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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Tutorial Monday: Speed Painting Alien Ships in Photoshop

Category : Tutorial, Videos

Speed paintings are always a blast to watch, even if they sometimes take place too fast to understand what’s going on.  Sometimes, however, it’s the substance and not the exact steps that get the job done efficiently in relaying what we’d like to learn or inspire us.

That’s the case with this latest one that a user sent us.  The Photoshop speed painting, though extremely quick and set to fast-paced drum and bass, employs a method of ideating shapes for alien ships using self-created brushes and rendering over brush strokes.

Very, VERY cool way to quickly ideate form!

Check back every Monday for a great new toot, and if you have one you’d like to make us aware of please feel free to send it along. (Visit our contact page!)

Tutorial Monday: Expressive Car Sketch in Photoshop

Category : Tutorial, Videos

This week’s tutorial features an expressive, artistic rendering of a car.  The focus is on color and texture, and captures the emotion of the loose(r) sketch.

Created in Photoshop by MikaelLugnegard.

Check back every Monday for a great new toot, and if you have one you’d like to make us aware of please feel free to send it along. (Visit our contact page!)

Tutorial Monday: Audi C7 in Photoshop

Category : Tutorial, Videos

We love tutorials.  They can help us better our analog or digital sketching skills, inspire us, or can just be good to see how other Designers are approaching similar sketching habits.

Each week we plan on posting a new tutorial, whether video or step-by-step images, or anywhere in between.

This week’s video is by BartzConcept on Youtube, as he aims to sketch out a concept Audi A7 in Photoshop CS4.  The toot (that’s short for tutorial!) shows the use of brushes and gray scale sketching to create the form and proportion, before finishing with the addition of color and lighting for the details.  The vehicle is glossy, but so are our dreams about it.

Check back every Monday from here on out for a great new toot, and if you have one you’d like to make us aware of please feel free to send it along. (Visit our contact page!)

Enjoy.

Tutorial: Quick Render

Category : Concept Car, Design, education, Fetishing, Tutorial

This quick exciting rendering was done by Andrey Gusev from his blog CarCreator.  The side view shot with a spotlight overhead has a good combination of loose lines with crisp details.  Check out the animation below of how he got there.

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[Image and tutorial courtesy CarCreator]

[Tutorial] Red Motorcycle on Chipboard

Category : education, Tutorial

We haven’t linked to any tutorials in a while, so here’s another one:  Rendering a red motorcycle on a piece of chipboard (this is the backing material you normally find on vellum pads or newsprint pads).  Most of these end up in the trash, but they’re surprisingly fun to sketch on.  Very absorbent, and smooth — almost like Masonite.  Click on the image above for the full process.  This tutorial is one of twenty that will be featured in the upcoming book, Old School Viscom: 20 Renderings in 20 Steps.

Copic Day at the Politecnico di Milano – May 19 2010

Category : Events, tools, Tutorial

For those of you who live in Europe, Copic Day 2010 will be taking place at the Politecnico di Milano next Wednesday May 19th 2010 (Aula CT43) at 2.30 PM.   This event will be presented and directed by our good friend Michele Leonello, a former Alfa Romeo designer who is now an instructor at the Politecnico di Milano.  The goal of this event is to teach design students from disciplines such as architecture, industrial design and fashion design the basic techniques involved in using markers.  The use of traditional media still represents an important step in the development process of new products, even in the era of digital technology.  Anyone who is interested in participating can send an email to copicday2010@gmail.com. For additional info, visit the Copic Day 2010 page on Facebook.

[Tutorial] Marker Rendering by Michele Leonello

Category : Tutorial

As promised, we have a special treat: A first class marker tutorial by Michele Leonello.   First, a bit of background on Mr. Leonello:  He’s 28 years old and has worked the past six years at Centro Stile Alfa Romeo in Milan.  He was a project team member on the MiTo and the Juliet.  Today, he’s a freelance designer and teaches Trans Design at the Politecnico di Milano. See Michele’s tutorial after the jump.

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Coming Soon: Marker Tutorial by Michele Leonello

Category : Tutorial, Websites

Our good friend Michele Leonello is working on a Copic marker tutorial!  Once it’s complete, we’ll post it here on CDF. In the meantime, check out Michele’s online portfolio at Leonello Art & Design.

[Tutorial] Vintage Racing Rendering on Chipboard

Category : Racing, Tutorial


I hate undos.  You’d think they would encourage the designer to take a few risks in a rendering.  But paradoxically, they don’t.  Without the danger of making a mistake, something is lost.  Some kind of raw nerve.  Passion.  In real life, after all, there are no undos.  Click the above image to see a tutorial rooted in the unexpected and the unforgiving. Not unlike the subject matter, when you think about it.


[Tutorial] Rendering Stainless Steel on Vellum

Category : Fetishing, Production Car, Tutorial

Rendering stainless steel presents some unique challenges. It doesn’t have hard reflections like painted metal, and there’s the grain to consider as well.  Click on the above image for a simple,  step-by-step process for representing this material – in the guise of the DMC-12 prototype.  No plutonium necessary.