Santa Speedster

I mentioned this some time ago back when Tim challenged us to do winter-specific vehicles last year.  I drew this for winter 2010 and never colored it until this week.  I was ski-and-tracked out in 2011 since I did the Arctic Breeze and SNOWJET sketches.  This has some influences from 30's Auburns / Cords, and the traditional Coca-Cola Santa- now with vintage goggles.  Merry Christmas!

Ad Critique

I'm not saying its anywhere near exact, but it's more similar than I'd like it to be.  I've been talking with co-workers about road the presence classic Lincolns and Cadillacs have. This would appear to be incomparable. 

Where's November!?

Here's Tiiu Kuik for Vogue Mexico.  The colors and patterns on her traditional alpaca hat made painting this a lot of fun.  While the colors were important to match, I payed close attention to quickly and efficiently represent the patterns on it, being careful not to spend too much time on them.  The piece took a little over 2.5 hrs, but I'm ok with that because of the detail involved.  I'll likely retouch the hair.

Luminous Monotony

I'm realizing it may be more advantageous to do these from life rather than photos.  Practice makes perfect, anyway!  The title "Luminous Monotony" is because I painted this in grey tone then added the glowing orange and blue.
Once again the lovely Megan Ewing.  

American Exotic Down Under

How will I get a car on every continent?  This made me reminisce about my own road trip earlier this year, and amplified once more the call of the open road. 

Road Trip 2010 from skul4aface on Vimeo.

Lincoln Continental Mark X1 Rework

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Above is a re-paint of the front of the car with completely different front details.  I think it looks much more in line with Lincoln's current design language.  Below is the sketch I did earlier this year which motivated me to put a more aggressive front on the new Mark.  The original nose after the jump is more original and stately, whereas the new nose above and in the sketch is more sporty.  Although I'm satisfied with the new nose, I think stateliness is a more appropriate presence for Lincoln than sportiness.  Particularly since Cadillac is so seriously pursuing racing and high-performance, to make a "sporty" product but not be involved with motorsports would be somewhat hypocritical.

W.I.P.: Loosening Up

This started out as the Lamborghini LMX001, but after the sketch started taking shape it earned a real name: 

Mostro

 Italian for Monster- it's pretty self explanatory.  I started sketching on this in march when there were whispers of a Lamborghini SUV making it's way onto the International Auto Show circuit.  It felt like the original LM001 would be a tough act to follow for Lamborghini and judging by the Urus, the company wasn't really aiming for a vehicle in that same off-road-domination vein at all.  I thought they should've.  Instead the Urus will be a Range Rover Sport competitor, and passersby will will express their excitement with a "Oh, sweet, it's a Lambo SUV!"  My target was more... "Holy Sh*t! What the f*ck is that!!?"

In case you're wondering, Yes- those are duallies.

Continental Mark X1 Sighting

Here's the most recent rendering of the Lincoln Continental Mark X1 I've been brewing.  It's not an advanced concept (clearly) but it is aimed to put Lincoln back on the World Class podium.  The news that Lincoln will henceforth be concentrating on volume models -the money makers- was sorely disappointing to me, as most enthusiasts are shaking their open hands at the Dearborn Lux Co asking "What are you Doing!?"  Everyone seems to want a memorable, exciting model from Lincoln sailing around on the streets.  So I arranged these pixels to please the hopefuls' eyes.  Enjoy!

Fifty Shades of Blue

Tonight I threw some color (a color) onto a sketch done a little while ago of a super-light hydrogen fuel-cell electric sportscar.  It was inspired by the GM Autonomy platform (the skateboard from the early 2000's).  The goal was to visually communicate the different package, and expose as much as possible; making a very airy form for a full-body car.  The area that adds the most visual weight to a car is the bodyside... so it's been removed for the Hysport.  The body is visually compressed into a very thin upper tier to create a recognizable car shape, but a glance below the beltline will indicate something's very different about this one.  The front scoop splitter and low tail spoiler remain to plant the car.  This is not supposed to be legally feasible for production.

Non-Faux Fox Fur

I spent too much time on this one, and I think it looks too smooth. Over an hour and a half this time.  Getting the one eye to not look like it was looking past the viewer was a real challenge.  I also need to work on impression-izing hair so it doesn't look like I'm trying to render each strand.  The reference was Megan Ewing for Guess Jeans.  

Guzzi with Fairings

Thought this would end up being more comically massive, but it turned out sort of muscular.  It's loosely based on a Moto Guzzi V1 1000, whom's jugs I particularly admire.

Lockheed Martin: at it again!

Here we have Lockheed's newest demonstration aircraft, the YX151.  Inspired by the P-51 and a lot of the Grosvenor House World-Race plane, and using the Raptor/ Lightning II form language, this aircraft would provide excitement for will-be pilots and get recruitment papers signed faster than you can say "You'll never be a fighter pilot because of your vision."

This is the awesome video which kicked off my insatiable desire to photomod this beast.

Fabric and Grass Study

This one took a solid hour.  Side by side no-layer paint just like the one of Mia yesterday.  I'm satisfied with the shirt but I don't have a good fast way to do grass yet.  Model image was the always amazing Doutzen Kroes in one of my favorite pictures of her.  Incase you're wondering, her face is obscured in the reference image too- I didn't go all lazy on 'er.

Figure Drawing

Inspired by Ol' Mitty himself, I dug deep into one of my Binders Full of Capable Women and came across a picture of the time Mia Kirshner came over to play with her hair on my bed.  So I did a side-by-side and this is the resulting speed painting.  It is color sampled, but not drawn over anything.  I'd like very much to do more figure drawing.

First Blush: Gilded Demon

Here is a side by side for the beginnings of a set of logos for my friend's potential land speed racing operation.  None of this has been discussed with 'er, and I'd like to keep it that way for now.  The name I arrived upon is "Gilded Demon" Land Speed Racing.  I think it nicely blends a traditional speed-demon / hot rod devil reference with a novel pointer that the operation's more about the blonde rider than the 175 twin class. (Bonneville attendees will note that there was a very small number of female racers)  I know there's still a lot of shifting and ironing out to do with the text.. I suppose this could be considered my first typography experiment.  Once I'm finished with the text it'll be set back behind the drawing, its just on top while I work on it.  The shading on the demon and her bike is very preliminary.  I'll also be simplifying the sketch parts of this and juicing up the linework for high visibility on shirts and stuff.

Personal Image Storage By Google

Here's a pic of my XJS taken at Cranbrook this weekend.  I'm really uploading this image just to make sure it has a linkable location on the net! I may edit this post later.

Continental Mark X1

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Regulations Be Damned!

Hello dear readers! I just wrapped up another SLS AMG photo-mod (same vehicle the Mustang rendering is based on).  I swear that car has the perfect proportions.  I started this paint-over many months ago, and now that Lincoln is starting to change their design language I figured I should wrap it up before it's completely obsolete.  The photo this is based on was amazing, if not surreal- so maybe not the best image to base a photo-mod on, but oh well; I'm a sucker for shiny. The name of course resurrects the Famed Continental name, and in respect of the Mark Concepts that have been around since the expiration of the Mark VIII, This is named the Mark XI. Enjoy!

SNOWJET

I said I was going to throw this up here too, so here it is:
Say hello to the Snowjet. My answer -for now- to Tim's winter vehicle theme challenge. Here we've got ourselves an oversized speedboat for frozen lakes. Refer to the small door on the belly for man-size comparison. The wings on the skis are for keeping the feet on the ground at over 200 mph while the massive fuselage wing levels out any bumps that would otherwise jostle the Grey Poupon being served on-board. Day runs to the Northwest Territory are made downright enjoyable in the well appointed cabin, and passengers appreciate the smooth power and confidant whine of the modified Honeywell AGT1500. The only thing louder than the engine in this thing is the paint.

Rosalita

Daahhhh, I hope she likes it!

Here's a surprise rendering I did for a good friend of mine who's figuring out a look to customize her '65 Rambler. The criteria I had to work with was: Gloss Black, Red Lace paint detail, and 1965 Rambler 550 Classic. It's drawn in the setting of the 46 square mile photo studio that is the Bonneville Salt Flats.  Rosalita is the Rambler's nickname.  I'm pretty sassified with how deep-glossy the lace on the trunk turned out.  I'm not sure I like the proportional division of the lace strips on the trunk deck, but I spaced them to line up with some bone-lines on the hood of the car.  The drawing itself is essentially freehand; no one takes photos of Ramblers in this perspective!  I probably cheated the length of the rear overhang a little, but that's my Artistic License hard at work. Enjoy!

Arctic Breeze

This was done for a good ol' friendly sketch challenge for a communal blog some friends and I have set up containing items of inspiration and original work. It's my second entry for the winter vehicle sketch challenge, I'll post the first entry shortly.

This Winter Specific sketch challenge vehicle is nicknamed "Arctic Breeze." The concept is simple but novel, as far as I've found. Its essentially a sailing yacht with vertical wind turbines which charge batteries, coupled with an electrically driven tread. I toyed with the idea of mechanically connecting the turbines to the tread but then I realized that this is the Twenty-First Century! Indeed, it's a stark departure from the SnowJet when it comes to brashness, but the idea of a frozen lake-yacht is common between the two. I think the Arctic Breeze would have fairer sailing from a crosswind rather than a headwind, it'd be much like a conventional sailing yacht in that sense. Enjoy!