RIP to a legendary car designer. Marcello Gandini sadly passed away at the age of 85 last week. I can recall perhaps that Gandini was the first car designer I could ever name? A childhood reading Car Magazine – or was it simply that I once managed to read that tiny badge on the side of a Lamborghini Countach? Certainly the Countach sparked my childhood excitement, when I saw one drive by the park I was playing in. I am also sure I remember print ads of the time, explaining how the Citroen BX was designed by the same person and maybe Renault also proudly name dropped in a similar way? Gandini w ..read more

The success of the C-HR crossover model for Toyota means that a Mk2 model has launched 7 years on from the original design. This car marked the step-change in philosophy from Akio Toyoda to shift away from boring cars. The design story of the original astonished even the designers at Toyota Europe when they proposed various options and the management chose the craziest wild-card that the team could come up with. None of them expected it to be chosen! The Toyota C-HR was a response to the runaway success of the Nissan Qashqai but Toyota’s bravery really showed in the way it was even more sporty ..read more

Hi- blog founder Lee here! If you are reading this in application season- good news! We have some advice for you. I will be offering some additional comments on this article (written by contributor Marco Braun. I spent many years on the other side of this process- as head of a Vehicle Design bachelor course, interviewing and selecting candidates. Some of the students I selected and taught now work for major OEM studios, such as Rolls Royce, Polestar, Volvo, Maserati and Koenigsegg. They also went on to complete Masters level courses to achieve this. I like to think I have a good instinct for ..read more

The purpose of this tutorial is to give you an idea of how to best start a new project in the world of automotive design. Both beginners, students and even professionals feel the same difficulties whendrawing a car type that they have never drawn before. The purpose of this tutorial is to give you an idea of how to best start a new project in the world of automotive design. Beginners, students, and even professionals alike experience the same difficulties when drawing a car type that they have never drawn before.  Before starting a project, it is very helpful to know the basic proportions ..read more

In this tutorial, you will learn how to create a complete pickup truck design in 5 days! As a student, it has always been a great challenge for me to create a design proposal from three different views. Not only must the same idea be presented from three different perspectives, but all three views should also have the same proportions, colors, etc. For me, that has always been very challenging, and it still is today. In this example project, I want to show you the process of making a complete vehicle proposal in less than one week. You will learn how to make a complete car design proposal that ..read more

This is a step-by-step tutorial that will teach you how to create a digital car rendering yourself. We start by clarifying what a good basis for each rendering is and how best to start. Next, we will use a digital brush to define the shapes. In the end, we will apply reflections and details to get an outstanding result. 1. Creating the sketch base One of the most important tips for a successful rendering is to have a good and solid base. By “base,” I mean a hand sketch, digital sketch, or line model. If you don’t have a base, things can get complicated and frustrating. So do not explore shap ..read more

Cheers! Happy holidays to you all! I have an interesting treat for you on this Xmas holiday. I often mention that my very full time career means a lot less posts appearing here. During 2021 an interesting solution to this appeared – in the form of another contributor. I was very pleased to be contacted by a talented vehicle designer called Marco Braun. Marco offered to write a few guides to car design that complimented my own. Today I publish these guides in a festive gift bundle! I ask that you also check Marco’s own web portfolio and contact him if you are interested in working with Marco! M ..read more

https://www.rushmagazine.co.uk/post/the-art-of-speed ..read more

I actually managed to read a few car design books in the last year, one upside of lockdown it seems. There are many coffee table, or reference works on cars and even car design (in theory). A lot of these are very dry- and essentially just worth checking for photography or facts/data, but not for entertaining reading. I guess I won’t be sent any further review copies by publishers as I was very critical of the Bruno Sacco biography for example- which wasn’t a biography at all. If you would actually like to learn anything about car design I have read a few books that I would recommend (please e ..read more

The history of the floating roof or, the uninteresting curiosity of the separated C-pillar. Automotive styling is very much a fashion business. Designers are a rare breed, existing in very low numbers. They study at the same places and learn from each other. They change studios quite often, and sometimes in packs (headhunted by each other). Add the huge risks involved in billion dollar business decisions and we constantly will see what looks like copy-cat trends in automotive styling, but are actually a lot more subconscious in implementation. There are even trends in design sketch styles- but ..read more