Batmobile Design Competition: WINNER!Batmobile Design Competition: WINNER! Congratulations to Paul Denton for winning the Batmobile Design Competition!  Paul's rendering, seen above, captures that "bad ass" feel of the Dark Knight: it's moody, menacing, and full of drama. ...

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CDF's Batmobile Design ContestCDF's Batmobile Design Contest CarDesignFetish knows that you like cool cars.  We also know that you like to sketch cool cars.  What happens when you put the two together?  A really cool design contest, that's what! We're...

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Dwayne Vance: Design and Render Vehicles Online Course (March 3)Dwayne Vance: Design and Render Vehicles Online Course... Superstar Designer/Artist (and friend of CDF) Dwayne Vance is hosting an online class for rendering vehicles in Photoshop and Painter.  This Thursday, March 3rd at 2PM EST (11PST) Dwayne will be hosting...

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Sketch P*rn: February EditionSketch P*rn: February Edition February is over, and that means more awesome sketches were released in the month.  Point your eyeballs here for great digital work from Volkswagen, pencil sketches from Renault, sketches over photos...

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How to Make Cute CarsHow to Make Cute Cars Cars that share the general traits of a baby’s face trigger the ‘Isn’t it cute’ response in consumers. The Fiat 500 is the latest in a long line of "cute cars."  So what is it about cars...

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CDf Talks Detroit with Local Motors

Category : Competitions, Fetishing, Interviews, Podcasts

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In case you didn’t know Local Motors is currently running a competition to design a Detroit based vehicle.  Who better to ask than the guys at CDf of what their thought is on a vehicle for the Big “D.”   Ari from Local Motors interviewed us for about 30 minutes of which most of it is good value add insight (the rest of it consist of bad jokes and crunching potato chips).  You can check it out here or head over to Local Motors where the first entries for the competition are starting to pop up.

Here is the link to the Detroit Motors Competition.  Check it out and enter, deadline is May 5th.

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Japanese Aesthetics in Design

Category : Design, Student Work

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The one thing we can always count on in Japanese design is that aesthetics are important not only in the design industry, but also in the lifestyle of the citizens.  From the culinary arts, to religion, to fashion, the visual aspect of life is an important part of Japanese culture.  How a food is presented is just as important as how it tastes, if not more.  It is then important to note how much aesthetics are important in the automotive industry of Japan.

Leon, an automotive design student at RMIT in Melbourne, Australia, has broken down the basic principles of Japanese aesthetics, and how they can help us better understand and work to Japanese design.  Read the excerpt and follow the link for the full article.

Below are (one of the) four main aesthetic ideals/principles and their relevance to the nature of design and form:

WABI-SABI:

The aesthetic defined as the beauty of things “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.  This is the main principle that defines the way in which Japanese people view and design their material world. This ideal can be applied to all living and innanimate things in that it speaks of the transience of things- nothing is permanent and this is reflected in a Japanese person’s preference for something that is in bud or in decay as opposed to something that is in full bloom.

The full article can be found at Vehicle for Change

Touch Me Please…

Category : Design, Fetishing, Product Design

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I am sure you have all seen the Microsoft Surface.  An amazing product and can’t wait for it to be mainstream.  So what is after the coffee table Surface?

Oh Hello is a digital media company that developed this video for Microsoft.  I cannot speak to the validity of the video or why it was made, but it is easy to believe this happening in another 10 years.  Check it out for an insane dose of hope / inspiration for the future.

Microsoft Sustainability from Kray Cédric on Vimeo

CDf Scoping Out Germany!

Category : Design, Fetishing, Production Car

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I had the privelige about a week ago to spend a week in Hamburg, Germany.  While I was there checking out the beautiful scenery I was sure to get some pics of the local autos.  It was a refreshing change to see a completely different car culture.  I counted one pick up truck and only a handful of  SUV’s.  Instead I was surrounded by VW’s, Audi’s and Benz’s all in hatchback form.

A and B class cars were everywhere and I finally saw Smart cars parking head first into the curb taking full advantage of their short wheelbase.  The most exciting part was seeing brands that do not exist in the states.  Peugeot, Citroen and Seat to name a few.  These are great looking vehicles that would really cause a stir in the American carscape.  Even better is the European Ford lineup, better because it should be on the way over here along with Fiat.  These are more than welcome in my garage.  One Kuga please!

Europe was an great experience and I can not wait to get back!  Take a click and check out some pics of what the locals in Hamburg are driving.  Throw out a comment if you are from the area!

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Cleveland Institue of Art: Class of 2009 Preview

Category : Student Work

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The Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) will be holding its annual Spring Design Show from April 22-24 this year, showcasing some of the brightest young design talent from its graduating class.  The work ethic enforced at CIA in recent years has begun producing some of the best fresh-out-of-school designers in the industry.

That’s why we were thrilled to have a peek at this year’s graduating class and their work.  CIA sent along their 2009 graduating class’s preview, featuring a quick look at the work of the 9 class members.  The format of the booklet is great:  simple & clean, image-filled, and easy to find information on each student.

Follow the link below for some images and the full PDf file (with hi-res images) detailing the class, as well as the invitation to the Spring Show.

(Thanks, Brian!)

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Local Motors Announces Carolina Cars Competition Winners

Category : Competitions

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The folks at Local Motors have just finished their latest competition: the Carolina Motors Competition.  Winners have been announced for the event, which tasked community members to design a vehicle for a specific “team”, alluding to the heritage of the SouthEast as an automotive racing capitol.  Over 80 submissions were voted on, and the top three finalists decided upon.  They are:

  • Anthony Colard (1st Place) with the “Local Motors Extreme”, a concept inspired by Italian motorcycles (even utilizing TWO Ducati engines!) that is pure high-octane street race car.  Loaded with carbon fiber that stretches from front to rear, the vehicle’s styling is crisp and edgy, although some of the initial design sketches had a nice, smooth form language that was lost in the final renderings.  The use of the color red is traditional for “speed” and well-place throughout the design without appearing too spotty.
  • Julien Sarramajean‘s (2nd Place) “Steel Kick”, a Death Race inspired brutal vehicle, replete with skull decals, turbo thrusters, and body armor.  It has a nice, tapering silhouette, and nice use of two-tone graphics for the armor.
  • Giulio Partisani‘s (3rd Place) “Vultur 2038″, a vehicle run on cold fusion(!) and quite possibly magic.  Giulio’s sketches, as noted by the press release (see below) evoke that Daniel Simon-esque style: Clean, dramatic, contrasting, futuristic.  Although a little dark, the images are striking.  Depicting a pod-racer style of a vehicle always wins for me, especially one that reaches a little beyond the rest of the competition in invention.  The design is pure speedform.

To see more images of the vehicles and read the press release, follow the link below.

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1st: Anthony Collard’s “Local Motors Extreme”

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Crit: Tesla Model S Revealed

Category : Concept Car, Crit, Production Car

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From Californians 03.26:

And on the 4th day, Tesla hath revealed the Model S.
And the world’s advocates of green hath rejoiced.
But the Fetishers of the Cult of Car Design had much to say,
Grabbing their styli and commenting on the form and the shape of the beast.

Okay, I took it too far, but you get the point.  Tesla last week revealed the Model S in all its laptop battery-electrified glory.  The vehicle has been haunting the minds of the auto world since it was initially mentioned last year, with slight reveals here and there about its design, manufacturing, and price ($60K, in case you’re wondering).

What we REALLY want to know is if the design & styling hold up.  We’ve brought a couple of our minds together to review and critique the Model S.  Does it stack up well against other alterna-fuel vehicles?  Read on to find out.

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The Joy of Sketch!

Category : Fetishing, Racing, Sketch P*rn

Post_it note sketches

Thumbnails are great way to crank out several sketches when exploring options to create a larger rendering or piece of art.  I started sketching on post-it notes for a little while and really had a lot of fun doing it.  I used a 3X3 post-it note and try to squeeze in 3 sketches per post-it.  It helps you to work out your perspectives ,views, and rough composition without getting into the details.

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Horbury, Out!

Category : Business

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We’ve been waiting to make a “Seacrest, Out!” reference all week, and now we get to use it.  Peter Horbury, the head of Ford’s North American design studio operations, is waving goodbye to the Oval in Dearborn.  Horbury will be heading back to Volvo to fill the position that Steve Mattin left last week.  Moray Callum will take over for Horbury, who (like Chris Bangle) has been in the Design public’s eye (or crosshairs?) while at the helm of the American giant.  Horbury was responsible for some of the revitalization of Ford design, seen at the NAIAS this year with well-reviewed updates to the Mustang, Taurus, and Fusion.

The new assignments take effect May 1st.

But enough of our babbling.  Press release after the break.

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