The importance of drawing cars every day

Ack. It’s been a week or so since I’ve last drawn a car, so today I decided to sit down and sketch out another one. As you can see from the image above, it didn’t go very well. I just don’t like the way that this rendering turned out at all – mostly because I think the design is too bulky and partly because the rendering style is completely overdone.  But it is what it is, and I’m satisfied for at least   doing it and keeping my hands in practice.

Learning how to draw cars takes time and dedication. Just as I outlined in my last post about practicing  to draw circles and ovals every day, the only way to become a better car designer and illustrator is to do it over and over (and over) again. Consistent practice is 100% effective – I remember some classmates in my freshmen year of design school who couldn’t draw a good looking cube let alone a halfway-decent car, but through an obscene amount of practice and dedication, they all received full-time job offers from the major auto manufactures four years later upon graduation.

The illustration above just goes to show you that not every car you draw will be a success. Even though I’m not totally happy with it, I consider it valuable because of the energy and vigor it gives me to roll up my sleeves and try again tomorrow. I’m not necessarily feeling the pressure to create an award winning piece of automotive art, but the satisfaction I get from keeping up with my sketch-a-day mentality makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something.