Car design is harder than I had thought... help please

so are all these changes something ed welburn would have done then himself? ...or done above him, and he assigned to manage?

 

moonlighting?

 

A while ago, A Century of Automotive Style: 100 Years of American Car Design, by Lamm and Holls, was recommended by one of the professional designers that have contributed so much to this thread. Here's the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Century-Automotive-Style-American-Design/dp/0932128076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340126804&sr=8-1&keywords=A+Century+of+Automotive+Style

There's also a searchable DVD-ROM edition that sells for almost a 1/3 of the lowest used price of the print edition (used print edition prices vary from $84 to $469. The DVD sells for $29):

http://www.amazon.com/Century-Automotive-Style-American-Design/dp/B002FR0SUI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1340126945&sr=8-2&keywords=A+Century+of+Automotive+Style

 

no,consulting on another automotive project with a local design house

 

I spoke with the author Mike Lamm this last weekend and he told me he'd sell the DVD's for $5. for my students. If anyone wants one,PM me & I'll give you the info.

 

Very generous, but I ordered my copy just before I posted . . .

 

ah...i was just teasing, but that's very cool!

 

Mercedes SLS Design story:

http://youtu.be/lyBz92bgnGw

 

^^ very cool vid John

here's more info for Bounce .....this is the graphic tablet i picked up (this model: http://www.amazon.ca/Wacom-CTH670M-Bamboo-Create-Tablet/dp/B005HGBF9W)

it actually comes with Sketchbook Express (a lesser version of the Pro) but it still has a lot of functions, enough to make the youtube tutorials relevant

i think you'll find it not to difficult to get started with, i'm old school paper/pencil, so it's taking me a bit of time ....but ....i opened the box yesterday, and worked on it for a few hours, once i got the 'layers' function figured out, it really opened my eyes ....i cheated by making my first layer a scanned in pencil drawing .....but i expect to evolve to doing the same sketch work directly onto the tablet in time

i can already see how with practise it can really speed things up!
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Wow,what a coincidence.Just ordered my Wacom tablet...........I may be asking you for help!!

Regarding how you start the process,almost every designer I worked with & most of the students always start out doing a pencil/pen paper sketch first.........then they scan it in and use their graphic tablet or computer. So you aren't really "cheating"

 

ha! ...that would be funny, me trying to help

that's really cool, i think you'll enjoy it....the next sized tablet up was the $500 larger one, but i couldn't justify it just now

the one thing i am trying to get use to, is not touching the pen to the tablet.....i automatically want to just draw (like normal paper) but in some of the modes, touching the pen to tablet is like a mouse click.....the pen senses within 2-3 mm of the tablet surface, so you have to "float" the pen across the screen to activate a new tool (for example), otherwise if you "drag" the pen across, you might end up super-zoom the canvas, or some other weird thing!?

thanks for letting me know about the others, i don't feel like quite the 'cheat' then
some of the renderings i see done are just amazing ....i think sooner-than-later i'll have to try and upgrade to sketchbook pro (over express)

 

here's a couple of books i have just gone through ...though only one being specifically design orientated, the R&T book has a ton of great art and pics from the years, which i'm sure you'll enjoy
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Yep,got them both in my library.Both good books.Cool artwork in the R&T book.

 

Garnet, wacom has a product that is a pen with a remote sensor that mounts to one side of your page. You sketch on the page, and the sensor takes it as stylus input onto a screen. You can also press buttons to start new layers, etc. It won a lot of awards and I think it's great. Will see if I can find a link for you.

 

It's called the Inkling. Here you go:
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Inkling-Digital-Sketch-MDP123/dp/B005KPUYVA/ref=sr_1_20?ie=UTF8&qid=1340253859&sr=8-20&keywords=wacom

It really is awesome. I have seen it demoed and used it quite a bit. Just be sure to plan out your drawing in layers and draw a layer at a time so you can layer your drawing appropriately. That will save you a lot of time later on.

 

thanks!

 

thanks Zack
yes, i looked at that too ....do you use it? how do you find it?

when i researched it, i found that it's supposed to work for a 8.5x11 area, but one review said it doesn't really cover that much, but a smaller area....that some lines around the outer limits can be distorted (like a convex mirror)
and that the sensitivity level seemed to vary (as it's not actually responding to a pad pressure), including diffculty with erasing & broad strokes don't work well
also that rulers, your hand or bright sunight can interrupt the signal (i like to turn my work all around as i go)
the other factor for me was that i got free software (sketchbook express, etc) with the create pad, apparently with the inkling you can only open the raw files with thier software provided, it then has to be exported

i'm not trying to knock it, i think it's a very cool product, but these are the few factors that made me choose a pad over it ...well, that and they didn't have in stock at my local store

 

LOL John, i'm beginning to think you have "every" book in your collections ...seriously, i think that's very cool!

i know it's not directly car design related, but i enjoy looking through some large books on advertising design over the years ...i don't have any particular titles at hand, but they are some very cool sources of design inspiration too

 

here's another idea i've done for building a relatively affordable design station ....instead of a dedicated large computer screen, i got (from walmart, but other might be cheaper) an inexpensive flat screen tv which go on sale quite often
this one i got is 32" 16:9 aspect lcd flat tv for under $240 (a 40" was $100 more) ...with a simple hdmi cable (or other vid cable) you can extend your view to the tv ...even set at the very back edge of my desk, the screen is HUGE and just awesome for sketching, because you're right up close, and zooming in you get a ton more screen area while working

my setup is to get the most for the lea$t, all new items ...maybe will help someone else as an idea?

desk - 2 ikea amon tables (78-3/4" length, for max surface area) = $128
lamps - 2 ikea sunnon LED lamps (flexible neck & easily movable)= $40
chair - walmart leather padded managers office roller chair (for comfort) = $100
printer table - ikea lack = $10
large screen - rca lcd tv 32" + hdmi cable = $240
computer - aspire 17.3" 2.6GHz 750GB hdrive 6GB+2GB memory WIN7 + external 1TB hdrive = $550
printer - hp deskjet 2480 printer/copier/scanner = $25
sketch tablet - wacom bamboo create (comes w/ sketchbook express/p-shop elements/corel painter essentials) = $200

...all in is $1293 ...but of course sale shopping can reduce further


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I have many,many books on design,and car design,but books on architecture are equally cool.Advertising & graphic design books have been an inspiration as well.I have a great collection of aircraft art books as well.It's all good.The one thing that has always been a great resource believe it or not are car sales brochures,particularly the Pontiac brochures by AF/VK during the '60's.Those are the quintessential "rendering" tutorials.

 

fantastic truely, i love design in architecture, machines of all kinds and sizes ....i have a list that i keep updating, with all the museums i want to go see, airplanes, cars, machines, you name it, there are so many more than one realizes, even when you seek them out
there's a large one here called the reynold's, has tons of farming & vintage vehicles, from all manner of years to present, seems odd but it was a great place to visit

 

GM Design 85 yrs old :http://youtu.be/_C3QWgu-kqM

 

^^ nice speaking of GM, i have another book coming "the art and color of GM" looks interesting, i'm hoping it has lots of the old design artwork in it?!

hey John,
do you know more/insight about what Jeff was asking, about GM's recent design lead changes?
i think he was meaning this question for you

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yes he was asking me...........and I elected to respond with "no comment"

 

gotcha


well, i went and entered a design contest ....working on my panels and final drawings now & over the weekend, so we'll see how that turns out