#HTE

Sketching a Five-Spoke Wheel

Sketching a wheel in perspective can really make or break your car sketch. In this video, I explain the way I simply indicate a five-spoke wheel. Whether you love to draw cars or not, this is a great practice exercise for two reasons: First, you always need to practice eclipses. Second, you practice the simple act of iterating on a known object. Taking something simple and defined like a five-spoke wheel and quickly giving it a unique twist is a great mental exercise.

As you go through this video, I want you to notice how much contrast I’m giving this sketch through both line weight and choice of drawing tool. It can be scary to add this much contrast to your sketch—I remember when the fear of messing up a sketch held me back from adding this much contrast. Try to remember that the worst that can happen is you screw it up and you have to put a clean sheet of paper over top and start over. It’s no biggie, I screw up all the time. 

One thing that helps force me to add this much contrast is to switch drawing tools. Note that I switch from the Papermate Flair pen to the Sharpie. This forces me to go bold, and the sketch is better for it. Try switching drawing tools like that in your sketches, no matter what the subject is. Remember to turn your sound on to hear me explaining everything as I go. Give it a watch and comment below with any questions. I also love getting your requests in the comments.

Yo! C77 Sketch is a monthly video series from Core77 forum moderator and prolific designer, Michael DiTullo. In these tutorials, DiTullo walks you through step by step rapid visualization and ideation techniques to improve your everyday skills. Tired of that guy in the studio who always gets his ideas picked because of his hot sketches? Learn how to beat him at his own game, because the only thing worse than a bad idea sketched well is a great idea sketched poorly.

http://www.core77.com/posts/56969/Sketching-a-Five-Spoke-Wheel