Class 2: Sketch like a Pro Car Designer | Reece May | Skillshare
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Class 2: Sketch like a Pro Car Designer

teacher avatar Reece May, Automotive Design

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Class 2: Sketching Introduction

      2:56

    • 2.

      How to construct a Front 3/4 view

      8:05

    • 3.

      How to construct a Rear 3/4 view

      8:08

    • 4.

      Sketch like a PRO: Front 3/4

      6:00

    • 5.

      Sketch like a PRO: Rear 3/4

      9:21

    • 6.

      Sketch like a PRO: Side View

      12:18

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About This Class

If you already have foundation knowledge of sketching and designing cars or if you have just completed watching my previous class then this class will be your next step to producing some professional quality sketches!

You'll discover tips and tricks that you can apply to your work right away, discover key building steps to construct a sketch with correct proportions and some golden nugget tips that will put the cherry on top of the cake to make your sketches look captivating and vibrant that will look great as part of your portfolio or to surprise your friends and family!

In this class you will learn:

  • How to construct car body volumes in correct proportions
  • How to sketch in correct perspectives 
  • How to 'build a sketch' in Front 3/4, Rear 3/4 and Side views
  • How to make a sketch look professional
  • How to finish a sketch 

You will be sketching in this class! so get ready to test yourself, be prepared to correct mistakes and get comfortable being uncomfortable because thats the only way you will surprise yourself and develop.

Whether you are new to sketching cars or a seasoned pro looking for tips, this class will reveal some of the great tips that have been passed onto me by my mentors in Italy and some I have discovered through hours of throwing scrunched up sketches in the bin and starting over and over again until I ended up with a series of methods in my head that I could apply to my work that I will hopefully show you well enough throughout this class :)

Meet Your Teacher

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Reece May

Automotive Design

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Level: All Levels

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Transcripts

1. Class 2: Sketching Introduction: Hello everyone and welcome to my sketching class. So it's there and we're walking you through and hard to construct a sideview sketch, a front three-quarter as well as a writ three-quarter view sketch. These were done on some different car body types as well, as well as different proportions and different design languages too. So, once you've got a good handle on how to construct those different views, or they'll be taking you through onto the second part of the class, which is how to create professional-looking front Cause Erath reporter and sideview sketches. And these are the kinds of sketches that you can push off in your portfolio, work in your projects, and basically work that you need to submit, that you need to have a very professional field from. My aim is by the end of this class, is for you guys to produce the quality of sketches that are actually very similar to the sketches you see in official design magazines. You'll be able to also use this for private portfolio work. Maybe you've got some private projects going on and you can apply this knowledge to showing your social media with your friends and family to see how far you've come to see the development process of how you are improving. So hopefully, by the end of these classes, you will have enough knowledge that analyze what's a professional looking scatch to an amateur looking sketch. So when you go to a design magazine or design show and you see these amazing illustrations of car designers producing his amazing sketches. You'll be able to look at those and think I can do that too, because you will know how to create that step-by-step sketching tips I'll be sharing with you guys today are the tips and the advice that I've been given over the years. I've also tried different sketching styles and I think we've all been there. We've seen an illustration, an official design sketch magazine for awhile and introduce something like that. Give it a crack and it's never really the same sort of thing. So I've tried different approaches and how to correct my own style to the cell out today. And that's the style that I'll be sharing with you guys through these are my glasses, but please take the noise that you watched through these classes and put your own spin on it. Okay, you need to find your own style that suits you that you're comfortable with because I'll ultimately show a good design flow throughout your portfolio. I really hope you guys enjoyed the classes and you found informative and you've extracted as much information from him as possible. And I really look forward to hearing the feedback and seeing how you guys have developed along the way. Remember that you need to and notice where you can improve on your work, but don't be too hard on yourself at the same time. Remember to celebrate your achievements and your successes. And remember it's a development process is no finishing line. So keep pricing guys because you'll only improved more you practice. 2. How to construct a Front 3/4 view: Hello everyone and welcome to this video on how to construct a front three-quarter sketch. You are going to start out by sketching out the perspective of the wheelbase. So same rules apply as before. You're going to sketch out your, your ground line and also your wheelbase and perspective. Once you're happy with the perspective of the wheel base, Make sure you then add in a reference line to whether a pedal roughly B. So this line shared across, over roughly where the center point has to the front wheel. Once you have this reference line and you then need to close the volume of a car. So you start by sketching out a reference point of roughly whether grew fine will be. And then it's just case of just closing the car at the front and this what is the rear? So you can then have a better perspective of how much volume you have to work with. If you're ever unsure whether or not you're sketching in the right perspective. A good tip to opera command is just pull a few clean lines going in the correct direction. And then when you come to apply your design elements or try to explore some lines, always use those loans as a good reference point. I do something similar for the face of this car. Once you're happy with the body and you can then start exploring some design elements. Yeah. So now notice the ellipse that I start to sketch out. And on the front wheel is actually incorrect The first time I do it, but that's okay. Because you can just sketch another ellipse over the top. Remember, you're still exploring a lot of this car already. So if you do pull a line that isn't in the correct perspective or you, you create a Dunham and you've not really happily, it doesn't matter, just sketch over the top of that. It doesn't matter if you have lots of lines on the car, just as long as it nice and light and they're not actually very visible at the end of the sketch. Another important tip to have is always do a shadow of a car. It really does ruin a sketch when it just looks like a chorus floating. Once you're fairly happy with the design of the car, you can start adding in certain section lines the vehicle. This again helps the reader understand the volume as well as the surfaces of the car. And notice that I'm actually making the lines only darker in the center of the car. I'm not actually adding very much detail towards the rear quarter or the front quarter edge of the vehicle because that's not where I want the reader to look and trying to draw the audience's attention to the center of the car. So imagine a two to three inch radius around the front headlights. That's where I want the focus to be. So that's why I'm pulling the lines from that point outwards. Now we're going to run through a quick analysis, just a recap on the summary of the sketch. Maitreya will base length is correct and the perspective is a perspective that you are comfortable sketching with. And the perspective lines of the car should always be going in the same direction. And also be sure to leave plenty of space of exploration for the face of the vehicle as well as the side. Another good tip is to use the wheels of the car to make a start and sketch field much stronger. You can do this by actually pulling them outwards. So the car, she looks a lot stronger. Thank you everyone for watching this class. I really appreciate it and I hope you got some great tips from this class that you can apply to your work straight away. 3. How to construct a Rear 3/4 view: Hello everyone and welcome to this class on how to construct your rear three-quarter view. Which can I jump straight into the exercise? So I start out by sketching out a rough perspective of where I want the wheelbase to B. And then I start marking out some reference lines or very lightly sketch of course, because some of these lines may change throughout sketch. So once I've done a rough sketch of the wheel base, the next reference 0 sketch into place is the shoulder line that runs along the side of the vehicle as well as roughly where the top of the roof line will be. So what I'm doing now is I'm telling a few lines just to see how much I can gave the volume of the vehicle. So I'll pull a few clean lines at the back to give me roughly an idea what, how wide the variable B. And I'll also start sketching out one of the most important lines, which is the line of the a pillar desk line will almost always on any car go through or very close to the front center of the wheel. So you can always have that indicates or on your page to know whether or not you've sketched in the right place for knocks, it should pass through the front wheel. So the shoulder line is very important for a few reasons, but one of them, very early stages of sketching is the fact that I will give you a very good indicator of how much space you have a play with because the shoulder line should almost certainly give you a division line of where the rear window you say Now I know roughly where the shoulder line will be. I now have a good indicator of where I can start adding in some design elements like the spoiler, red lights, where the rear bumper will start and finish. And also whether Rear Window will be national. Easy. Be sensitive throughout sketch in not just this class, but throughout all my glasses. You will notice that always try and concentrate the detail and the heavier line weight on the center of the sketch because that's where I want the audience to actually draw their attention to. So I'll start my technique or pulling lines from the inside of the car outwards. There's no need to put in all the detail and hard work into periphery line every area of the core is just not necessary and it's also very time-consuming. If you use this technique, it's far better to sketch out a rough volume that's plausible and add in a feud sine elements because this allows you to then pick, develop, and actually move forward with a few design elements that you like and carry out through to your final design. Be sure that when you're pulling these lines, and especially for pulling these lines that add line weight to a few design elements or a particular part of the sketch on the concentrate the audience's eye on that. You've pulled the line away from your body. These lunch be pulled outwards from the page. If you pulling these lines towards your body, you're then fine. You're very restricted to how long and clean these lines would look for the wheels are simply extrude them outwards a bit just to give some standards to the sketch. And then I'll add in a very simple quick design to the wheels because whales can they actually, I'm very time-consuming elements of the car. So you don't spend too much time with this because it's just very time consuming. So now we're going to run through a quick analysis of the sketch just so you can understand the summary of the construction. So the first thing you need to check right at the very start of the sketch is to measure the wheel base length is correct. And also the sketches in the perspective that you're comfortable with. The next very important reference line need to get in at the start of the sketch is your shoulder line. There showed alone will not only help gauge the portion of the design language and the side of the vehicle, but it will also guide you as a good reference point for the rear of the vehicle as well. Post some very light clean lines to help give you the correct perspective when you start adding the design elements for the rear of the car. Remember you're trying to add stance to the sketch. So I've already mentioned how you can do this with the wheels, but you also need to make sure that body work follows the same language. So you can see at the far edges of the front and the rear of the sketch, I've actually slightly concaved the body work, so it's almost like a pyramid shape. And this again helps give the sketch of where he bowled strong, solid stance. The ellipses that I marked out the very early stages of the sketch to help me give me the correct perspective, don't actually represent the wheels. They represent the edge of the wheel art. Now this is because at the end of the scattering at the wheels, I use that same edge to give me an offset line for the wheel. So this represents the gap between the wheel arch and wheels. Thank you everyone for watching this tutorial. I really appreciate it and I really do hope you can take all the advice and tips. I given a subtotal and apply it to your work straight away. 4. Sketch like a PRO: Front 3/4: Hello everyone and thank you for tuning in how to sketch a front three-quarter view. We're just going to jump straight into the exercise. So the first thing you need to do is to decide the exact perspective is one of the design. This sketch demonstration would be a front three-quarter sketch, looking down onto the design, my mock out a rough volume of the space or have them a page. So I do this by doing a rectangle shape. This will give me the perspective of the wheel base. And I also do a long egg type shape, and this will give me the parameters I have to sketch the car, sketching ellipses at the correct angles and important skill to have. If you don't already know how to do this, I will be creating a Quick Tips video with this tip included similar construction methods to get the correct reference points to design the costs that'll apply as side you sketch. So make sure you have the rule-based length correct, as well as the height. And feel free to put these m as reference points on the sketch on your own. Once you, you feel like you have a good grasp on the volume, you can start adding in some design elements of the site and then building up gradually. And this stage of the sketch, I'm still sketching very lightly and untaken very careful notice of the rectangle that I use as a reference point early on in the sketch to help guide my lines in the right perspective. This is the stage you want to arrive at before committing to any more design elements. By the stage, you should have a good clear perspective as well as a good understanding of the volume of the car. Some sections in Petra understand how their services would work, as well as plenty of empty spaces for you to explore more lines. Right now the design is faceless. There's no designer funneled car, and there's no real elements inside of the car either. So try to explore more lines to see what works. Best. The nav, I'm fairly confident of the volumes of the car and sign language on going for a start at a few more details. And I'll lock in some design elements by applying more pressure to my pencil. And you'll notice that throughout my sketching and constantly moving the page back and forth and rotating it to what best fits me and makes me feel comfortable in sketching. You should do the same. Don't make things more difficult for yourself by sketching an awkward angles. Okay, so now the design is more or less locked in and volumes I'm quite happy with. So now it comes the easy part. Now it's just a case of adding shading and more contrasting a sketch to really make the design pop. And then I would usually suggest having a very simple design for the whales and the safe until last, you've put in all the time and effort and creating a sculpture of the body work. But you're very happy with the last thing you wanna do is ruin the sketch by having some kind of crazy design that doesn't really work with the body will be covering the design of the wheels in another video. But usually I would just advise the simpler the wheel design the better. Thank you everyone for watching this tutorial. I really appreciate it. As always, I'm happy to give feedback on any work you send me. Oh, get back to you as soon as I can. I will be creating another video where I do a front three-quarters sketch from a slightly different angle, lower point of view. But until then, I'm really looking forward to hearing from you guys. Thanks again. 5. Sketch like a PRO: Rear 3/4: Hello everyone and welcome to this class on how to sketch your rear three-quarter view with a jump straight to the exercise. So for us you're going to start off by sketching out some reference line. So that's your ground line. And a line I go across the length of the page that would represent a good reference point for you to sketch your ellipses for your wheels. You'll then need to sketch out a rough line. I represent the shoulder line and the a pillar for the vehicle. Now remember for the a pillow good rule of thumb is to sketch as reference points so it passes through the front center of the wheel. Remember to always be very continent where the short lung will be because this should be a very important reference point throughout the sketch. Once you're satisfied, we'll reference points, then you need to actually just closed the volume of the cost. So I'll start out by sketching a rough resection or the vehicle, and then I'll add the bottom lines of the car. Now using the shoulder line I referred to early wrong. This actually gives me a very good indicator of where the window will be and also the rear window as well. Now the Sholom rules or give me a good reference on how to divide up the surfaces of the coal and the side as well as the rear of the car. I can start to sketch up now roughly where the realize will be the rear bumper as well as a few other design elements that Islam always catching very lightly. And that's because I'm not quite sure you FR, actually be satisfied with the design. Once I'm confident of your design elements were actually stay or stars or add in more pencil pressure to the sketch. Always remember to add in the ground lunch your sketch because this will make the sketch of a lot more planted when you're adding your design elements to the car. Remember at this moment you're still exploring many different ideas. So sketched very lightly and sketch with purposes well, once you've got a design element or design language or comfortable with, you can you then start to lock in at sine elements by adding more contrast and more pencil pressure. Feeding. America, keep rotating the page so you're very comfortable. All times when you're pulling these clean lines, it's always better to pull a line away from your body than towards your body. So this means we are taking the page to get the alignment you want. Please do so once you're comfortable with the overall design language or going for, for the sketch, you can then start adding more pencil pressure and highlighting a few design lines of the vehicle. Another good tip I'd like to advise is the Add-ins sections for the car as well. This or how the audience have a better understanding of the surfaces of the car. So there's point on coming to the end of the sketch is just a case of adding VA, minor details, but most important insights into add more contrasting sketch now to really make the design pop. And this always important when you're adding shading TO sketch, remember to start lightly and build upon it in layers because then very difficult to rectify an area that's already very dark. Good. Two, to make the sketch lambda, I always like to add a contrasting background. One thing to always be aware of when you're sketching is that you are trying to focus the audience's eye onto a very particular part of the sketch. So you'll notice that the majority of the effort and the shading and the contrast is actually towards the center of the sketch. I haven't actually put in much detail or a lot of time on the far edges of the vehicle, because that's not where I won the audience's attention to be concentrated on. And so now we're going to run through a quick analysis of the sketch just so you have a better understanding of its construction. Nature of the wheel base length is relatively correct and the height is also in proportion with the car body type. Be confident of the shoulder line is incorrect position. Remember, always helps to make a sketch that very dominant. And one of the ways you can do this by adding stance to the sketch, so it doesn't matter if you slightly exaggerate the base of the car just so it makes it look even more planted and a lot more solid. And I know may sound like a broken record. One of the most important reference lines in your sketch is the all important a pillar. Thank you everyone voice in this tutorial, I really appreciate it and I really hope you've taken away some great tips that you can apply to your work straight away. 6. Sketch like a PRO: Side View: Hello everyone. Today I'm gonna be showing you how to build up your sideview sketch. You're gonna start out by drawing out your ground line as well as the wheel base of the design. Next, you want to show the ground currents between the rule based as well as the shoulder line. Notice that in the beginning of always sketching very, very lightly because I'm not quite sure whether or not I'll be happy with the proportions and the design ideas just yet. You'll then need to sketch out some rough guides of the maximum parameters you have in terms of size. So this is the maximum height as well as the maximum length. The next key reference line that's very, very important is the start and finish of the a pillar. The next thing I'm doing is marking our very lightly be sideview silhouettes of what I imagine the polytope would be. At this point, I am taking a very careful notice of the shoulder line. Now that I have a rough volume or the size of the car and start adding in some more guidelines and what's inside the design itself. So now I'm starts from mark out roughly what a muscle lines will be above, but we'll arches as well as the greenhouse. It's at this point I start to gauge a better idea. Potions and space I have to play with. So now I start adding in some basic design elements and playing several lines just to explore different ideas of what works and what doesn't matter as much. Now, once I have a few design elements that I'm reasonably happy with, I want to explore further. So adding subsections that front breath cough. And then lock in the sun elements as well as the silhouette of the car by using pressure. It's at this point I'll add a basic design, four wheels and also start by Alix and contrast and shading to the design. Just this is just how we started up sketching in the first part of the video. Always start your shading of lightly and gradually get darker. Now sometimes Azure shading you will start to lose a few key elements in line to the design. So be sure to go back to these areas to add more contrast to these areas, do stick out. Right. What I like to do is I'd like to add some contrasts, the ridge line and the side silhouette on vehicles. So at United kid, a contrasting background behind the vehicle. You don't have to do this, of course, but I do believe it and makes it look a lot better. And one of the final elements I add was the end of the sketch is giving the drop shadow of where the side mirror fall on the side body works with cough. So now I'm going to take you through a very basic quick analysis of a sideview sketch this or you have a better understanding of its construction. The first key element is the angle in the slant of the a pillar and how it aligns with the front wheel. You'll know just by having this slant at this angle, it automatically gives the car a very fast flowing side. You similar to a super sport car or a GT car. And then this base proportions. So you'll notice that the bottom of the a pillar is, we'll into its wheelbase between the front and the rear wheel. And the end of the pellets at the top of the roof line is roughly 1.6 weeks into the wheelbase. The height as well is under two whales is just over 1.5 Wales. And this keeps the soil profile low. Front and rear of the car are also in proportion related to the wheels themselves. So the front of the vehicle is roughly three-quarters of a wheel and length and rear of the car is roughly half a whale and length also nights the ground clearance as well. And how the lines at the front and rear the car actually veer upwards from the ground itself. Now this is because in order for cars to go over bumps, they do need this angle. So when they go down a hill or were verse onto a steep bank that Paul would call been scraped ground. Mark out a few key design elements. Don't add in too many because this will make the design look very busy. And then there are the directional lines of a design system inside of you. You always want to have a wedge shape that tilts downwards in favor of the front of the car to the red. This will give the proportion and the direction of your design elements a much more feasible. It makes no sense to have the rear wheel large, lower than the front. So this gives a good guide for the lining, a few other elements and their Schedule C that the front nose or the final design actually lines up the re-tell light holes. And notice how this line actually cuts through the top of the front wheel, but skims the top of the rear wheel. This again, how to proportion and direction of the car. But every line has a purpose and it needs to have proportionality. So this line actually links up with the bottom of the a pillar. The side large positive surface as well as the thin next to the rear wheel. Thank you everyone for watching this tutorial. I really hope this has helped. I've really taken away some tips and some guidance that you can apply to your sketches right away. And if you want to send me any of your work to give feedback or critique or anything like that. I'm more than happy to or get back to you as soon as I can.