MK Edition: '88 Supra

[mknabster]

Well, here's the 3rd car i have done in Illustrator, this one taking less than the others by a longshot, 15 hours total. I got the idea to do this model and year, is because my friend, stupid as he is, bought a 1988 Toyota Supra with 217,000 miles on it, so i just thought it owuld be cool to make my own rendition of it. C&C please and thanks!

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1iUgGvy3vOhztf8V5yRJyGJkQ6Z

[meccajos]

That's a lot of hard work!

Do you have to have the light pole in there? It seems to be conflicting with the car a bit much - that small dot of green and all.

Also looks like some of the lines need some work, esp. the line near the right headlight and the side window.

How about a different color of windshield? The white in it against the white car doesn't seem to have much contrast.

[mknabster]

I don't know, i liked the light pole in there, i thought it sort of gave a sense of place, like being on a parking lot by the beach or a curb. I just went with that windshield color because i have that on all my models, so i thought i would stick with that.

[meccajos]

I guess to me the pole just kind of looks like it's part of the car. Just my opinion of course. I'm no pro by all means.

Good luck.

[mknabster]

Yea i can see where you're coming from meccajos. I do appreciate your opinion. Maybe next time i'll reconsider where i put objects like that. ;)

[Craig B]

It all seems very flat and somewhat lifeless. The grill on the front is overlapping some of the other liens and the pattern is "crooked". I also think the light post is out of place.

Ynot is one of the members of GDF that does a lot of Illustrator cars. Here's just one great example (http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31031&highlight=ynot) of his work. Search around for more car posts by him for other examples. Notice the shading and especially the subtle details (such as how the passenger side window on the first car "shows thorough" the windshield.)

You can see some more examples on his Website, T Moore Graphics (http://www.tmooregraphics.com/).

[mknabster]

Yea i am familiar with Ynot's work, i have talked with him in the past on these types of illustrations.

[Craig B]

Good to know. Well, all I can say is keep practicing and play more with lighting and depth.

[mknabster]

Yea, i find it tough to try to get the lighting/highlights/shadows all right. But, you're right, practice makes perfect.

[steve2112]

I think its starting to look good. I would watch the perspective abit like around the front fender. You might want to start thinking about developing your linework as i think its very lacking in this illy. If you start varying the line type correctly it will make everything much more interest. I think its a great start though. I would also start looking more closely at the shadingh. When i do illustrations like this, i do coloring books and such, i like to do the line work in illustrator with a wacom tablet and you can get some beuutiful lines with a little work. It takes a while to set illustrator up for drawing as the default settings such. then i would bring the lines into photoshop and first block in the maing colors on a lower layer, then make a new layer and buuild up the shading. Now you have you vector art layer on top, next the shading layer, then the main color area. if you have any questions shoot me an email. i actually love doing coloring and stuff.

good start

steve

[ReneGade2012]

It does look a little flat. Play with creating more depth, I know thats a kind of an advanced thing to do in Illustrator, but its the difference between a beginners work, and so on blah blah blah.

Also it looks like you BS'ed the rims :-p

[YNOT]

Hey Craig B...thanks for the comments and link to my work.

mknabster...you're certainly trying hard...I'll give ya that. Overall not bad for your third car illy. As it's already been said, it's a little 'flat' which is something I struggled with for some time...trying to get some nice reflections/shading going on. You're right...it takes practice.

Try experimenting with some different window gradients to give them some more 'pop'. Maybe throw a couple shades of blue in...or some grays and blues. Then, add some depth to those wheels. You want them to look like they've got a bit of a 'lip' or 'dish' to them.

One other thing to try...when you do that 'mesh' pattern on the grill and vents, adjust the horizontal lines to flow with the perspective of the car. Right now it look like they're just a perfect criss-cross pattern, but in reality, since the car is sitting on an angle, the horizontal lines should run twith the angles of the car...does that make sense?

Keep it up man...it all takes time and practice. As I think I mentioned before, start off by 'tracing' some cars from photos and that will help you to see where and how to add some reflectons and such.

Let me know if you have any questions or anything that I can help you out with. I'd be more than happy to lend a hand. That goes for anyone here...not just you mknabster. :)

[mknabster]

Yea the more i look at it, i can see what you mean about the grill. How do you think the scoop and spoiler look? I don't know if you remember my previous drawings, but in compariso to those do you think this one is better or worse? I was having some trouble with the front bumper, lke on the lower right hand side for example, with perspective, because i was creating it from scratch, it's definately easer when i traced the original car, which can be seen here: http://members.lycos.nl/electrics/supra/supra_den_bosch_water.jpg.