Hotrod Fender

Love old classics and ones with flames, always have drooled at car shows I've been to over the artistry involved.

Hope you enjoy.

Yesterday a flaming sheep and now a flaming car ... is there something we should know?

A good, clean drawing, Sally - and the headlamp is exceptionally well done, you spent some time over that.

Time well spent.

Nice work Sally

It must have taken you ages to get the light on the fender just right and it makes the fender, well worth the hard slog. :D

Very nice Sally.
ron

This is terrific..

Your eye for perspective here is startling. The fender's shape is very complicated and I can only imagine the concentration required to bring it out in shading and hilite. With your permission, I would like to keep a copy of this for study.

I hope you will not object if I point out the the near point of the fender flame is not as well integrated (not as much a part of what it sits on) as the rest. Partly, it is the flare. If it were one shade 'inside' the shape of the flame and another where it bounces off the fender, it would not stand out as much but would, as it does on the hood, enhance the sense that the flame is "on" the fender.

I apologize if I have prattled (i actually had to edit this post down to elide what might be considered 'fulsome' praise), but I do admire the execution here.

very impressed,

geo.

Sometimes you have to go back in and readjust because my original scan was at 600 dpi but Xara wasn't fond of that much pixel data so I down sampled to and reduced the height and width twice to gain computing power back. In the interim, the bitmap was no longer as precise. So looking now from the original which I scanned (and BTW, it is the cover off a prospectus my company received to promote a service bureau -- that is a printer's printer -- this is only a detail view of the front fender and half a grill.

I am overall pleased with the outcome. The Xara file actually has better color after comparing to the original to the downsampled scan.

Xara isn't ordinary software. It is amazing. There is no way I know of to do this in another program bar none at any price.

I would have posted a .png as that was amazingly clear, but whereas there are members still on dial-up.... what can I say, you have to pay a bit to make the experience worth it. Never disappointed with upgrading my connection speed. What can I say, it is addictive.

Learned so much from the members here. I have posted the Xara file for you to enjoy.

Really nice composition, I like pictures of cars that don't show all of the car, if that makes sence. As Raymond stated you must have spent time on the drawing and it works.

Primo!

the changes all work. the change to the fender flare brings out the leveling contour at the front.

really good.

geo.

Excellent artistry, Sally. Hotrods and flames...lot of old memories :)

Another classic Sally.

Thanks to everyone for their kind words and thanks for the helpful criticism too, really improved my work. Criticism, taken properly is one of the best learning tools, so thanks GeoBen.

Figuring out how to do effects is the fun of Xara, it is problem solving. The other is honing observational skill and not staying static, finding what is challenging to yourself and setting one's self to master a technique. Once you know what your tools are, you just have to find which tool can be used to make the effect you need or used in combination to make the effects come alive. If you have a "Happy Accident" note what happened so you can reproduce it when you need to do it again.

I used to work big, thinking I had to for print, but now have found the advantage in working small in order to save memory and enhance Xara's performance. If I want to print the work, I can resize later, it is all vectors so I can output whatever size I want.

What limits us is we say, "It is beyond my skill level." This was when I started. But am amazed at what I've done because I tried it anyway. Working on another drawing I was sure was beyond my skill level. Don't worry about it, just draw the next thing I see and leave anxiety behind, just do the next step as I get there.

We look at each other's work and say "Isn't it great what Valery is doing." or what Molucca is doing or Grafixman or Egg or Gary, and I say to myself, I can't do what they do. And don't try. Great pick apart drawings, and yet so often I don't spend the time to say: "I'm going to do that. At least I can learn from it."

The only problem is not trying. Not trying is what wastes my time, not trying until I succeed.

We have each one of us, one life of which we are sure of, any other is speculation. Not knocking faith, but that's why it is faith, no one is entirely sure. Be what for what you can be, do what you can do. Challenge yourself. Find a drawing buddy and chat outside of the forum and you will conquer the learning plateau each of us reach.

Don't do everything the same as you did. It is a new day, start fresh and see a new world and draw in a new technique.

forsooth.... hard to disagree with any of that.

Happy accidents (or what I like to call (OOOPS Oh no! whaddidido? oh wait that's pretty cool) tend to provide whatever charm my drawings have.

I hesitate to critique here, as I know that is not really why most post here, but I hope for it, even expect it. I had thought to extend invitations to the folks here that are interested in the help other, often more experienced artists might give to venture out into other fora, fora that are dedicated to critique.

I hope that any here that can see how my postings my be improved will free to say so (but be gentle.... i am a sensitive plant).

again, kudos on a very fine work,

geo.

First, the changes you made, Sally, make a big difference and make an excellent drawing superb.

Secondly, I agree with your sentiments.
Six months ago I was unable to do what I do today.

No use saying "I wish I could ..." 'cos the next day still be wishing.

There is a wealth of information and examples within these pages and some folks don't appear to be taking advantage of them to up their skill level which is a shame.

Many times when having a problem with a drawing we feel like just deleting it and doing something easier ... this is not the way tomake progress is it?

Talking of which, I must resurrect a couple of items from the WIP folder ...

It's hard to constrain myself from replying to ALL the interesting threads I'm reading here. :D . I am all over the forum enough already that I'm sure people are getting sick of seeing my avatar. :eek:
But I have to put my thumbs up comment here on Sally's car pic. Really nice work.
And yes, doing is always better than wishing. But no, I don't think anyone should try to emulate me, because I'm emulating everybody else myself. It's a good learning process, though. But it would come to a point when you start feeling something's lacking. A personal style. That's something I'm trying to find for myself, still.

I always ask myself, "What am I moved to do?", when it comes to my art work. I may be inspired by someone else's work here on the forum, it may be from inside me, what moves me. Maybe some experience or nostalgia more than an object. That's what I draw on.
ron

Not talking to the people who draw on a regular basis, Ron, talking to myself even though I do consistently draw. I get in a rut and need to try new things, it adds flavor to what I normally do too.

Many people view and do not post.