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9+ Things to Avoid When Learning How to Draw a Car

9+ Things to Avoid When Learning How to Draw a Car

If you are trying to learn how to draw a car, then you have come to the right place.

Drawing is the ultimate way to express yourself and is the most interesting and recognized way of art.

While writing, video editing, music composition, and other activities are also counted as art, drawing is the most dominant of them all.

Whether you are drawing a car, a tree, a house, or anything else you fancy, you need to do it properly. 

Drawing is fun, but if you are doing it as a profession, there are multiple things that you need to consider.

The different practices will make it easier for you to master the art. 

A lot of people struggle with drawing different things.

Some don’t know how wide the hips should be drawn, and some lack the skills of drawing a human hand.

While everything is called drawing, there are different steps and techniques involved in all of them. 

When you are drawing a car, there are multiple things that you need to keep in mind.

While you can get as creative as you want with your drawing, there are still some things that you need to avoid in order to have the best results. 

Here are 9 things you need to avoid when you are learning how to draw a car.

It will help you in keeping your mind straight and thinking more clearly while getting creative. 

how to draw a car

01. Don’t draw the wheels first

avoid drawing wheels first
Image by istock.com/roni pambudi and istock.com/Chaosamran_Studio

As we are getting started from the beginning, many people suggest starting from the wheels.

They are just 2 circles and the rest of the car is drawn around them.

As a beginner, you need to start seeing everything from new angles.

The car wheels won’t let you get creative with the angles and point of view of the car.

You can draw the wheels once you are done with the normal body structure and move the car tires according to it.

Whether you are drawing the car from the front or from the side, start with something more structural than the tires.

Keep your options open to draw the car from any angle that you want.

A lot of people think they can come back to starting from other points once they are done with the basic drawings.

They take a quick start from the wheels and want to work their way up to drawing different angles.

It is a wrong approach and might bound you to that style forever.

02. Don’t fixate on the same kind of cars
draw different types of cars

Drawing is an art, and you need to learn it through various designs.

When you are learning how to draw, whether for professional or personal purposes, don’t keep repeating the same car over and over.

There are thousands of different cars in the world, and the more realistic cars you draw, the better your skills will get.

Try different doors on different kinds of cars and get creative but don’t fixate on the same style.

A lot of people have a bad habit of drawing the same kind of boxcars.

They might be a good option for kids, but they are not appreciated in professional life.

Your arts profession will have you going through different phases and drawing different kinds of cars, and you need to start with the same mindset.

 

03. Don’t forget to enjoy the process of drawing cars

The best part about learning arts is, that you are always having fun.

A lot of people take the arts too seriously and drain the fun out of it.

When you are drawing, remember to keep enjoying it and if the work starts to seem too overwhelming, take a break.

You can grab a cup of coffee or go for a little walk outside.

Try watching something on the internet or do anything that you normally like to do.

There are various activities and keep yourself fresh at all times.

The moment you stop enjoying the drawings, you will lose all spark in your paintings and in your work.

If you are unable to draw the car, don’t beat yourself up and work on something else instead.

Start working on the background or start drawing random patterns that will help you stay on track.

04. Follow the steps when drawing a car
follow steps to drawing cars

Each different kind of car has a different way to be drawn.

While some will require you to start from the windshield, some will give you a better perspective if you start from the windows.

Whether it is a Lamborghini, a Honda, or a Ferrari, you need to lay down a basic map of the car first.

Start with giving it a basic boundary, the body of the car.

Start adding little details into it by defining the lights, the windshield and the mirrors of the car.

Keep adding more details as you keep moving forward.

Define the shade of the car better, define the fog lights, the light being shone, and other things.

Start coloring only once you are confident that this is the structure or map of your car.

You can start coloring in the stages later, but as a beginner, this is the best practice for you.

Get the steps here: Arteza

05. Don’t start without a sketch

sketching cars
Image by istock.com/Chaosamran_Studio

Sketch out everything you want to create before you start painting on it or use any colors.

A lot of artists directly use the paints on their artworks, but as a beginner, you will need to create the sketches before you can proceed. 

The direct paints and colors can turn out bad and can demotivate a lot of artists.

Use different pencils for the sketch and keep correcting your drawing whenever you feel like it has gone wrong. 

The pencil will help you correct your mistakes over and over so you can learn better. 

06. Don’t overspend on the paper

One of the biggest mistakes made by every artist is buying pricey products and not getting the proper results as compared to the efforts. 

Whether it is a paper, a pencil, markers or any other kind of supplies, don’t spend a lot of money on them and try to get the most economical supplies possible. 

You can go to your closest art store or order the supplies online.

It is preferred to go to a store to get a hand on experience from the market instead of buying it online. 

As a beginner, you are still not sure what supplies would be the best for you, and the shopkeeper at the store or the fellow buyers can guide you a little. 

Spending less does not mean compromising on the quality either.

There are many companies or products which are only dedicated to catering to the needs of the professionals. 

Figure out your needs, the kind of paper you want to work on, the kind of paints you want to use with the drawing, and how many pencils you will be using while drawing.

Go to the market then and make the purchases according to it. 

07. Don’t draw from just one view

drawing cars from different angles
Image by istock.com/NadinKoryukova

When you are in the learning phase, try out all the different angles, views, designs, etc.

You need to learn all the different designs and all the different angles.

Once you start your career withdrawing, you won’t have much time to work on it. 

A car looks very different from the side, and it has a whole other outlook from the front or back.

Imagine the car standing in different positions or search for the images of cars in different angles and places. 

You can then start copying that design on your paper and add gain more skill sets.

The different kinds of views or angles that you can try can include a front, back, rearview, side view, top front, top back, etc. 

Try this with different cars until you have excelled at this skill.

You can change the headlights of the cars and create a different car from the existing one as well. 

08. Don’t forget the background

draw cars with backgrounds
Image by istock.com/Grandfailure

Backgrounds play an important role in every drawing.

Until there is no background, your painting will seem incomplete.

You need to provide a little context by providing a little background to the images. 

The background can be of a simple road with a city view behind or just a wall in the garage.

You can decide the background and add the shades of the color, adjust the lighting and shades according to it. 

You can start the drawings with the car in the front and build the background around it, or you can sketch the background along with the car.

It will depend on how you want to do it. 

The background will not just allow you to complement your car drawing, but it will also help you increase your drawing skills on other items in the background such as trees, buildings, scenery, or walls. 

Use the same kind of colors in the background as you are going to use in the car.

If you are sticking with some markers, don’t make the whole background with some acrylic pour paints and ruin the quality of your drawing. 

09. Don’t leave out colors

draw cars with color
Image by istock.com/-M-I-S-H-A-

Many artists just keep sketching the design or the car out instead of coloring it.

Colors give meaning to life, and adding colors to your drawings will give your painting a reason. 

You need to understand at first, what the project will be, and what kind of colors you need to add to it.

We have discussed earlier that you need to keep the whole shopping economical instead of spending money on things you don’t need. 

If you have a sketch of the whole painting in your mind, shop according to it and buy different colors.

A lot of people go the traditional way while adding colors to a painting. 

10. Don’t draw cars from a flat angle

draw cars in perspective
Image by istock.com/benedekbox

When you draw cars you want to add depth.

By adding depth to your car drawing, it will add more realism and believability to your illustration. 

In order to add depth to your car, you want to draw your car in perspective.

By drawing your car so that the headlights point at an angle, your car will be positioned in perspective. 

As icing on the cake, add some speed lines in the direction of the perspective like in the image above to help add motion to your car drawing. 

Conclusion

Your drawings will define you and your mindset a lot. Your future jobs related to art will depend upon what you are learning in the beginning.

Hence, it is important to stay focused and not lose interest in the drawing. 

Don’t spend a lot either and get an idea beforehand of what you are trying to make or draw on the paper.

A little sketch will help in creating a vague idea, and you can take things from there.

Buy only the products that you need for the drawings, and once you have mastered that one technique or coloring tool, you can move to the next. 

Add a background to the drawings to add more value to it and have a better practice on getting the car blended with the background.

The next time you draw a car, try to come up with an innovative design and create something new. 

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