If your trying to learn how to draw cars this article is for you! I know a lot of people who get frustrated when they spend a lot of time and effort drawing cars and end up with disappointing results. Or maybe you want to know how to draw cars, but have no idea where to start, either way these tips will improve your car drawings straight away!
1. Contrast and Tones
What can often turn one of my lousy car sketches into a car drawing that looks like it’s about to drive off my page is the proper use of tone and contrast. This is a difficult technique to perfect and requires a bit of practice and a good eye.
One nifty little trick for practicing on how to get the right tone and contrast is to take a color image from a car magazine, and then go to town with it by ONLY reproducing the image in black and white. If you can master the shading in black and white, you have succeeded… the next thing to do is simply take it to the next level and start using color. Just remember, don’t progress to color images until you master black and white.
2. Adding Interesting Perspective
This is really easy to accomplish because all you need to do is firstly draw your side view, then creating a vanishing point, which is also known as your “perspective point”. Now simply connect your major corners off the car in light pencil to create guide lines that will help you add that beautiful 3D look and an awesome perspective to your flat and boring image. It will take time to master, but it is easier than the tones and contrast work mentioned above.
3. Have You Added Shadows?
If you haven’t noticed, all objects create a shadow… if you don’t believe me, step outside and take a look, even in your room you will see that there are shadows projected from every object, somewhere, somehow. If you want to make your image look as realistic as possible, you will need to choose a light source and direction before adding shadow detail. The most basic and important shadow is the drop shadow on the ground that is produced under every car… so grab a pencil and start shading to create depth for your image, and ultimately, the “X” factor!
If you want to avoid your drawings looking sloppy and unrealistic and you want to discover how to draw a car the way the pros do, have a look at this step by step guide on how to draw a car on paper. It will help you heaps!
