HISTORY
I first got the idea to draw profiles from a 19th century engraving of a traction engine that had been hand coloured. It seemed to be the perfect style of drawing that could be drawn on a computer with the available program on my Applemac at the time, without actually looking too ‘computery’. I did have to abandon the flat colours for a more photographic finish to clarify the curves of various body panels.
    Over a period of time the technique evolved into a more realistic and detailed style.
    Though just as time consuming one of the advantages of drawing on a computer (specifically an AppleMac using Adobe Illustrator) apart from the obvious benefit of only having to draw a particular component once is one can revisit drawings done (sometimes many years ago) refine details and apply learned improvements in technique and style without having to start again.
     The profile-style I do is reminiscent of the car profile illustrations done in the 1950's and 60's. Though being produced then with 'old school' techniques (gauche, water colour, etc) were looser and more forgiving when it comes to details such as suspension and wire wheels.

ORDERING 

Please only ask for a quote for cars already drawn and always include photographs showing the particular variant the car is. I cannot quote for cars that have not been drawn as the original base drawing takes over 40 hours I'm already about 2 years behind trying to complete a wish-list of future car drawings. By all means inquire if your car is on that wish-list or already started but it may be some while in the future before it's available for portraiture.

What is ‘profile-style’?
Essentially car profiles are blueprints that are coloured. They have no perspective and are drawn to scale with measurements taken from a real car. They cannot be achieved by tracing over a photograph. I have no access to original blueprints (the various blueprint sites mostly contain inaccurate or low resolution images - some have even been copied off my original site (classiccarportraits.co.uk).
    It is quite a long process just getting the basic drawing right from my own measuring and observations - up to 40 hours for a post-war car and 60 hours for a vintage or pre-war car.
    As an example to how a camera distorts things if one was to draw an object like a ruler square-on from observation or 'by eye' one would probably draw two parallel lines and draw equidistant marks upon it. However, if one was to actually trace off a photograph of a such an item one would end up with a cigar shape with the measurements upon it unevenly spaced getting closer towards each end. Square objects tend to end up slightly barrel shaped and in the case of a car the curve of the roof and sides will be exaggerated if copying or tracing off a photograph. To get nearest to the correct shape of a car with a camera one would have to use a telephoto lens from 100 or more yards away.

NOTES
The text:  © Graeme Jenner     www.graemescarportraits.com
appears at the border of drawings on the site. This will not be on the final prints - as well as any watermarks of course!
 

‘Generic’ CAR PRINTS

All of the images on the site are examples only and not for sale as shown as most are derived from specific owner's cars and may not be strictly accurate from a purist’s point of view (ie: 'as left the factory').  However, I am producing some special car drawings in a slightly different style (more obviously technical drawings for Classic Vehicle Prints (see link below) These may be racing cars or other iconic significant cars of interest . I've endouvered to make them as accurate and true as possible but can make no guarantee in this regard.