Featured Design Maven: Michele Leonello

by Arvind Ramkrishna on May 9, 2010

Hey folks!  Get ready to be schooled by a talented designer in Marker Rendering techniques!  I have the pleasure of re-introducing to you Michele Leonello, a freelance designer currently teaching Transportation Design at the Politecnico di Milano.  Michele’s previous experiences also include working for Alfa Romeo in Milan for the last 6 years.

Driven Mavens would like to thank Michele for his submission!  This tutorial is brought to you and originally published by my friends at Cardesignfetish.com.

“To create this tutorial, I used an A3-sized Copic marker pad. The sketch itself was made with STABILO ORIGINAL pencils, along with a range of COOL GREY and RED Copic Markers. In the end, to obtain the effect of reflected light, I used a white pencil and a white china marker.”

“The first phase of work involves the development of the idea. To perform the technique that I am demonstrating, you’ll need to use STABILO ORIGINAL pencils.  These pencils are unique in that after several marker passes, the graphite is not lost.”
“It is very important to decide first which perspective will best present your idea.  In this case it is better to pause occasionally, analyze and stand different distances from the sketch to see if there are errors.  Remember,  we are human beings, not robots, so we can all make mistakes — even those who have been designers  for many years.”
“Next is the development phase of the sketch, which includes defining the axles, the wheels and the architecture of the vehicle.  After clearly defining our volumes and proportions we can develop the graphics and details that enrich our design.”
“Now, we start with the color phase.  Since this is a Ferrari, I think the most suitable color is red.  I’ve got a range of red Copics from R11 – R02 – R08 – R24 – R59 for the bodywork, while for the shadows and the darkest point, I have a range of COOL GREY, C2 – C5 – C7 and Black 110.”
“It is not necessary to use a whole range of any color Copic for achieving good results and reflections.  Remember that with Copics, a single color can have 4 different gradations.”
“Always start by laying in the shadows first, then go to the body.”
“For the red, start from the lighter tone, then climb to the darkest.  To get a good mix and gradation of colors, you must be very fast in applying the R08 secondary color and then dilute it with the primary R11 to obtain a gradient from dark to light.”
“After completing the application of color, remember to pay special attention to graphics and details, such as headlights, grilles, wheels, mirrors.  Use a black ballpoint pen and white pencils.”
“Now the sketch is finished.  As I mentioned before, the result may be satisfactory, or it might be good, but we can rectify the errors.  I too have made mistakes, and I try to remove them with a brief use of Photoshop.  I hope this brief tutorial will help students understand how to achieve this kind of work.”

For more info and details, visit www.leonelloartdesign.com or contact tecnichedesign@gmail.com

I think I need a set of Copics!

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  • Patrick

    Wow this is a great walkthrough of the rendering process… Is the Copic marker pad different in any way to normal print paper? Does it limit the marker from spreading?

    • drivenmavens

      Hi Patrick. It sure does. Any marker paper will prevent the “bleeding” and spreading effect that you see on regular paper. Not sure whether Copic pads are necessarily better than Letraset or other brands but my guess is that they are formulated to work best on Copic markers. Cheers for the comment Patrick!

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