 
|
|
Home > Articles > Ragazine Rack > Car Design Color Up: A “primer” for rendering a car in color
|
| A Motorburg How-To Feature |
4 |
|
| Car Design Color Up |
Page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 |
|
|
| Here’s something you might want to think about: Imagine it’s daylight and you’re approaching a car on the highway in preparation to pass. You won’t generally take notice of any great deal of reflected imagery in the back of the car, only some tonal variations of the car’s actual color. Subsequently as you pull into the passing lane, still viewing the car from behind, it will seem as though the side of the car has become a mirror image of it’s reflected surroundings. That gloss finish in the car’s side is portraying the environment in all it’s glorious detail and color (even on the lighter colored cars). Why so? It seems the more acute your angle of view, (like looking down the side) the more reflected surrounding color you’ll see. While the more your view is at a right angle (directly from behind) the more you see just tones of the car’s intrinsic color. Think of that “glossy” surface like this; at low angles of incidence the reflected imagery is bouncing off the polished surface without picking up much information about the car’s actual color (you see a mirror image without tonal interference from the car’s paint color). But when looking more directly at the surface, you’re looking straight through the “clearcoat” to the color below (with less reflected interference from the car’s surroundings). Bada bing, bada boom! |
 |
| 11. With our frisket removed and a clean view of our illustrated bodywork before us, it was now decided to adjust some of the color in the upward facing surfaces. A bit of talcum powder and white pastel (dust scraped from the stick) was mixed together and simply applied with a finger in these areas. I used a bit of acetate to protect certain areas from unwanted pastel and cleaned up the car’s perimeter with a “pink pearl” eraser. Though not shown in this illustration (hereafter you’ll see) it was decided at this point to also add some pale blue to our upturned surfaces and to the area just above the horizon line. This also was done with a bit of pastel, rubbed on with a cotton ball for the top and trunk and a cotton swab for the other areas. This little touch will enliven our rendering and help place it in a seemingly down to earth setting (with the sky above). The cut lines and details were freshened up with various colored pencils and then followed by a gentle misting with fixative to the newly worked areas. Only a tissue paper mask was needed to protect the other areas from unnecessary spray. |
 12. We’re gettin’ to the “goodies” now. Time to bring this “puppy” down to earth with some 20 and 22 inch tires & wheels. Our tires are super low profile as favored by most designers today. Pale blue, black and graytone markers have been used to fill in the rubber area without the aid of masks. Other details (license and exhaust) are being “fleshed in” at this time and you’ll note the blue pastel applied to the upper surfaces as discussed in step 11 above. The wheels will require a more subtle approach than the tires, using pastel and a bit of spray marker - you can see that the front wheel is masked awaiting color work, while the rear is mostly completed at this time. |
 |
|
|
|
| 13. Our car is really coming to life now, wheels will do that for most designs (even in the real world). I’ve trued up most of the line work using a black Verithin pencil and Ship Curves - I use an assortment of these graceful sweeps made by C-THRU; to tighten up outlines, edges and cut lines. For tires and wheels it’s also essential to have a nice selection of Ellipse Guides... mine are by ALVIN and here, I’ve sharpened up our “rims & rubber” with these handy templates using a black Sharpie along with black Verithin and colored pencil. You’ll notice too, that I’ve begun to “detail” the brake rotors seen through the wheel slots. This is getting serious now. |
| 14. It’s time to zero in on certain aspects and add some details. Here we’ve “splashed” some of that yellow light up into the car side, front tire and wheel. Also, just a bit of reflection in the door - all accomplished with a bit of rubbed on pastel dust and cleaned up with a small sharpened eraser. Notice above right, a couple of detail areas just finished. I hadn’t originally planned on this, but since the brake rotors were shown, I decided to add the calipers too. This “add on” was accomplished with a small brush and Gouache and just “noodled” in. I have a 12 color Disc Set of Designer Gouache made by Winsor & Newton and I find that these colors, along with white, work perfectly for any opaque over-painting that might be needed. Look closely at the larger illustration above and you’ll also see another afterthought... a few louvers in the hood. In the detail shots, the red wheel accents were painted with gouache while the rest of the work was done with marker, chalk, colored pencil and white gouache for the “highlights” (we’ll discuss those “hot spots” later). Remember, as you complete these detail areas it’s probably a good idea to cut a tissue mask and seal this work with a bit of fixative (especially in areas that contain chalk). Before moving on, notice that this step also illustrates an application of frisket towards the car’s rear corner as we prepare to tackle the taillights. |
|
| Car Design Color Up |
Page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
