Page Renault Coupe Tutorial

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Claud Foster
5 years ago
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1 Page Renault Coupe Tutorial

2 About the author Miles graduated from Coventry University s Transport Design course in 1999 and has since worked as an automotive and product designer for companies such as Pininfarina, Volvo and SAIC, as well as Movado watches, product design consultancies and as a freelance product designer. Knowledge is Power - How to use Insight Tutorials The purpose of these tutorials is to explain not only what is being done but why during the process of a sketch. The aim is that you can either apply these ideas to your own work or modify them to your liking. Everybody works in a different way and it is not my intention here to produce a software user guide with a series of commands that can be followed to produce exactly the same illustration. This would not only be impossible but would not in my opinion achieve the best long-term results. Every part of the process is not explained in every tutorial so that repetition is kept to a minimum and each tutorial can be used to analyse slightly different aspects more deeply, giving maximum value and efficiency. These tutorials focus on explaining honestly the thought and action process I go through using my normal working methods, with high resolution visuals and highlighted areas to eliminate confusion as to what part of the sketch is being described; simply hover the mouse over the highlighted words and a halo will appear over the relevant area on the sketch. This will hopefully give you the power and understanding to improve your own work in your own way by introducing methods, tips and a few tricks that you can apply to digital sketches in whichever way you feel most comfortable. Almost all of the principles also apply to analogue sketching but the techniques are sometimes different. It is the most commonly used software therefore the commands and tools highlighted refer specifically to Photoshop but are not exclusive to that program. The power of insight means that you will hopefully start your next sketch with new ideas and fresh inspiration that will inject a big advancement into your work. If you are a student or hoping to become a student of automotive design then, in my opinion, the faster you can gain this knowledge the better in order to gain a competitive advantage. Remember the last time you made a big improvement in one drawing and realised you could suddenly work at a higher level than before? Those eureka moments are what it s all about. One of the reasons I have produced these as e-books is so that the images are on your screen without the need for scanning. All the images used in this pdf are included as jpegs that you can open in your favourite software and work over if you wish. In fact I highly recommend working over the top of these images if you are trying to duplicate them. You can even make a slideshow out of them to use as a screensaver to remind you of the process. By all means try and re-create the illustration if it inspires you (and I sincerely hope it does). I have received many sketches that people have produced after following my tutorials and they are sometimes very similar, sometimes more of an interpretation in their own work. Either way they express inspiration and usually demonstrate an understanding and advance which has enocuraged me to continue producing more tutorials. Above all read and familiarise yourself with the narrative and how it relates to the sketch at each stage, then try to use it in parallel with your own work and have it alongside you as a reference. You need to work hard to improve your sketching and there is no substitute for practice but it is what you learn and apply to your practice that will make the difference. Remember - sketching and rendering is a tool and is only part of the design process. It is however the first creative visual step and sets the tone for the quality of the finished product. It is also the skill which best illustrates your ability to visualise ideas. It shows whether or not you understand and can evaluate form, which follows function and completes a successful design. At the early stages of your automotive design career especially you will be judged most strongly by your abilities in this area when being selected to study design or work professionally in this highly competitive field. Good luck and happy sketching, Miles Waterhouse BA (hons) - Transport Design Page

3 Here is a 10 part process list showing a possible way of completing this type of sketch. In reality the process changes slightly each time but these are the main actions. The aim for this tutorial is to cover a simple and easy to repeat technique that can be used to render roughly sketched linework underlays. The use of a photograph base gives a strong foundation to the sketch. It is chosen for its similarity to the type of car wanted for the new design. Simple but punchy and high contrast shading is the basis for the rendering on this sketch. This is the kind of technique I will use when a number of strong visuals need to be produced in a short time and some of the tricks and effects of other techniques are ignored. It should be understood that one of the reasons this technique can be so simple yet relatively effective in this example is that there are clean and clear surface changes on the design. A more organic from would require a bit more description using reflections or contour lines. Designers of all levels will be able to relate to this tutorial because it is quite a traditionally rendered line sketch. There are still some modifications that occur during the rendering however. Page 7 for example shows the base of the windscreen being repositioned. This is more of result of lack of previous development in the design rather than something which is part of the technique. The efficiency of this technique relies on a definite, steady and clean process. It would not work as well if the design was being resolved mostly in the rendering, as with other techniques I use. With practice this technique should allow you to produce a punchy and descriptive sketch easily within an hour. If you re more sure of your design and process this can be realistically cut to thirty minutes. 1. Underlay sketch 2. Broad, light sweeps of black airbrush 3. Surface shading in black and white 4. Mask off and shade windows, grille, headlamps and ground shadow with black airbrush 5. Add wheel detail and tyres then copy and paste to the rear 6. Carefully mask off and clean the outline 7. Increase the contrast on the nearest corner with black airbrush on an overlay layer 8. Add headlamp detail, main and wheel badges and grille detail if required 9. Add highlights with a white brush especially to the nearest part of the car 10. Add 2-3 tones of colour on an overlay layer to different parts of the car Note: You will see that the target brand changes part way through the sketch. This is not important because it is a one-off for a tutorial. The brief I set myself for the tutorial was a French coupe, it just started to look more like one brand than another so I changed it for a more convincing final result. Page

4 Using a real photo underlay (Camaro showcar) a rough sketch is made with the proportions of the underlay respected closely. The underlay car is almost exactly the same type of car in terms of proportion to the type of car desired in the new design so there is no need to modify a great deal. At this stage the car is just wanted to be a large French coupe so a quick Citroen badge is added. Citroens and Renaults in particular tend to reference their badges a lot in their designs so it can help to include it at an early stage. The varying line thickness in the sketch is thanks to increasing the brush size for main fetures such as headlamps and strong lines such as the front sill. This adds dynamism and depth from the beginning. Work with speed and confidence at this stage and don t worry about messy lines - they will soon clean up as a result of the rendering process. Page

5 Broad sweeps of dark airbrush are applied to a couple of areas so that a 3D form starts to emerge. The tone of the airbrush also gives a midtone which can start to be lightened and darkened in a sculptural way. Simply add white to lighten the midtone and add black to darken and show form giving you an easy to understand tonal range. Even highlights are put in around a lamp/intake below the headlamp which is nearest the viewer. As usual the area of greatest contrast will be the nearest corner of the car. Depth and focus are very important parts of an effective sketch and this is one factor that contributes to them. Page

6 A broad flat brush is used to block in a shadow and make the front sill visible. Further simple shading is added using masks to create the impression of surface changes. At this stage it s easier to define the design using gradients in black and white or monochrome. It is still a quick process because the quick mask or Lasso tool is used to sketch the masks on rather than use the pen tool. This is a feature of working digitally that gives a new dimension to sketching. Rough wheel spokes are added just to give some form to the wheel and as a basis for more detail later. Page

7 The quick mask tool is used again to sketch in the outline of the glasshouse. It is decided to bring the base of the windscreen forward to give the car a more cab-forward look suggesting more spacious interior and more compact powerplant. This goes away from the muscle car base and becomes slightly more practical with the suggestion of more interior space. The previously vague area at the base of the front bumper area is defined as an intersection point of lines using some highlight brush strokes and quick masks. The concept is to use side intakes instead of a central one and these apertures below the headlamps are picked out with some more highlights. The front wing/fender is modified with an airbrushed mask area to give it more muscularity. Page 7

8 Wheel spokes are added using brush strokes of light hitting a simple leaf-like design. The speed of the sketch is kept up by using simple wheels and the design is easily suggested in a convincing way. A little airbrushing is applied to the hub area to suggest a curve and shadow gradient to the spokes. A termination feature is added to the front sill to give a focal point to the converging feature lines. This could be an extra small intake or a purely cosmetic feature but it performs an important visual focal point, giving more meaning to the lines that lead to it. Page

9 The outline of the car is picked out strongly by carefully masking it out and applying white over (or erasing) the dark background. The sillhouette of the car is so important that it is worth taking the extra time to mask out using the bezier (pen) tool for a clean outline. The sharp clean outline will create an impression for the sketch and how sharp it feels overall. Now the design starts to jump off the page a little more which is in keeping with the strong and simple style of rendering being used. The next major additions are tyres which are made by forming a mask out of two elliptical paths and airbrushing a gradient inside it. This is then copied and placed at the rear of the car before being transformed and adjusted to fit the viewpoint perspective. Page

10 The small secondary intake is illustrated on the far side as it would just be visible and the far base of the windscreen is shown to be disappearing below the bonnet/hood by creating a shadow area. A couple of bright strokes of white highlight are made to the nearby fender area to heighten the contrast further and increase the visual impact of the features. Gradients are added top and bottom just to put the vehicle in the spotlight and create a bit of dramatic atmosphere. These two gradients are quite simple but they are effective because the shading on the car is equally simple. Page 10

11 A shadow is added behind the wing to make it obvious the feature is very pronounced. The car s shadow is cleaned up on the far left and in front of the rear wheel. Some lighting definition is added to the rear area and a simple reflection added to the body side to bring out the impression of the section curve. Next is the addition of some headlamp detail showing the suggestion of an LED system suited to the narrow design. Page 11

12 An overlay layer is created in order to introduce some colour tones to the image. The idea here is to warm up the near side of the car and cool down the far side which gives depth to the illustration and form to the design. Page 12

13 The glasshouse needs defining and an A-pillar/cant rail is added in addition to cleaning up the glass with some smoother gradients. The side window is also given a separate shadow to show it is actually a surface change from the windscreen or pillar. The mini intake is chosen as a good placement for a strip indicator surround. Orange is applied and then Colour Dodge mode is used to give it a glow on the near and far sides. Page 13

So far there is no break in the transition from windscreen to roof so a feathered mask is applied to the top of the windscreen and white airbrush is swept over to show this is not just a single

14 So far there is no break in the transition from windscreen to roof so a feathered mask is applied to the top of the windscreen and white airbrush is swept over to show this is not just a single smooth surface. The feathering on the mask means the surface intersection appears to have a large radius and is a smooth transition rather than sharp like the bonnet surface intersections, for example. A wheel hub with badge is added to give a finish to the wheel. Page 14

15 At this stage it is decided that this French car looks more convincing as a Renault than a Citroen so the badge is changed on the front and wheel. A quick badge suggestion is added to the rear wheel as well. The headlamps need to appear to be overhanging the intakes so some shadows are added just below both to give volume to the lamp unit and show this overhang. Page 15

16 One last effect to add more drama is another overlay layer but this time so that black can be applied which darkens some of the shading in a line down the near corner of the car and in the centre at the front. This has the effect not only of increasing contrast but also enhances the form of the curve of the surfaces. Page 16

The main graphic elements; the grille, headlamps and windows, are blocked in.

The main graphic elements; the grille, headlamps and windows, are blocked in. This is my way of rendering a sketch with a minimum of fuss, if you need to churn out a few ideas. It is a fairly traditional method of working up a concept sketch from a line drawing, with a few exceptions.