This week we’re joined by Chris Preuss, Executive Vice President at Hill & Knowlton Strategies and former chief of OnStar. Per usual we’ll get into the news of the week including the sales numbers in the first month of 2012, a rash of Chinese rip-offs and the 50th anniversary of 24 Hours of Daytona. All this and more with John McElroy and Peter De Lorenzo the Autoextremist.

As always, thanks to Autoline for their continued partnership.

Free Videos by Ustream.TV

Pop-out Chat Window

Got questions for Rapid Fire? Put “AAH Question” in the subject line and e-mail it to viewermail@autolinedetroit.tv

Or, leave us a message by calling 1-620-288-6546 or by clicking below!

(Live show will continue)

I hate it when I spend hours on a classic car drawing or rendering only to find out later that it looks like a big piece of turd.  Though going through several terrible renderings and drawings is all part of the learning process, none the less, it is always smart to have a game plan when creating a final piece of art or a conceptual idea.

Working with miniature renderings is a great way to do this!  If any of you remember my article on post it note sketching, then you’ll understand why working with miniatures goes a long way.  Most of the time when working on a drawing or rendering , we tend to go big and try to start creating the final piece right from the start.  Perfecting the art of drawing cars is not easy so you are definitely better off being patient .

Can you imagine creating a large painting and then struggling to figure out your compositions and colors?  You’ll end up spending a lot of money on the supplies and paint only to be disappointed with the results.  So here are some of the reasons why it’s such a good idea to plan things out beforehand:

1.  Less intimidating to work on a smaller scale.  You can do many little renderings or just quick color compositions

2. You can screw up as many times as you want and still feel good about it being part of the process.  You’ll be thinking, “It’s just a little thumbnail so who cares?”

3.  It will allow you to spend less time on the final rendering as you have already worked out the main composition and colors, the rest will be just details

4.  It’s fun.  By chance if it does come out ok, then you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are getting better by the day

Pretty cool huh?  So make sure you decide to start rendering little sketches! You’ll soon find there may be a little gem in there somewhere to blow up and make it a center piece in your room!

Join DM for Join FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

To the world around you that is!  The power of observation is yet another critical element in your visual development.  Observational studies are what I am going to focus on for this post.  Every ambitious artist or designer seeks to be able to draw cars out of their head without any effort.  However, how does that really happen?  Definitely not overnight, a week, or 30 days….well…maybe in 30 days you will see a fair amount of improvement if you are committed.

The point is this…if you want to draw cars on your own, refrain from trying to learn too much at once.  That is one of the biggest mistakes people make.  They feel that if they have access to limitless information and books, they will somehow transform themselves into an expert.  This is really going to tie into my previous article about “How the Brain Interprets Form.”  If you did not watch the video or read the post, catch it here.

Your brain works in a layered approach, acquiring knowledge and building on that foundation of knowledge.  Part of that knowledge base you are trying to build is inclusive of your “visual vocabulary.”  So what is visual vocabulary?  Visual vocabulary is a set of shapes and forms that you are able to recall at any time from memory and  replicate it on paper with your preferred medium.  It can be a simple curved surface, a sphere, or a cube.  Whatever the shape may be, you are able to communicate that shape on paper, without the aid of a reference.

Ever sit there and wonder why you can’t think of ANYTHING to draw when you see a blank page? You are not alone!   That too is due in part of the lack of a solid mental visual vocabulary which is your “database” of shapes and forms in your head that you have rationalized.

So the next question is this…how do you increase your visual vocabulary?  How do you get your brain to understand complex shapes and forms?

OBSERVATION.  Simply observe the world around you.  This takes more focus than you know.  Yet some people don’t do it enough or feel guilty for looking at a photo.  If done correctly, observation is one of the quickest ways to create your own artwork without having to have the pressure of drawing up something on your own or having to learn perspective techniques quickly.  To start off, you must try to setup a grid for your reference picture and establish the same grid spacing for your intended artwork.  You can use a larger scale as long as you make sure that the grid is made up of squares.

The key to this approach is to be able to fill in the shapes and values within each “square.”  This  requires a totally different approach in thinking and you must divorce the idea of relating to shapes and objects as what they are. Meaning…don’t think of a wheel or tire as a wheel or a tree as a collection of leaves and branches.  Think of them as just a collection of shape, value, color, and texture.  This will immediately remove the intimidation factor of trying to draw the very object you are trying to replicate.  In addition to this, the exercise should be conducted by squinting your eyes so as to remove all the details from the picture.  This will force your brain to see the image for what it is…value changes, color, and texture.

As you practice and continue with this exercise, the magic that is realized will be your ability to indicate details rather than labor over them.   By all means…the above “speed” painting is not perfect…but the purpose is not perfection of the car, but to recognize the collective “shapes” that make the entire image.  As you practice…you will find that you start to recognize these patterns and shapes more quickly. (Looks like I need some more practice )  Hope you enjoyed this post and please be sure to provide feedback!

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

DROP DOWN AND GIVE ME 50!!! Pages of sketches by tomorrow…that is!  That’s what it’s like when going to a special transportation design school!  It’s hard vigorous training! Thank goodness they don’t force you to sketch with BOTH hands…..and feet….though I have heard some strange cases here and there…but it’s just rumors.

We continue with getting feedback from designers who attended some of the best colleges in the world for transportation design.  Arne Dassen, a principle designer at Johnson Controls, shares his experiences on what it was like to attend Pforzheim College of Design in Germany.  Arne is a talented designer with a huge range in talent and experience in designing  automotive interiors and is a whiz at drawing cars!  How cool is that?  Pretty damn cool…maybe even dry ice cool…but not quite!  Check out what Arne had to say.

“Just like my fellow peers here, I too can attest to that hard road of becoming an Industrial/Transportation designer.  As a kid I loved to draw, especially all those things that I was excited about, boats, trains, planes, and cars-especially cars, as my dad worked for Mercedes in Germany, which lead to having a different Benz in the drive way every year.

In school orientation there was no awareness of such a thing as an Industrial Design Program.  The life changing moment that was key to my passion for cars happened when I was about 13 at the time and my family spent our summer vacation in Italy.

A kid of that age doesn’t pay a whole lot attention to anything but toys and ice cream in Italy, but on one of those hot afternoons I was walking the streets of “Lago di Lugano”, licking and balancing my ice cream to prevent it from melting off the waffle cone, when I noticed this unusual engine noise in the far distance!

I looked up the road, and within the distorted image in front of me (due to the hot pavement) I could see something very low, very wide and very red looking, virtually hovering toward me. Needless to say, I was fascinated, got distracted, lost control of my balancing act (ice cream), it was my first sight of a Ferrari 288GTO!

From here on I started to collect 1:18 scale model cars, at first only Ferraris, later on with more exposure to other supercar brands, Lamborghinis, Porsches and other Exotics, raising my passion for cars.

Needless to say, it was this experience that made me decide early on what I would love to do for a living. Being born and raised in Germany I wanted to study near by rather than going to Coventry(UK) or elsewhere in the world to study transportation design.

The most renown school for automotive design within the German speaking world is the University of Pforzheim ( Fachhochschule fuer Gestaltung), lead to world class status by Prof. James Kelly. The school system in Germany works a little different though compared to the U.S.. To be allowed to study in Germany you didn’t need to have a lot of wealth or scholarships, as education is basically government founded (besides some low expenses, such as a monthly student union fee) but you need to qualify and compete to get a spot! Pforzheim requires their candidates to not only apply with an outstanding portfolio of artwork, but also proof of a 6 month pre-internship within the field you are applying for, which needs to include certain exposures to wood and metal crafting (I did mine at Mercedes Benz Design Studio for “Praktikanten & Diplomanden”, lead at the time by Klaus Kallenbach, in Regime of Bruno Sacco. Klaus Busse ( Chrysler Interiors) also interned here a few years before me!) But this attest of your creativity and potential talent, if accepted, will only qualify you for a competitive test. Over a 2 day period you need to fulfill certain tasks such as sketching a still live placed in front of you from 3 different view angles without changing your position within an hour. Another task was to create an abstract (artful) color painting of an object within 30 minutes, and more tasks I cannot recall right now that where all to be handled under time pressure.

After this 2 day period of proving your talent and art skills, the combined results of your portfolio rating and your tests, will determine whether you get a spot to study in Pforzheim or not. This application process can only be attempted for 3 times. If you fail the 3^rd time, you won’t get another chance.

Once you are in, the first 3 Semesters will be focusing on a general Industrial Design education, regardless whether you applied for Trans, Industrial, Fashion, Jewelry or Graphic Design. After that the Transportation guys will separate from the Industrial Design guys to get a vehicle specific education, that will include automotive engineering basics and design techniques, etc.. The sixth term is dedicated to another internship of your choice (or where you qualify to get a spot). The 8^th term is supposed to be the final graduation as a Diplom Designer ( Bachelor Degree). If you want to get a masters degree after that you need to do an additional 2 terms.

The great thing about the Pforzheim Transportation Design Program is the exposure & relationship the school has with its surrounding automotive brands. Porsche, Smart and Mercedes are situated less than an hour away, allowing automotive designers to drop in and teach, mostly in evening sessions.

But even the designers from BMW and VW show up to teach and mentor, as many of them are Pforzheim alumni, including guys with recognition in the design world, like Michael Mauer (Porsche), Marc Lichte (VW) and latest Daniel Simon (Tron Legacy, Cosmic Motors). None of this comes easy, and requires a lot of intense studying, working hard with an eagerness to learn, improve and compete, with long hours spent and a whole bunch of sleepless nights to get the quarter scale model built done. I have very fond memories of my time in Pforzheim and am proud to be a Pforzheim Alumnus.”

Arne Dassen

“And…Arvind’s blog, Driven Mavens is the BEST blog to help influence aspiring artists…around the world!  YEAH!”  Ok….he didn’t say that…but I know he was thinking it.  So what do you take from all this?  Simply this….move to Germany, become a resident, enroll at Pforzheim and attend for free! Everyone’s happy. (just kidding )

Great summary and if this teaches you anything, it’s that you MUST have the four D’s to succeed.  Drive, Determination, Discipline, and Draw.  Repeat it…..own it!

Below is Arne’s gallery.  Please take the time to browse his work and soak in some creativity and inspiration!  Thanks to Arne, for taking the time to contribute to our growing readership. I don’t know about you…but I’m drawing tonight!

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

As a special bonus, we will be running some special  interviews with design professionals and alumni’s from some of the top schools in the U.S. and EU.   First up is College for Creative Studies alumni, Ken Clark.  A talented individual who currently works in the automotive industry as a principal designer.  Ken’s experience spans from product design, to boating interiors, and now automotive interiors and seating.  Below is a paragraph of Ken’s experiences at CCS.  A BIG welcome to Ken and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with future designers!

KEN CLARK

The road to becoming an industrial designer was not easy. There was not much exposure to industrial design as a kid growing up. I never even heard of Industrial Design until college. I started out in the ID program at Kent State University lead by Mike Maczuzac who now is president of Smart Shape Design in Cleveland. After a couple years I realized that to be the best, I needed to look at one of the ‘Big Three’ schools (CCS, Art Center, or CIA). Having a passion for exotic sports cars and motorsports, I thought that the ‘Motor City’ was the place for me. I underestimated the amount of work and competitive nature of a top notch design school. At the public college students ideated together, helped each other out with models, supplies etc. Not so at the private schools. It was cut-throat, everyman for himself. There were even instances of students sabotaging other classmates work. The competitiveness was more apparent in transportation design program than the product design program. Regardless, the work was intense. As a design professional I have to say it was definitely worth the hard work.

The main difference between my days at school at what students are doing today is the medium they use. When I was in school everything was done manually. Pen and paper, canson paper and chalk, markers and vellum used separately or in any combination. Today, other than thumbnails, most work is done digitally. Kids have extensive graphic  posters printed out in full color. No cutting, masking, and spray gluing images. A mistake in my day meant starting over in the middle of the night. No ‘undo’ button was available back then. The other amazing thing with todays students is the ability to get into 3D without touching a clay tool or carving blue foam. CAD development has become the norm. It’s a great way to quickly bring the sketch to reality and critique the proportions and form. The tools students have at their disposal today will prepare them for the workforce at much higher level. I think the exposure to design from internet and social media outlets is also helping raise the level of design and overall influence of design for students. Getting more aware of global design trends and ideas helps student expand the creativity through different global influences.  Hopefully through digital media and industry professionals working through elementary school programs young kids will have more exposure to Industrial Design and help fuel their passion to be the next great Industrial Designer.

Take the time to check out Ken’s gallery below.  Be sure to also click the FS Button on in the lower right hand side of the gallery to enable a full screen mode experience. His gallery is also accessible in the gallery section.

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

(Art Center College Picture Courtesy of StateUniversity.com)

Drawing cars as a casual hobby is one thing.  Pursuing the art of designing cars is a completely different animal all together.  Embarking in the journey and quest for your future is scary. The question asked “What do I want to study in college?” creeps up around your junior or senior year of high school. Often times we get inspired by our heroes in design, illustration, fine arts, photography, graphic design, and wonder how to get there. Today’s world is even more complex. So many choices in colleges to choose from. Which is the best?  Which will give me a job when I graduate?

Let’s face it. College is getting ridiculously expensive and students often try to outweigh and balance cost for value. They question whether it is worth going to a private institution to acquire their skills or a larger University that gives you a well rounded education. What’s the real difference anyway?

Before we dive in, let’s look at some factual criteria that will never change:

1. Competition is fierce and unrelenting - The world is more complex now. Not only are you competing within your country but you are competing on a global scale. That is the reality. Designers are being hired even from China at pennies for the dollar. They may not be leading the design but they are anxious to learn and hungry for information.  Why is this happening? Well, mostly due in part of the advancement of computers, high speed internet, and corporations forcing themselves to cut costs by locating in different regions of the world.   If you locate a tech center in China or India, you’ll need the same expertise to execute product for that region.

2. Your input is directly proportional to your output – Aaahhh….THIS is the magic recipe. Your attitude, drive, determination, and discipline are going to be a main contributor to your success. These components used in the right “environment” will help you to shine and discover talents about yourself you never knew existed!  So how important is the “environment?”
Another question you may ask of yourself  is this.

“I want to be a top notch designer (or painter, artist, graphic designer, etc). It is my dream, my ambition,….but how do I get there?” That is what some of you are thinking. Right? Well …the only way to get there at least by the norm is to go to college and get a degree specializing in that area of your interest.  So what type of college should you choose?  Let’s look at the differences between Private Art Schools and Public Universities.

Private Art Schools:
So what is so special about private art schools anyway? Private art schools, especially well known ones carry a name, a reputation, an image. When you think of Art Center College of Design, CCS (College for Creative Studies), or Royal College of Art, what comes to mind? You think the best of the best, the cream of the crop, or maybe you don’t think anything at all because you don’t know those schools.  That is because these schools have a long standing history of creating some of the most influential designers in the world from product to transportation design.

However, without the ambition and drive, you can still graduate from the school and be a dud.  It is important to understand that schools like Art Center create the environment for you to flourish and bring out the best in you.  So in essence, you will become the product of your self driven attitude and your environment.

Now tuition is also increasing at an alarming rate!  In my opinion, no art school is worth a $150K from a student. I argue that any college with exception to the medical field where you have a reasonable chance of paying off the loan is worth that amount of money. Schools that do not offer considerable scholarships to reduce their burden of costs but feel comfortable asking for donations post graduation, seems a little on the strange side to me. That does not mean you should not attend, it just means that any good school is going to rape you in tuition fees.

That being said, top Engineering Universities are also around 100K. So costs overall are going up for the average student.

What schools like Art Center and College for Creative Studies (CCS) do for the money is this; it drastically improves your chances for getting into the field you love! The majority of auto companies have graduates and alumni from these schools. So there is a definite intrinsic partnership and relationship built up with these private schools.

At the end of the day, companies are trying to create a compelling product that grabs your attention….so OEMS will not settle for anything less than the best schools that offer transportation design. Even that is not enough as they constantly seek out the “best” from the class. For the U.S., the majority of these designers hale from Art Center, CCS, Cleveland Institute of Art, and University of Cincinnati (in the US).

So what about Public Universities and what exactly do they offer?  Find out next week at www.drivenmavens.com!  In the meantime…in the next couple days, I will publish an article from some private design school alumni’s that share their experiences about their schools!  Don’t miss it!

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

Click here to view the embedded video.

By far…one of the biggest challenges to drawing cars is making sure your wheels and tires are spot on. If you have a perfectly executed body sketch in perspective and your wheels are off….It’s ruined! Most people who draw cars have a difficult time trying to understand the anatomy of the tire and wheel. So this post will introduce to you the fundamentals associated with the wheel and tire.

Bear in mind that what is being shown here is a proper discussion on wheels as you see them in real life. When sketching and drawing cars, this particular version is then interpreted to capture the essence. The sketch you see in the picture was created using ellipse templates. The templates allow you to be more precise and exact with the geometry of the tire and wheel. When using free hand, it is difficult to create so many ellipses that are offset perfectly each time (sketching quickly that is). I still struggle with it.(maybe I need more practice )

Such precision also takes away some of the dynamics and “fun” factor of the sketch as the whole idea of sketching is to stay loose. So the main intent of this article will be to focus only on the technical construction of a proper tire to wheel interface. Without understanding this concept, it will be difficult to render an image that is believable and makes sense to the human eye, even if you are removing some detail for the sake of style.

Now why even use a photo reference when your main drive is to imagine something new? Well…understanding and replicating reality now, will enable you to visualizing the fantastic for the future! Being creative means understanding the basics first. Once those are nailed down, you will acquire the confidence to explore new ways of artistic expression based on reality.

So let’s start to break down the anatomy of the wheel. Reference the section picture here. This section is comprised of the following:

1. Tire
2. Wheel
3. Center Cap

For simplicity, no spokes were added to this particular example. Let’s just focus on the core basics for now (remember the brain learns best using a layered approach article? If you don’t, reference the article and video here). We use sections here because it helps to understand how the components interface with one another. That doesn’t mean you need to create a section for every drawing or illustration. You should understand how they fit. It just depends how familiar you want to be with the subject matter. However, if you ARE ultimately serious about “designing” something, then it does help you to create a story that is believable to your audience. Doing this helps you draw things from memory.
Let’s start off with the side view. The side view is the easiest view to comprehend without having to worry about perspectives. When looking at the section, it is necessary to capture each surface transition with a geometric representation. This representation is just a circle (obviously). So for this example you will have 3-4 circles that represent the shape of the tire (depending on how thick the sidewall of your tire is).  The next circle will capture the top of the rim(4 or 5).    If you add a chamfered surface before the dome shape, that will be circle number 5 or 6.  Lastly you can finish off with the center cap at 6 or 7.

Now that is  A LOT of circles.  On top of that you have to translate those circles into ellipses when drawing the wheel and tire in perspective.  My first suggestion is to invest in some nice circle and ellipse templates.  The circle templates are cheap and are available in most art stores.  Get both small and large sizes.  Then look online for ellipse templates. They get pricey when you get the full set as you will need a full range from 10deg – 80deg ellipse guides.  I purchased the larger 4″ ellipses, then bought a small single template ellipse guide($8-$10 at Michaels). If you just want to experiment and get used to using the guides, then just buy the small ones for now.

Now if you want a digital example of how I use pictures to create wheels check out part 1 and part 2 of how to draw wheels video! For a breakdown of the wheel in perspective in freehand, see the video I released a few months ago below!

Freehand drawing of Wheels in Perspective

It’s coolness!

Now as a BONUS!  Below are the links to download your template files.  There are three different files in high rez (to download be sure to “right click and save link as”):

1.  The original sketch of the wheel  - Tires and Wheels Sketch

2.  A vector based Wheel and Tire Template with callouts – Tire and Wheel Template 1

3.  A vector based Wheel and Tire Template for overlays – Tire and Wheel Template 2

Enjoy and have fun practicing and see you here next time at www.drivenmavens.com!

Be sure to join us on our facebook fanpage where we have active discussions with a talented group of artists and designers! www.facebook.com/drivenmavens

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

Automotive Art work charges me up.   For me, it is the by-product of learning how to draw cars the proper way before learning techniques in style.  Over the years, I have simply become accustomed to loving the actual process of creating art.  Sometimes I do not have a complete plan on what I want to do. Sure…I teach a lot of tricks on how to draw thumbnails and post it notes sketches to sort of “map” out what I want in the end.  However, there is a certain “high” and excitement you get out of the unknown.  The unpredictable factor can also help to yield interesting results.  Even if I do a miniaturized version, there are always elements and portions of the drawing or painting I wish to change.   One thing is for certain, drawing sports cars or painting my next vintage racer would not be half as much fun if my foundation in sketching and drawing cars were flawed in the first place.  If you nail down the basics, then you spend less time trying to make the drawing “right” and more time exploring creative means of execution and style.    If you know how to draw cars correctly, then you will know how to cheat reality in order to make a more interesting looking image.

Let’s take this piece for example.  This is a Oreca Lemans prototype vehicle at Sebring.  This photo was given to me by a friend of mine at work.  He gave me a several of pictures to work with and was interested in seeing what I could come up with.  So the challenge for me here is to visualize something different than what I see in the picture.  For me, if you are creating art, you are trying to trigger an emotional response.  To use colors and compositions that can evoke excitement and sense of movement.  Understanding how to replicate a picture is very important at the beginning so your brain understands the initial value and color distribution in order to make that image look realistic and believable.  Once you master that, there is little sense (in my mind) to replicate the picture as one can simply take a picture and hang it up on your wall in the first place.  However the process of learning and understanding reality is beneficial only to the point of which you know when to blur the lines of reality itself in the quest of creating an emotionally charged piece of artwork. The original picture was pretty dark and it was tough to make out the details but what caught my eye was the glowing rotors.  Isn’t that freakin awesome?!!  I actually had to google the car to get a better understanding of the shape so I could add a little more color and give it some form but yet maintain a silhouette feel to it.
 

So naturally I start off with one of my miniature paintings which is what you see above.  I sketch the general direction for the color and lighting around the vehicle without getting into too many details.  I do this for about 35 – 40 min.  By the way…I paint these pretty small.  It’s a perfect exercise to do when you want to warm up.  If you would like to see an example video check out this post on how to paint a car in 10 min flat!.

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

NOTE: All images are owned by Christian Palladino and under copyright

Though many of you have enjoyed a lot of the digital techniques that are shared on this site, it is important to remember that proper application of digital techniques do not have the depth and substance without mastering the art of analog mediums.  In todays world, it seems that digital is the mainstream.  It is the quickest way to deliver concepts to clients via email without having to go through the process of spray fixing your work, taking pictures, and mounting them. Everything is now done with a click of a mouse button, swipe of a digital pen, and off it goes!

However, not all analog techniques are lost and gone.  I had the privileged opportunity to speak with designer Christian Palladino, from Argentina to discuss with him his style and approach to transportation design.  What I really appreciate about Christian is his love for the craft.  Christian has been passionate about automotive design at a young age and has had that drive and ambition to pursue his goals and dreams despite obstacles that he faced in life.

DM: Analog design is a bit of a rarity in today’s design world due to the proliferation of digital media tools. Often times I like to tell students that learning to draw by hand is key to making a successful digital switch. It’s great to see designers such as yourself maintain the analog edge. Is analog your preference now or do you occasionally render using digital tools?

CP: I prefer analog tools because it´s the way I learn! The best digital programs are those that closely resembles the way the human hand work. Keep in mind that designers “thinks” with hand strokes, so the basic ability for free-hand drawing is the same with some digital tools.
But there are some effects that you can´t do in digital, like spraying marker inks or a wash of watercolors. This techniques has random results impossible to achieve with the computer (by now, at least). In this days any illustration made in in digital way still has a hard and “plastic” feel.
I did n´t do full renders with digital tools, only little retouches (computer is waaaay more practical to do this!), adjustment of brightness, contrast and things like that. But in the short or long term, I think we’re all going to end up using digital tools, at least for design work, and the analog render maybe will have a place where more artistic values are demanded.

DM: Having passion for your craft is crucial for one to excel and succeed in their discipline. Tell me about your background and how did you get started in the field of design? At what age did you realize that trans design was the right path for you?

CP: My father is an ad illustrator and graphic designer (one of the first in Argentina to use airbrush in the ´70s). I never had the ability or patience to airbrushing, but I learned  line drawing and the design side of the business from him.
Here in Argentina there wasn’t a Car Design career as such at the end of the ’80s,  so when I finish school the only career similar was Industrial Design, so I attended this course. I was more passionate toward cars than products, but at least I was doing something similar regarding techniques and development process!

DM: Everyone seems to have some key event or individual that served as a catalyst to excite and energize a young mind to pursue their dream. Your sketches and hand rendering show so much love for the craft. What was your catalyst to get you started on drawing? Who were some of your key influences growing up that led to your decision?

CP: There were various factors, mimicking my fathers work since childhood was key to learn free-hand drawing, but the virus for cars were transmitted by an uncle of mine (a “car guy”) and by the fact that Carlos Reutemann was racing in F-1 in the ´70s.   He drove for various big teams (Brabham, Ferrari, Lotus, Williams) and fought several world titles.  Those were crazy times, everybody was aware of a lonely argentine racing in Europe, even housewives chatted about “ground effects” when doing the groceries! All very bizarre, here soccer is the most popular sport but F-1 fanaticism eclipsed all until 1982 when finally Reutemann retired .  So that was the “car germ”. Working alongside my father (since I was 12-13 years old) taught me the skills to illustrate and others like cutting masks, mounting in hardboard, technical drawing (analog, NOT Autocad), etc. and the way a designer thinks, albeit a graphic designer´s way! And then, in my free time and at school (…same thing?!) I always sketched cars.

DM: You have faced many challenges growing up. What were those challenges and how did you tackle them? Add to the fact that Argentina does not have the job opportunities that support a field in transportation design. How did you keep that drive and motivation up to pursue a career in trans design?

CP: Biggest challenge was the lack of a professional field here in Argentina. In the mid-60s Ford and GM established design divisions that adapted existing cars to local needs and tastes, but GM left this country in 1978 (to return in the mid-´90s, but did n´t re-open the design department) and Ford closed it´s own division in 1985.   There were a few things to design like buses or farm machinery but I simply didn’t have the connections to know when and where a project went under development.

In 1994 I was doing scoops of race cars for a local enthusiast mag, when one editor told me about an engineer friend of his who has running a project to build a micro car (backed with government money) to sell for u$ 5000 (a sort of Tata Nano, it has even a rear engine!) and was needing “a guy to do some presentation sketches…”   I got the job on a free-lance basis first, then full time from 1996 to 1999.   Although this project was never finalized for “political reasons,”  it gave me the chance to do a lot of sketches and explore styling trends.  From there I was able to make scale technical drawings for the 1:5 models and even work in the confection of the 1:1 mock-up.
When the project was stopped in 1999 the styling work was almost completely done, and to this day is the most important and complete project (a full car) that I took part.

DM: What led you to teach and how long have you been teaching?

CP: I quit Industrial Design college a little after I started working in the micro car project due to a lack of motivation to design “toasters, washing machines” and such. But when the car project was stopped I realized the huge mistake that I had made.
Then by 2000 a guy who has studied car design in Turin (in the Instituto Europeo di Design) returned to Argentina and opened an extracurricular course.   I attended this course because I want to re-enter the world of design under the guidance of someone with a more insightful experience.  Attending his classes I found a new motivation, I not only paid attention to what was taught, but also at HOW.
A couple of years later a friend of the chief-engineer of the microcar project opened a regular and complete curriculum on car design.   In one meeting they had in the office of my former boss, this guy, Andres Calviño.  He  saw the rendererings I made for the microcar and offered me a job to teach his course.   Although I had no previous experience, I accepted on the spot, somehow I wanted to put into practice what I learned in the car design courses I had attended. So since mid-2002 I became car design teacher and continue to this day!

DM: Which classes do you currently teach? What have been some of the challenges you faced when teaching a hungry crowd of students eager to learn from their master?

CP: Currently  I am a professor of Car Design Exteriors and Interiors and Rendering Techniques in the Universidad Tecnológica Nacional (UTN) and the Instituto Tecnológico de Motores (ITM) as part of grade careers, and also teach in a extracurricular course in my former Industrial Design college, the FADU (Facultad de Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo de Buenos Aires). This is a short course more focused in developing free-hand drawing skills, and with that excuse I teach car drawing and rendering!
And the biggest challenge I face when teaching a hungry crowd is the lack of….. hunger! Maybe because I learned the process of design before entering college I expect  that every newbie to make full progress from the very beginning, but then I remember my classmates (most didn’t have a professional design background) from the ID college and they were people way more focused. Not sure, maybe I’m just getting old…!

DM: Hungry students eager to learn is also a problem in the States to some degree. What are some of the most common mistakes that students make?

CP: Ellipse orientation and aperture! ( sometimes I still miss an ellipse or two after all these years!). Other frequent mistake is the lack of symmetry. When drawing a car in perspective, is relatively easy to do correctly the facing corner, the hard part is to draw the opposite corner (eg: in a front right perspective the difficult part is to draw the left corner, and you can be sure that, following this mistake, the left pillar of windshield will be miss located too!).
But the most stupid mistake is when a student tries to convince me that he has the work accomplished with a couple of half-done sketches and a meaningless chatter… Fortunately some of them end up making me laugh! But in can be a little frustrating sometimes.

DM:  What are some of the different mediums you work with?

CP: For line work I use pen or color pencils (black, prussian blue or indian red). Frequently I mixed both (pen and pencils) in the same sketch. To illustrate, I use markers and powder chalk applied with cotton or a makeup remover disc (very, very traditional!). When I want more depth in the color I use the chalk bar directly on the paper and then rub it with my fingers. Sometimes I made the entire render with marker (a cleaner way of work, but you need a wider palette of marker colors). In both cases I finish the illustration by defining lines with pencils, pen and applying white gouache or correction pen for highlights (this depending on precision needed or deadlines).
One technique I particularly like is to make the background with ample strokes using a large piece of cotton embedded in benzine or ethyl alcohol and some drops or marker ink or with powder chalk (results are similar). It works like an oversized marker and gives a very dynamic and “loose” feel. Also I made some of the shadows and the floor this way and then define the body, wheels, etc. with markers and chalks (I use intensely the white chalk bar to illuminate facing up surfaces and to add some kinetic lines).
I always use photocopy paper because in Argentina nobody sells special marker paper (when exchange rates permitted in the 90s I bought three blocks of Letraset paper, but in 2001 the government devalued the national currency and suppliers simply stopped importing it because of the higher costs). You have to be more careful because the marker ink tends to wrinkle it a little and bleeds through, but mostly it’s OK.

DM: Wow…the results of using just photocopy paper are remarkable!  Lastly,  If you knew then, what you know now, what would be the one major thing you would change about your life or the decisions you made in the past?

CP: Not quitting college for sure! Finishing it would have widened my working options (and there is the legal matters too…). And maybe I should have tried harder to go and study or work in other countries at an earlier age. But fortunately I´m still on time to learn some digital rendering techniques!
I would like to thank Arvind Ramkrishna for this interview and for the time and effort he took to produce it!

DM:  Thanks for your time Christian…the pleasure was mine!

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!

Ok…..so there must be an easier way to comprehend detail without getting anxious about it right?  Having to draw sports cars is tough as it is, especially if you have to continuously practice the methods that have been discussed on this site.  However, expanding your mind to be receptive to new ideas and thinking processes is always a bonus and can work to your benefit.

Even if you intend to draw classic cars, drawing what you “see” and not what you “know” can yield huge dividends for you when pursuing your ultimate goal.   Remember the article I wrote on “Expanding your Visual Vocabulary” about a year ago? (yeah right….)  If not…check it out here to refresh your memory!

Reference photos are key to building and training your mind to understand the juxtaposition of the shapes as they relate to one another.  Now what the heck does that mean?  The idea is to “see” every detail in the photograph and relate to them as shapes removing any preconceived notion that what you are seeing and trying to replicate, is a door, mirror, grass, clouds, or any other physical element in the photograph.

Now you don’t have to approach it this way…it just depends how much trouble you have with dealing with describing form. When you think about it, people learn in various ways.  The catalyst to trigger or turn on that “bulb” in your head that signifies the “aaahhh….I get it” is not limited to a single approach but rather several approaches.  However, if you approach it with this methodology, then it removes the anxiety of trying to relate to the picture as its intended object, whether you draw a sports car, muscle car, classic car, conceptual car, or any other physical form out there.

The next thing you need to do is to perform several time-based studies on this event.  This means start off trying to interpret the picture in 10 min max!  Squint your eyes to blur the image to understand the value distribution.  The objective is to not let your mind get too caught up into the details of the picture.  It is to quickly get your brain adjusted to the relationship of the shapes surrounding the image.  That’s it.  Nothing else.  Don’t expect pretty execution in 10, 15, or 30 min when doing this from the start.  It’ll be ugly but it doesn’t matter.  Eventually your mind will get used to seeing the physical world as a collection of value, contrast, shape, and color.  Remember when starting out, you only want to spend no more than 10 min.

As you exercise your traditional techniques and combine them with this methodology, you will not only find it easier to interpret and understand detail in the end, but learn to appreciate forms you are describing.  The added bonus is removing the fear factor and anxiety of replicating the picture.

So below is a real time, 10 min(or so) example of what I am talking about.  Remember, what I did in 10 min is not perfect by any means.  However it should communicate the gist of the scene from an almost abstract perspective.  I can already see where things are off but I am still satisfied because my intent was not to create a carbon copy of the picture.  When you take a step back however and view your image from a distance, it should read relatively well.

Watch the video, and give it a shot.    As you get more used to this process, start to increase the time frame for painting.  Try 20 min, then, 30, and 1 hr.  The question you must ask is how much did I comprehend and rationalize in each picture and how quickly did I capture each element and shape.  As you go through this process, you will start to automatically tackle the high contrast areas that provide a focal point.

Click here to view the embedded video.

So the take away is this, challenge yourself. Try it for 10 min and post it on the wall and I’ll review it!  Even take a picture and convert it to black and white and use a set of gray markers to produce the value range.  One last thing…DO NOT LIMIT YOURSELF TO CARS!!  It’s very important to understand the world around you!  Draw other subject matter.  Expand your mind!  Hope this helps and happy drawing!  As always…please provide feedback if this helps you.  Best wishes!

Join DM for FREE for Video, Post and Podcast Updates!