Vellum rendering step-by-step tutorial #1

[Michael D. Nicola]

Well, I've finally managed to pull one together for you all - a vellum rendering step-by-step tutorial. Sorry it took so long - I know that you are all probably going through ALOT of frustration right now, and I don't blame you. Hopefully, this will help out.

Two words of caution:

1. This is a VERY long tutorial - about 40 steps. The reason I mention this is because it should be an indicator to everyone that vellum rendering is not to be taken lightly. It is a difficult and time consuming medium (as should be evidenced during the in-class demos). But, as I am sure each of you will agree, the final product is definitely worth it.

2. This tutorial actually spanned two days: Saturday evening and Sunday morning. The reason why I mention this is because at one point you may find that the brightness of the images suddenly changes. That's because there is a lot more light during the day, then there is at 3:00am (regardless if you use a flash).

Enough talk, let's get to work.

[Michael D. Nicola]

As with most of the other step-by-step tutorials, I'm starting off with the line drawing from one of my ideation sketches.

The paper I'm using - as you've probably guessed - is of course, vellum. But it's no ordinary drafting vellum. This is Vincent vellum, and it is the vellum used by professional automotive stylists and designers everywhere. Unfortuantely, it is virtually impossible to find here in Canada (I've personally never seen the stuff available). the reason why it's so good is because it takes marker extremely well with very little bleeding, and has enough tooth for several layers of pastel application. Additionally, it takes fixative spray beautifully, without any bleeding or discolouration of any kind.

Because Vincent Vellum is dificult to find, for the purposes of class Clearprint Design Vellum is a suitable alternative to the Vincent Vellum. I've personally never used it, but from what I've heard it is comparable.

Otherwise, there is nothing special here - just some Prismacolors and Verithins using my templates and sweeps.

This time, I've decided to do a simple side view. And this is for a couple of reasons actually: 1. Because I wanted to do a simple view point to illustrate the technique in an efficient manner, and 2. to show that even a 'simple' side view can be made to look awesome.

Interesting fact: This rendering is actually based on a small thumbnail sketch I did back in 1996 on a scrap piece of paper - probably while sitting in class, bored to tears!

This is where we begin...

[Michael D. Nicola]

Once the line drawing is down on our vellum, we flip the sheet over in order to start.

Yeah, I know it doesn't make a lot of sense. "Why would you do your work on the BACK of the drawing!?" is the most common question I get. And the reason is simple. The translucency of the vellum affords us the ability to really give our colours some depth. It's almost like painting on both sides of a very thin pane of glass - the colour from one side will show through on the other. In this case, we use that fact to our advantage.

Trust me, it looks awesome. If you don't believe me, skip to the last step to see the final product, then come back.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Because this car has a "Ferrari-ish" feel to it, I've decided to render it in - what else - RED! Red is a great colour for a rendering since it really catches a viewer's eye, but it is a bit tempermental. Because we are dealing with a translucent media, medium to light colours will have a tendancy to wash out, and a colour like red will actually look pink.

I've selected my light source as coming from above and forward of the car. Some might argu that it isn't important as where your light source is when dealing with a side view, but don't believe it. Your light source is ALWAYS important, regardless of what view-point you are drawing.

Once the light source is established, I start defining the dark areas with my Ruby red Charpak AD marker.

You may be curious as to why I didn't put any colour on the panel just behind the front wheel. I've decided that I would like to render that panel in chome, so I will save it's colour application for later.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now that we've applied our first colour, we need to darken some areas by applying some more marker.

But before I do, I need to give you another word of warning regarding working with vellum. Vellum - as a medium - was never intended for the application of marker, especially not as heavy an application as we apply. As such, it can only take some much marker before it starts to produce undesirable behaviour. The general rule of thumb is that vellum will only take a maximum of 3 layers of marker (per side). Beyond those 3 layours, you will actually begin to take colour OFF of the surface of the paper, causing a very bad looking drawing (the marker ink will begin to puddle) . Try it on a scrap piece, and you'll see what I mean.

However, this is only our second application of marker on this drawing, so we should be OK. In this case, I will be using my Maroon marker as my second layer of colour on top of the existing Ruby red colour I've already put down.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Turning my attention to the front fender panel that I want to make chrome, I apply some Cool Grey #4. Notice how I put the colour down in-line with the existing horizon line from the red section of the body next to this panel.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now, I appy some Cool Grey #5 to the panel, to help bring out the horizon line.

[Michael D. Nicola]

And now some Cool Grey #6 to bring out that horizon line even more.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now, I'll turn my attention to the interior. This time, things are a little different than in previous demos. Unlike pretty much all the other cars I've done, this one doesn't have a roof. As such, the marker work seats are going to be done just a bit different.

I start with a Warm Grey #4 for the seats, top of the steering wheel, and instrument cluster.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now, using my Warm Grey #5, I continue to darken some of the interior.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Because I really want to show how dark the back of the seats really are - especially since they have absolutely no direct contact with our light source - I put down some Warm Grey #7 just on the seat backs.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Here's a shot of where I am now that most of the interior work is essentially done (at least for now).

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now, it's time to start to pull-out some of the really dark areas. places like between the wheel spokes, The side gills, the bottom of the car, etc... For this, I'll use my black marker.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now at this point, it's time for some pastel. For this, I'm using a Prismacolor Nupastel 256-P Crimson red pastel and my trusty Webril pads.

Special note: I know that some of you have Kimwipes, and may be wondering if you will get the same results as the Webril pads. The short answer is, I don't know. I've never used the Kimwipes on vellum and I didn't want to start experimenting now. If you are leary about using Kimwipes on your renderings, and you don't have any Webril pads, I would advise that you use cotton balls. It will take alot more work to put a good amount of pastel down, but you will avoid any potential problems with Kimwipes.

It's hard to tell in this picture, but I also put a small amount of red pastel on the tail pipe. You will see it better in a later step.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Now that the red pastel is done, I want to take a second and put down a small amount of grey pastel on the chrome front fender panel. In this case, I am using a Prismacolor Nupastel 279-P Cold Medium Grey.

[Michael D. Nicola]

At this point, I realized that I have forgotten to put in the horizon line on our side window. I probably should have done this earlier, but it's still not too late. Using my Cool Grey #6, I put my colour in, going right over the interior work.

[Michael D. Nicola]

It's hard to see from this photo, but after putting in the horizon line from the previous step, I darkened it up using my Cool Grey #8.

[Michael D. Nicola]

I know, I'm bouncing around here a bit, but that's what happens when you don't work on vellum often.

In this step, I grab my Nupastel 275-P Deep Blue and apply a small amount on the chrome front fender panel. This will give it a sense that it really is chrome by making it look like it's reflecting some of the sky.

[Michael D. Nicola]

I can't forget that the tail pipe is also chrome, so whatever I do to the chrome side panel, I have to do to the tail pipe.

In this case, a small dab of blue pastel to give that hint that the sky is being reflected in the chrome finish.

[Michael D. Nicola]

Remember how I said that red has a tendancy to go pink if you're not careful? Well, this is how you can avoid it - by using magic blue. Magic blue really brings out the briliance of red, and works very well with it.

Notice that I've also applied the magic blue to the chrome side panel as well.