Marker illustration

[andy_b]

I've touched on this before but as I'm just about to start a drawing I thought I'd do a "walk through".

I use to do lots of marker illustrations, but in latter years havent had the chance to do many. Earlier this year, I did an illustration for Roger Meon/VLR for the car launch.

500pixel version: http://www.seatcupra.net/~andyb/imag...lustration.jpg

Marker illustrating is quite a quick media. In conjuction with pastels (ground into a powder then applied with a tissue or cotton wool), you can get an (almost if its me!)air brush effect. In summary the dark areas of the car were markered in Black or dark Cool grey (markers have 9-10 shades of cool and warm grey). with a lighter cool grey added to the top surfaces. Some of these top surfaces then had pastel added. This was a mix of Black with a little bit of blue or purple (cant remember). This is fixed and layered up, being careful to maske where required.

This takes quite a few hours. Once this is done, the drawing is cleaned up using a rubber before adding the Blue and Red. More pastel is applied to these areas to give the highlight and reflection effect befroe the windows are worked on. Finally, pencil and gouache is used for highlights and also some yellow pastel used for a "desert reflection".

Normally, I'd do the logos with pen and marker, but for this. I choose to apply thes in Photoshop. This works quite well, but probably wouldnt for a more traditonal drawing.


Theres a great tutorial here btw, some uses Photoshop, but the principles are still the same
http://www.cardesignnews.com/studio/...220/index.html

continued...

[KC]

Nice work Andy. I have long wanted to get involved in this kind of work. I love this kind of artisitic/technical drawing.

[andy_b]

....so back to the illustration i'm starting

The subject is Spencer Marsh in this years Leon Cupra Championship. I wanted to add some more cars to the action, so added two of his mates, Stefan Hodgetts (Loaded car) and James Pickford (Abt/Haribo) car.

Luckily as I live a few miles of Thruxton I attended the test and race day so had lots of reference photos in addition to the championship site which has proved invalueable.

I choose to base the drg on an image of Spencer on two wheels. I then needed to add other drivers. As I commented on an earlier thread, I sketched out a number of views in the scale I thought was appropriate, phtotocopied them, cut them up and played about with there positions.

However, the cars behind were too big, so in the end I ended up scanning in these sketches and playing with the position and scales in photoshop. I wanted some close action as per the series, so thats why they overlap.

Once I was happy with this I then printed this sketch back out and started a new line drawing with more detail which is shown here. This eas enlarged to A2

A bit of cheaing here! I will be doing the artwork in A2, but the final print/copy will be A3. As its reduce the line work will look more detailed As I cant afford a print run (unless someone wants to finance it!!!) these will be printed out digitally on a high end laser pritner/copier, so as it needs to be a digital file. I will scan the image in and then reduce in size, add border, tidy up any mistakes etc etc.

http://www.seatcupra.net/forums/atta...&postid=228644

so thats the layout done, which is shown here. Next thing is to start the final artwork. For this i am using ligheweight (60gsm IIRC) layout marker paper, so I can see the drawing through the paper. The problem with markers is that they can drag pencil line work, so the line work hs to be quite light, which is where the drg behind the paper comes in handy.

So, thats as far as I am at the moment, I'll update once i've add some line work and marker

[Andrew Kitson]

Nice composition Andy. Just a couple of points (if you don't mind me adding constructive critisism!)
If I was to do it I would make the second car slightly smaller - it looks as if it is almost the same size as the front car and alongside rather than behind. This would help the perspective further. I would also add just a touch of body roll to the third car. Easily achieved at this stage if you rotate your photocopy half a degree anti clockwise! Just remember to drop the front wheel a touch as the suspension unloads. However, a personal opinion that you may not agree on. That is what makes art great!
Nice renderings with marker and pastel too. I worked with some very talented guys in the styling departments in various German car design shops who produced similar works. Yours is easily on a par with those. Nice use of sky tones to reflect the sky on the windscreen.
I agree with you too, photoshop is great for playing around with various compositions. It is the end result that counts.
Finished SEAT pic should be great.

[andy_b]

Thanks Andrew, welcome the comments as thats the best way to learn!

Second car, you mean the one on the left? Sounds good to me and yes now you mention it the thrid car looks, well stationary!

Thanks for the compliment as well

[Andrew Kitson]

Yes, the one on the left. I've had another look. Perhaps add a little more body roll to that one too.
Are you going to paint some of the background ? If so, you should be able to see a bit ot the old hangar and exit of Church bend in the far distance to the left of the scene. I take it the view you have chosen is in the middle of the chicane at Thruxton?

[andy_b]

yes, middle of the chicane. Wasnt planning on too mark detail in the background as it always looks a bit rubbish on my pics!

[andy_b]

btw - havent forgotten about this. just been snowed under with daytime work and my liveries. Will get on to it and update this asap