Developing an Interpretive Drawing Style: Continued

Photo of 427 Cobra, 2007 Woodward Dream Cruise

"427 Cobra", 7x9 inches, Black Prismacolor pencil on Strathmore Bristol Vellum paper, 2007

I have a particular love of drawing cars. I was trained in this skill set during the closing days of the old commercial studio system in Detroit--roughly 1981 to 1991. Having spent many years refining these skills, it should be no surprise that I return to this subject frequently when drawing for my own pleasure. This drawing of a 427 Cobra was created on Strathmore 400 Series Bristol Vellum paper using a Staedtler B graphite pencil. I drew almost every line freehand, with the exception of the edge of the open hood. For this I used a sweep, otherwise referred to by draftsman as a ship curve.

For smaller drawings like the 427 Cobra, I backlight an Epson color print of the photograph, by laying the drawing paper over the image and taping both from one side onto a thick plexiglass sheet. The illumination is provided by a standard fluorescent studio lamp tilted upside down on my drawing board and slipped under the plexiglass sheet which is supported by a custom ledge added to the bottom edge of my drawing board.

This technique is a carry over from pre-computer days when Photostats of cars were backlit to create accurate drawings of cars on thin translucent vellum or tracing paper. These drawings were then transfered onto illustration board using a graphite sheet. The process was time consuming, due to the need to re-trace the drawing on board. Today, I prefer to create my drawings as finished illustrations on 2-ply cold press paper mounted on board with gesso, which allows me to draw the image once.