Conquest Car

**Jewelz76** · 21 August 2006, 01:48 AM

This is a painting I did about a week ago. This is my first car painting. The tail end needs more focused though. I did this also in a gray background, because the black blended in pretty bad. To me it just doesnt look right in gray.

**sallybode** · 22 August 2006, 05:18 AM

I think somewhere along the way your picture is not being sized right, the tires look like elipses and from a completely side view should be circles or nearly so.

Take a look as some car photography you admire and notice the dark and light patterns made in reflections, try bringing some of these effects into your drawing, then it will start looking 3D instead of flat.

There are lots of free tutorials on the web on how to draw any number of items and the skills help you understand how to achieve effects yourself.

You are doing some nice stuff.

Turn on a lamp that casts a really strong light and put together a simple still life, some dishes, fruit, whatever you like and observe how what light is doing and how that communicates depth.

Get some paper out and a soft pencil, something that will let you get a good range of tone and sketch what you see. Be sure you have tones that go from white to black. In a sketch there is always some light areas in the dark, don't overwork the painting.

Look at other work you see posted and ask yourself when you see something that you like why you like it. Then ask how that was done. As you encorporate what you like into what you already know how to do, you will improve right along. Keep at it, you have a lot of potential.

**Grafixman** · 22 August 2006, 03:09 PM

Perhaps the jpeg compression added a bit too much grain to the picture. Looking a bit mottled here. I also noticed the same thing Sally did with the tires. They seem to be a bit squashed. Even if the reference pic shows the tires themselves a bit flattened out by the weight of the car, the rims should still be circular.
Crits aside, I think it's a very good depiction of a car. Maybe not as flashy as Ron's or others here, but a good illustration nevertheless. You've put a lot of effort into the details. Reflections and lighting is the key, like Sally said.

**Jewelz76** · 22 August 2006, 10:30 PM

Well I took your advice. I started a sketch.

I can see its going to be a very long road for me

One day at a time and Im sure Ill be come back here to reread what you've said. To keep my mind clear of what I need to keep focusing on.
I just wish artwork was inherited.. lol

Grafixman- thanks I always need critisim, that is how we all want to achieve better. Besides you all are like a teaching tool for me and it is a starting point for me. I know Im not near as good as 99.9% of people here but one day Im hoping to be good at it. It is a good start for me though. We all have to start somewhere.

And thanks for the compliment on details.

**sallybode** · 23 August 2006, 01:18 AM

I am glad you are going to sketch. I teaches you to see what is around you. I know that may sound stupid, but we think we see, until you draw what you see, you don't notice just how much you took for granted before.

Sketching also teaches hand eye coordination, this is a very similar skill to using a mouse or a tablet.

If you are painting with pixels on a drawing tablet, it is similar to sketching. If I am having trouble with drawing something, I draw it first in black and white, then I add gray tones. Once I can do a good likeness of what I am going at, I do it in color. Now that I am what some may call, fairly accomplished, I do a lot of the first part in my head because of experience.

I do a lot of vector illustration, so my sketching is on paper to plan my layout. I still draw a couple of thumbnails so I can decide which way to go. In vector illustration, there are lines used which don't make it to the final, guidelines, measurement lines or shapes and construction line. These lines are not the drawing itself, but help make the drawing easier and more accurate.

Very often in vector illustration you are combining shapes to create a larger shape. And subtracting shapes to make other parts, or to isolate another area to work on that.

Knowing a variety of ways to do something aids in choosing the way you'd like to get to the conclusion the best. And no matter how lond you are at it, there has never been a time yet where I could say "I have arrived." A long time this bothered me, it is not the destination, it is a journey. That is the first level of apprenticship, you become in the trade, a journeyman.

It appears you are pursuing this because your heart is in it. It is the best way to go, project oriented people just learn enough for what they are working on, or even "Can you do this for me?... Thanks, that's fantastic." and then they are out of there until they have sold another job, and they need "help" again.

Keep printed copies of your work, put a date on them. You'll be surprised how much they will mean to you later when you look back through things.

**Jewelz76** · 23 August 2006, 04:14 PM

That doesnt sound stupid at all. You got to appreciate what you see, by observing with a good
eye.

Hand eye Coordination, is something I will need to improve on, just because the simple fact of
is I cant control a mouse (sturdy) like I can a pencil

You have some really good points here. Alot of things to make me "really" think about.

Your experience though is what makes you good at what you do.. That is where I need some time
under my belt. Yet I still have tons to learn..

Vector Illustrations.. Thats like grid drawing right? lol Sorry dont mean to sound dumb. Pretty
bad Ive had drafting but it was like 12 years ago. I never really used it so I lost alot of what
I did learn. I have just done to many different things since then.. I think I've forgotten.

This is very much in my heart. Nature/and art is a large key for me. I think art expresses a person.

**sallybode** · 24 August 2006, 01:51 AM

Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Xara Xtreme, Freehand, AutoCAD, these all use vector illustration. Rather than painting with pixels, vectors are mathematical descriptions of where points appear on the page and about the curves that connect them. As they are not tied to pixels, they can be scaled infinitely.

Xara is a program that has extended vector illustration to do what pixel editors like Photoshop were able to do in many points by including soft edges and transparencies of more types than anyone else offers. It is like drafting in that you can put in the coordinants in some of the programs, Xara and CorelDRAW are geared this way.

PhotoImpact can draw vectors, if you have browsed some of the recent posts of Kiwi, he's taking a Ulead PI course from Rosy Hartman, the pistol he drew for example, was one of the lessons. PI falls somewhere in between vectors and pixel or bimap editors, leaning more toward Photoshop, but PI can do many things Photoshop cannot and with exceptional clarity.

In drafting, you may use elipses or circle, rectangles or squares as a system of measurement with the use of templates. CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) is the most expensive of the technical illustration programs. CAD is often used by engineers and specialized versions of CAD exist for architects, aviation and other special types of design work. Then there are the add-ons. CorelDRAW of the vector-based programs is the most like AutoCAD and has a couple of programs to extend its functions such as IsoCals and EZ Metrics. There are also CAD type extensions for Adobe Illustrator, I don't know how well they work as I prefer DRAW's interface. To me it is easier to develop an accurate but still very fast workflow because of the way it it structured. It and Xara are about at interactive as programs can get and with the addition of live effects Xara really has alot to offer.

There are some vector tools in PhotoImpact, but they are not as easy to use as a program like Xara. Most of us in this forum are also avid Xara users and find was to combine the use of Xara with our other favorite programs.

Just for grins, you should browse around Xara.com and see what the program is capable of. Since you have drawn such a nice car, there are many who use Xara to draw incredible cars. Not to diminish what PI can do. PI is capable of great things also.

**Jewelz76** · 24 August 2006, 05:03 PM

Thanks for answering my questions, Sally. I was assuming you was talking about sketching on paper.
I have a very little image software.. probably why Im alittle software language illiterate.

Im sorry it took me so long to reply.. but before I actually replied back I had to understand what you was saying.
I went online to some tut's about the same thing your talking about.

Ill take a snoop around xara.. Hopefully I like what I see

If I do, I will purchase it. I'll also, look around for Kiwi posts
on here that would help me out a great deal. Right now I can take all I can get.

Thank you for putting up with me (You've been patient and supportive) and helping me understand.