1926 Cadillac 5 Passenger

[ontos]

This is my first attempt at doing a car, so any suggestions, pointers welcome, I need all the help I can get. Remember I'm sensitive and use allot of Kleenex

[steve.ledger]

I think you did very well if this is your first attempt.
The background isn't very cheery and the shadow under the car makes it look like it's leaped off the ground a little, but overall the illustration is good

[wizard509]

Looks good Merv. I wish I could do so well. The only thing that bothers me is the ground shadow, although at the moment I'm not sure what there is about it that bugs me. Keep up the good work.

[ontos]

I wasn't too happy with the shadow either, maybe a little more squared off than free form? I'll try some different colors with the background. Any suggestions on the shadow? I'm not to good at those yet, I'll check out some of the cars others have done. Thanks for your help . Yep, first attempt, it seems like it took me forever. I got some practice doing aircraft skins for a combat flight simulator.

[steve.ledger]

Shadow is just the result of blocked light. So it depends on the angle of the light source.
It's doubtful that a shadow will every differ in shape from that of the object which blocks the light.

[ontos]

I revised the color scheme and shadow, am I on the right track ?

[Black Panther]

Great Job Merv, i like your Cadilac drawing, i have some observations please:
1. Try to use solid colours to fill the objects of your car drawing.
2. Don´t use to much feather in the car highlights.
3. Instead of feather, use transparency on a white shapes for the highlights.
4. Try to use the Named colours in Xara.
5. The shadow in your first image is just ok, i don´t like the shadow in the second one.
And if you don´t mind, i modified your image and made some change to show you what i mean.( attached two image with new Modification )
Best Regards BP

[ontos]

Thanks BP for the help in the shadows and highlights. I'm not sure what you mean by "Try to use the Named colors in Xara", I used the colors that were on the color bar at the bottom of the work space, except when doing the chrome and gold area. I like the shadow you did, I'll try it and post what I get. Thanks

[Black Panther]

I'm not sure what you mean by "Try to use the Named colors in Xara"

Hi Merv,
You are welcome,
Well if you read the help file of Xara about ´´Color Handling´´, when you created the Named colours, you will be able to change the colours of your drawing with one move in the colour editor. attached image show you where you can find that in the help file of Xara.
Best Regards BP

[ontos]

Thanks BP, sorry, I should have read that. Still learning this program, embarrassing I wish I had more time to work in this great program, there are so many things I want to draw