So, finally...(haha! ) how does this relate to you. Well... a car is a very 'structural' object. An object which is based on very obvious geometrical 'forms', such as a box (for its general shape). Hopefully after reading this, you will now consider that when you draw a car, you need to think about its 'form'. How does that box look from every angle? then you can draw it however you like!

Because you want to learn how to draw very structural things, such as cars... I would strongly suggest that you learn about perspective. Perspective is a method of drawing objects in space, objects that ultimately are either bigger or smaller, depending on how near they are to you. Objects get smaller the further away they are from you. To learn about perspective, I would suggest getting some books. From my experience a couple of good ones are.

Amazon.com - Perspective! for Comic Book Artists

Amazon.com - Creative Perspective for Artists and Illustrators

With those books (The first is the best in my opinion), you should learn about how 'form' looks in perspective.

I hope you got all that. I'm not sure why I typed all that out, but since I got started on it I didn't want to leave it half done!
And I wish someone had given me a general overview when I first started.

I hope that helps.

[bearsclover]

Get a sketchbook, and draw, draw, draw. And then, when you have some spare time...draw some more.

Here are some book recommendations for beginning drawing. This is just for "generic" drawing, not just cars. But if you want to draw cars, you gotta know how to draw, right?

Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain
Keys to Drawing

These are just nuts-and-bolts drawing books. I am very fond of the "Keys to Drawing" book, and the "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" teaches some tried-and-true methods for drawing newbies (though it doesn't cover as much ground as other drawing books - but it's not meant to).

[Dr. Bang]

[smj]

thank you guys

[Dr. Bang]

quote:

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Originally posted by smj:
thank you guys

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ahhh, you gotta say more than that dude!

[smj]

thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys thanks you guys

[Ian Jones]

(Dr. Bang, you been smokin' up more recently? you've gone all ga ga.)

haha, in all truth I know theory more than I actually practice... which is a bad thing. For all that you learn, you need to reinforce it and acquire the skills through actual drawing. Draw, draw, draw... like he said.

[clover]

Whoa, I haven't even looked at the contents of it but "Key to Drawing" looks like an excellent book to start with for newbies like me!!! Are there any other great art books that people want to recommend?

[Light]

I dont like to plug my own article so much but I'll go ahead and do it "again" sense I think it can be very valuable. It may not be that important when you are first starting out.. but then again you might as well start with some of the best information I think there is.

This is alternative (and not mainstream) but I think important
http://light1.home.mindspring.com/magic.txt

Other then this I advice study of:

1. Anatomy - Study anatomy all you can. But remember that illustrations are only 2d and real anatomy is 3d -- so try to keep this in mind.

2. Perspective -- Perspective is a powerful tool but to use it fluently requires more then just knowing how it works as a bunch of cubes and a horizon line is not too cool.

3. Drawing techniques -- ie. cube box cylinder approach, loose contour approach, scribble approach.. try them all.

4. Painting techniques
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Eh.. beyond that you might want to look into doing 3d work too. 3d work is very suitable for things like cars and geometrical objects. You might model in 3d and paint in photoshop to start with. You could get some quality this way.

I don't recommend too many books as many of them really dont deliver what they claim.

but some that are good are

Drawing The Marvel Way (even if your not into comics)

Loomis books, Shepards Books, Hogarth, and any other anatomy books.

But remember most of these are illustrations and you must draw from 3d objects to get good (whether these 3d objects are in your mind or reality).

You are better off drawing from high quality nudes then the anatomy books as you will be closer to reality instead of relying on another artist conception of reality which is often wrong --on purpose or by mistake.

But.. I do advise to practice copying to start with..

Remeber too that if one thing doesnt work (like say your drawing skills) then this doesnt preclude you from becoming a good 3d artist..

Or if you suck at sketching you may still be able to do great paintings.

But, instead of most beginners (do copy from life and do copy photos and other artist!)

But instead of most beginners try to start creating art from the start and dont spend so much time trying to "get better" -- instead make good art.

Ah yes and most important is study the old masters and not so odl masters if you ever want to do really good fine art. I recommend studying Hals, Sargent, Rembrandt, Durer, Rubens, Vermeer -- all of the best and then some lesser known like even tadema.

But if your going to be primarily drawing cars then you should draw a lot of cars from life too and study them. Measure them.. learn whatever you can about them..

I guess "car anatomy" but within the larger scope of becoming an artist your better off working on basics.

[Ian Jones]

here is a good link for you.

drawthrough.com

Check out their work, its really good. Of special interest is there sketches section. Unrendered pencil drawings are often very good to look at and study for a moment.

[bearsclover]

Ian: thanks for the great link. Those guys went to Art Center, which is known (last I checked) for their great automobile design. (I went to Otis, BTW, which is Art Center's "rival" in L.A. Therefore, I only hear the horror stories about Art Center! And I'm sure Art Center heard horror stories about Otis! )

smj: Get some good books, and don't push yourself too hard at first. Don't want to scare you off. Art should be FUN! You don't have to get all artsy-fartsy right away! Just start to practice, and learn. The books I recommended are great, and are meant for "newbies". Read the reader reviews on Amazon - a lot of people really got a lot out of them.

Here's another "must-have". It's been around for ages. It focuses mostly on Life Drawing, but the principles taught can be used for any kind of drawing. Many drawing techniques taught today in art classes rely heavily on the concepts taught in this book. The Natural Way to Draw

[smj]

cool, thank you guys again