Drawing Cars in Comics

Let’s draw some cartoon cars!

The image above is by Akira Toriyama, of Dragon Ball fame. Toriyama loves racing cars and motorcycles in real life, and he always finds ways to integrate all manner of vehicles in his comics. The “Capsule” truck above looks just like a classic late ’70s/early ’80s Toyota pick-up truck.

I’m not sure about who made the image below, but it is obviously a lovingly rendered depiction of a late ’70s Toyota Celica:

Tomiokajiro:

More Akira Toriyama:

Ted Benoit:

Franco-Belgian Comic Character Spirou in a classic ’60s Honda roadster toy:

Secotine:

Artist Pascal Dizen set out to create a classic “Akira Toriyama Cute Car”:

Mauro Caldi:

In France and Belgium, comic book artists are so popular, people are even interested in what type of cars they drive:

Joost Swarte:

Guarnido:

 

Distorted Elevation View

The artist Franquin is using the same technique we’ll be starting with for drawing cars: notice that all four wheels are essentially on the same ground line:

More Akira Toriyama:

Artist Dana Terrace uses the same technique mentioned above: all the wheels essentially lay on a single ground line:

Isometric projection saves the day in this fleet of green cars drawn by Achille Talon:

Let’s wrap things up with one more from Akira Toriyama:

Update: Here’s the video demonstration I showed in class:

Cartoon Car #1 from reedanimation on Vimeo.

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November 2014 Update: Here’s a great set of cars drawn in what we call distorted elevation by Disney Production Designer Mike Yamada for Big Hero 6:

September 2015 Update: Here’s some nice profile illustrations of trucks from ford. Notice how the artist is able to get a nice metallic shine by contrasting white + dark color + light color on the paint job.