Category: Automotive Artwork

Quail Radiator Ornament Artwork

This is new artwork of a Ford Model A quail radiator ornament. Below is a close-up image of the quail. Earlier I posted an “in progress” image which shows the line work.

I found some interesting information online about the quail ornament. On Slant’s website they say that the flying quail on the hood of the 1928 Ford Model A, was one of the first ornamental radiator caps for Slant and that Mr. Ford supervised every step of the design.

I also found in the book “The Legendary Model A Ford: The Ultimate History of One of America’s Great” by Peter Winnewisser, Peter writes, “Included among the accessories was the famous quail radiator cap selling for $3 and designed to represent “quail in flight, symbolizing the quick acceleration of the Ford car.”

Chevy Spark Concept

The Spark is a new small car from Chevrolet. The Spark production car comes from a concept car called the Beat. This artwork is based on the Beat concept car mostly because I prefer the Beat’s headlight style.

When I saw the Beat concept car the first thing I noticed was the Chevy double-grille, a style which they use on many of their vehicles. I like the double-grille look but what inspired me to do a paint scheme was the fender lines on the side of the body.

On the side of the body, the front fender has an line and the back has two lines. That back top arch pointing down to the front fender line got me wondering about how it would look if the two lines where connected.

So I started by adding a side stripe connecting the two lines but felt it needed a little more so I ended up making the whole top half of the car semi-gloss black. After doing that, I felt that the top half was too dark so I thought I would match the hood with the bottom color to break it up.

Another stripe was added to follow the body lines on the bottom of the door that stretches over the back fender. Two small stripe accents were added up above the back wheel. I finished up by using gold as the secondary color and then lowering the car overall.

Here is a link the official Chevy Spark website. Below is a video on the Chevy Beat Concept Car.

Ford Model T Artwork

Here is the finished Model T artwork that I posted about two weeks ago. You will notice on this piece of artwork that I did the Model T in percentages of one color and that color being black. The other thing that I did differently is that I chose not to use any gradations or fades.

When I first started this piece I really thought about doing it in the tans and browns to make it look like an antique photograph. A lot of times you’ll see cars of this era done in this fashion but as I started working on it from the top down and the top being black, I just continued with the look throughout the whole car.

After completing the car I started looking at a background to complement the black of the car. I started thinking about how tough these cars were in their day. Then my thoughts went to power colors and the first power color I thought of that would complement the black was red.

I like the look of this piece and I think you’ll see more artwork done this way. The completed piece measures 18 x 24.

T-Model Artwork In Progress

Here’s an image of what I’ve been working on lately. As you can see all of the line art has been finished in Illustrator, and now I’m going in to add the color.

I decided to try a different approach on this particular illustration. What is different is that I am using only fill color with no gradients. Another thing I’m trying is using only percentages of one color for the whole car.

So if all goes well I should be done in the next couple of days.