This is a Norton-powered Cooper 500 - the sort of thing my Grandad would have worked on. Unfortunately it's the only sketch from my first visit to Cadwell Park. A beautiful circuit with plenty of fun cars to draw - just a bit too chilly for sketching.
Sunday, June 09, 2013
Tuesday, June 04, 2013
GN Vitesse - La Ve en Bleu
Here's another car I've been wanting to sketch for a while. It's a belt-drive GN - one of only two (the other lies unused in a museum) - and my wife was lucky enough to get a ride up the hill in it! Have a look at the flickr gallery for more sketches and lots of photos from the event...
JAP V-Twin - La Vie en Bleu
Did this JAP engine on the front of a Morgan three-wheeler as the sun went down. Quite a fiddly subject but am glad I managed to get it down without it getting too stiff and technical.
La Vie en Bleu
Had a fun weekend at Prescott for their annual French-themed weekend. Wonderful mix of odd and beautiful cars - and people! Didn't do loads of sketching but am very pleased with the ones I did. Here's the RIP Special - a fabric bodied Morgan - which I've been wanting to sketch for ages...
Monday, May 27, 2013
VHRA GOW! Prescott
Just uploaded some better scans of my sketches from this weekend's vintage hot rod event at Prescott.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
V8 GN
Very exciting to see the V8 GN (a cylcle-car special with a Curtiss V8 engine) coming back together. It looks stunning like this with all the pistons and gear selectors on show - just had to sketch it. I used Bristol board and an old 2mm clutch pencil that is back in service now that I have a natty sharpener for it.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Saab 93b sketch WIP
On the drawing board at the moment... Saab 93b. Not a car I've drawn before - it's got some fun curves and details. The topmost sketch is an out of proportion warm up sketch of the front view - just to loosen up. The second sketch is a loose freehand sketch of the car in the angle i want to use and the last one is the final drawing WIP. I think I'll add a few more details to the background and some more contrast.
Tuesday, May 07, 2013
iPad Stylus Reviews
A few people have asked which stylus I like to use for sketching on the iPad. Here are my thoughts...
The most common sort have a squishy rubber tip - such as the Alupen and Boxwave pictured here. The nib has to be fairly large to do the job of replicating a finger tip and therefore, they do slightly obscure the line you're drawing. They are silent and glide nicely when new but I have found they can start to stick a bit after a while. Strangely, the Alupen stopped working after I didn't use it for a long time - cleaning seems to be helping to get it to function again. Boxwaves and similar styli can be found very cheaply on Amazon. Every bit as good as the more costly models and not too upsetting if you misplace or break one. The Alupen is much more expensive and while it's nicely designed and made (apart from the weird fault mentioned above) I prefer a slimmer, lighter pen.
The next sort of stylus has a clear plastic disk or tab on the end. Mine are made by Dagi but other manufacturers make them too. Having a hard tip means they always glide effortlessly and being see-through means you can still see what you're doing when drawing very small details (which a rubber or finger tip would otherwise obscure) These are by far my favourite - I'm currently using the black one which has the tip attached by a spring. You get a faint tap when you sketch with it but it's not distracting. I bought mine off Ebay and they very kindly put a free newer model in with my order.
Lastly there's the Estylo. I bought this by supporting a kickstarter campaign and had a long wait for it to arrive. I thought it would be the perfect stylus - long, thin, light - just like a proper pencil - it's even made of wood. Indeed it is lovely to hold - perfect in fact - but unfortunately it is absolutely hideous to draw with. The tip is made of a hard material which makes a loud tap when you touch it to the glass. It has a small contact area - hold it at slightly the wrong angle and it won't register. Finally, the tip is square and quite large so it's hard to tell where the mark (if it's going to make one) will come from. It's a real pity as the design is great.
Hope that helps. There are now a few pressure sensitive styli appearing - I've heard mixed reviews and haven't had a chance to try one out yet. I'll let you know if i do. Happy sketching!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Bloodhound SSC lower chassis
Quick sketch of the Bloodhound SSC lower chassis on the assembly fixture. The hydraulic pipes and wiring looms are in now and the skinning has begun.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Isambard Zombie Brunel
After posting yesterday's sketch of Brunel the conversation turned to exhumation and zombie Brunels. Here's an artist's impression of what he might look like.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
It was Brunel's Birthday yesterday so here's a quick ipad sketch (procreate app)
Sunday, April 07, 2013
business cards!
Just had some new business cards done (this time with actual useful information on!). Found a place called moo that allowed me to use 25 different pictures. Very pleased with the result - also did some greetings cards at the same time.
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Type 57S Torpedo
The Bugatti Trust asked me to do an illustration for an article on the Type 57S Torpedo - a very rare car - seemingly only exhibited once then dismantled! Looking forward to finding out more.
I drew it very quickly without any preparatory sketches and for once I'm quite pleased with the sketch - usually I find it rather tricky without having the car in front of me. Working fast and loose must be the answer.
Saturday, March 09, 2013
Classic & Sportscar Feature
Mick Walsh very kindly put me forward for the regular motoring art slot. It's always great to see the sketches in print - makes them look official :)
Friday, March 08, 2013
Cosworth CA2010
Haven't done any sketching for a while and I want to get in the habit of regularly drawing the Bloodhound car as it gets built.
There are lots of interesting things coming in and out of the workshop now. This is our V8 750hp+ oxydiser pump for the rocket. It comes courtesy of Cosworth and is more commonly seen in F1 cars from a few years back. It's a beautiful bit of machinery and makes a terrific noise. When you hear it on it's own it's hard to imagine anything could be louder - but the rocket drowns it out completely :)
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Fairey Delta 2 BAC221
Another quick pencil sketch from my visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum.
In 1954 this was the first plane to fly faster then 1,000mph. Later it was used to develop some of the technologies for Concorde.
Hawker P1127
Couple of quick pencil sketches from my visit to the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Some great shapes - I'd like to go back and do some more.
Wednesday, February 06, 2013
Robin
And one more little doodle with the Procreate iPad app. Possibly one of the worst sidekick's costumes ever.
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