INTRODUCTION

Hi everyone! My name is Marsyellow and today we are working on drawing and understanding the process of the creation of vehicles using Clip Studio. As long as you can imagine it, you'll be able to draw it by the end of this tutorial!

Let's Get going!

Chapter 1: The Draft

Before we dive into the actual construction of our vehicle, we need to have a clear understanding of how we want it to look. Sometimes an idea can come and go away fast, too fast for us to draw before it's gone. To catch that lightning in a bottle, we have to go through what's knowns as The Draft phase. It consists of making sketches of 2D views of our subject. You might have seen these before.

When drawing the draft, start with squares. That's because when we begin working on perspective, things will get distorted fast. We will use the square as a unit of measure. If you're not confident about how to use perspective, it's okay. I'll explain it in the next chapter.

To draw the square, go to the ruler tool on the sidebar on the left.

Find the one called figure ruler.

On the tool property tab, click on the square shape.

 

When setting up the square ruler, hold SHIFT to make all sides the same size.

(below are squares for side and top views of our vehicle).

Obs: You have to draw inside the purple line)

Make as many squares as you feel the need to, but usually, three to four do the trick. After you finish drawing, delete the ruler by dragging it to the trash. We'll be working with the top and side views in our project.

After you have the boxes, make sketches inside them on how your vehicle might look. I usually like to start with a light marker brush to see if I already have something in mind for the shapes I want to use. As a general rule, always go from big to small. Start with large forms and add to that. Even curves will do the trick.

Obs: The distance between the wheels on wheeled vehicles is usually around three wheels.

Another great tip is to use the "Symmetrical ruler. You'll draw two times faster. That means you'll be able to focus much more on the design.

Now all you have to do is draw your vehicle inside the boxes. Make the details clearer in this stage. To find where stuff like the wheels are on the top view, you can put one view next to each other and draw a straight line. (Orange lines)

 

A nice trick for making smooth curves is using the Curve option on the direct draw menu. After you selected it, draw a line starting on the point the line will begin to the point where the line ends. Now all you have to do is move the cursor around to find the exact curve you want. If one line isn't following what you drew, end it and start another one right where the last one ended.

You can change the line size on the brush size section.

 

To be sure the design we drew is what we're looking for, it's best to make multiple sketches. Tweak them a bit, test out different shapes and lines. After you have a good amount, pick the parts you liked the most in each one and make a final version. This last version will be in our construction.

If you're not sure what you want the back or the front view just yet, we can construct our vehicle with the side view and top view. In the construction phase, you can make the changes you see fit.

When you finish the draft, it's probably a good idea to clean it up. Later on, it's going to be a vital part of our project. Add another layer on top of it if and redraw it if you feel it's needed. Make notes wherever you think they are necessary. Here is where you can shape your ideas.

Chapter 2: Perspective

If you're more advanced, feel free to jump to the next step! Or even the one after that! This is an introduction to perspective.

 

Perspective is the name we give to the way things appear to be in space. It's what tells us whether something is far or close, if it's big or small, or if we're looking up or down on something. It's an amazing tool for making things look believable to the viewer. It helps to set the stage and even the mood of a picture. There are mainly two concepts we need to take a look at before moving on.

 

 

#1) The Horizon Line

The horizon line is the foundation where the rest of the perspective construction will go. This straight line will define how the viewer will perceive his position. You can tilt it and move it higher or lower. Tilting it will turn the viewer sideways. Lifting or lowering the horizon will also elevate or lower the viewer.

#2) The Vanishing Point

The vanishing point is a point ON the horizon line. It converges lines towards itself. Think black hole but the lines stay straight. It's called vanishing point because it does just that. It's a point where the lines go to disappear. There can be one, two, and even three points at the same time.

#2.1) One-Point Perspective

There will be a single vanishing point (1) on the horizon line. Horizontal lines don't converge, neither do the verticals in this setup. It's great for adding depth to side views, and it's pretty convenient for thumbnails too.

Two-Points Perspective

You guessed it. There will be two points on the horizon line, one on the left side (1) and the other on the right (2). The verticals stay vertical. This setup also has its strong suits, being great for showcasing objects or structures. It also gives the viewer a clear orientation of whatever you're drawing.

Three-Point Perspective

This next point (3) won't be on the horizon since it stands for the vanishing of the verticals, so you can imagine how that would be a problem. This third point adds a bit of drama to your drawings. It usually stays high up or significantly lower than the horizon line. Making them too close will create a lot of distortion but there are no rules, so test it out and see if it works for you.

Chapter 3: The Perspective Ruler

If something didn't make sense in the previous chapter, chances are it will now. These rules become very intuitive when you use the Perspective Ruler on CSP.

 

To use it, go to the layer tab.

Click on Ruler/Frame. > Create Perspective Ruler.

A menu will pop up with the options:

Choose one

As soon as you click on the OK button, a new layer with the perspective ruler on it will pop up. Now, as long as this layer is visible (that means the eye icon on the side of the layer with the ruler is appearing), any line you draw will become a straight line. They will also be directed to a vanishing point automatically. Don't draw on the perspective layer. Use another one so when you turn the perspective layer on or off the sketch you drew doesn't disappear.

Easy right?

You can move the horizon line and the vanishing points using the Object Selection tool on the toolbar. It's the one with the cursor on top of a cube. Click on the ruler with the tool selected and drag what you want to move.

For this example, I chose the two-point ruler.

The blue line in the middle is the horizon line, the purple ones go to the vanishing points (1 and 2).

Give it a try drawing some boxes, maybe some holes in them. The ruler will work on any layer you draw, so make sure to turn it off whenever you want to stop using it.

Chapter 4: The Volumes

Now to the fun part! To draw something that appears to have volume, we need to consider three dimensions: Lenght, Width, and Depth. In other words, all you need are two planes: one vertical and one on the ground. Pretty simple right? Here is where our vehicle will start to take form.

The idea behind this technique is to divide the forms into sections, like bread slices, and in each one, you will find a point. You can have as many sections as you want. You can even make more if you feel you need to. With enough points, you can make a line. Step one is to draw the planes just like the illustration above. Use the perspective ruler for accurate results.

Step two is to draw two lines on the ground plane and one on the wall (orange lines). The lines on the ground don't have to be symmetrical if you don't want a symmetrical volume. For every section, draw a little rectangle (blue) from one line to another as such:

 

Inside the rectangle, you can draw any line (orange lines). This line will define the shape of the volume. The only rule is: it has to start at a point (green dot) and end at the other.

Repeat the same process for the other side. If you're going for a symmetrical volume, remember to try to mirror the curve. Take into consideration that the perspective will slightly deform the line.

Okay! Now all that's left is outlining. On the far side, draw a line (black) that only slightly touches the lines you did on the construction phase(in orange inside the blue rectangle). Like this:

If your volume doesn't have a flat bottom, it's okay too. The construction doesn't change that much. The difference is that now the line you draw for the shape of the volume will have to end up on the vertical plane. It's that simple. Here's one example:

The first step remains the same. Draw the lines on the planes. In this case, since the design isn't touching the floor, I drew an oval shape on the vertical plane. Basically, this means the form will come from and go back to the vertical plane.

For the second step, draw the rectangles (blue).

If we started the volume lines now, the volume would go until the ground. That's because we're essentially working from a corner of the rectangle to the other. To make the volume float draw a floating rectangle inside the blue rectangle. Draw lines coming from the design on the wall to find the height of the rectangle. The sides will remain the same. Take a look at the example below:

 

Now draw the lines (orange) inside the floating rectangle (black). These will be the volume shape and can be anything you want. Just make them end up back on the vertical plane. Remember: You're drawing a line from one orange line to the next.

Lastly, I drew the contour almost exclusively with the direct draw tool for clean curves. Remember to only slightly touch the curves inside the rectangle for the silhouette.

This is the same process for drawing a volume on top of another. Just take into consideration the surface that the shape is going on. Is it curved? Is it flat? Just adjust the bottom of the black rectangle! You're good to go!

Try it with some more simple volumes to get used to the process! Be familiar with the step-by-step. After a quick explanation of the wheels, we are working on our vehicle!

Chapter 5: Wheels

 

If your vehicle has wheels, a nice trick for drawing them is making a rectangle with circles on the front. Go to the figure ruler and select the square shape. Hold SHIFT for a proper square. After you have the square ruler, put a circle inside it with the circle ruler, also holding shift.

Obs: when drawing the circle, try to drag a diagonal from corner to corner for the perfect fit!

Draw a rectangle with the help of the perspective ruler. Use the free transform tool (CRTL + SHIFT + T) to fit the square and circle on one side of the rectangle.

Now the other side!

Draw a line on top and one on the bottom to close the cylinder!

To clean up the wheel, use the direct draw tool > Curve

Usually, four curves are enough to make the circle.

If your wheel is squashed or seems a bit odd, it's not a problem. Our wheels will come from the draft we drew, so they'll be right when 3D if they were right on the draft. If your draft has oval wheels, fix them now with the figure ruler + SHIFT, unless it's a design decision. In which case, that's the spirit! Try new stuff. Be free!

Chapter 6: Grids

Okay! We are on the final steps now!

Before we start our construction of the vehicle we need to learn how to use the grids on CSP.

 

For the first step, begin by setting up the perspective ruler. If you're unsure that the configuration you have is what you were looking for, draw a cube on it to get a simplified version of how things will look

After the ruler is on the canvas, go to the "Operation" button on the sidebar and select "Object.

Now next time you click on the ruler on your screen, you'll see the tool property menu pop up.

Turn on the grid for the ground by clicking on the icon on the right of the grid tab. Change the grid size to something around 80 or higher just so the squares are clear. We'll use this to draw the planes for our vehicle. Draw the vertical plane lightly on another layer following the squares. The amount of squares depends on your draft for the vehicle. That's why our draft was divided into squares.

To draw the vertical plane, go back to the grid menu. The other options will give you the height of the cube. The only difference is one is on the left, and one is on the right side. Sometimes I draw a line coming from the grid to find the accurate height of the square.

Chapter 7: The Vehicle

Okay! Everything we learned till now is going to be used to make our vehicle. Luckily for us, all you need is the content of this tutorial. Use the planes you drew on the grid in the last chapter or make other ones. Copy the draft you drew on the first chapter and place it on the canvas we'll be working on.

Use the free transform tool to fit the draft on the planes you just drew.

Choose one volume and start building it just like we learned. Remember: Always big to small. I chose the near-side tracks in this example. The process is the same. Only now, since you already have the drawing on the ground and the wall, you can go straight to the rectangles.

After you make the shape of the volume in every section, draw the contour. Note that I added some sections that weren't in the original draft. The reason I did this is cause I felt like another one or two points would make the contour line more accurate. You want to make volumes like the one below.

Turn off all the layers involved in the construction of the tracks. Draw one volume at a time. Next up is the body! And for the process, I did the same thing. Since the body isn't touching the ground, I constructed it as a floating plane. The yellow squares aren't anything new. I just changed the color so I don't get confused among so many lines.

Draw the contour for this volume now.

Alright! Two down! You might have something like this or the equivalent for your vehicle.

Same step by step, different volume, up next is the cabin. Remember: it is a floating volume. That's because since we're building in pieces, the cabin by itself will be floating until you draw something underneath it. Start with the rectangles!

Draw a smaller floating rectangle to encase the volume and some lines to show its form.

Now the contour!

Now we have three! Just one more!

Now the side skirt. Turn off everything but the draft and get to work. Start with the rectangles, then floating rectangles for parts that aren't on the ground, then lines to describe the volume, and at last the contour. It's a rinse and repeat process, but it has amazing results! Eventually, you won't need the construction to draw anything. But before you get used to it, your free-hand drawings will always look a bit odd.

Now the far side track!

Okay! Now that you have the volumes make a copy of your original draft to a corner on the canvas. Use it as a reference to add detail to the already existing masses. I like to have a separate layer for this process.

For the wheels I drew on the tracks, use the technique we learned in the wheels chapter. Start by making the rectangle coming from the wheel on the wall. Since the track is blocking the top view of the wheel, you can put it anywhere you like as long as it's inside of the track drawings on the ground.

Use the figure ruler to make the square with a circle inside and the free transform tool (CTRL + SHIFT + T) to fit the circle on the blue rectangle.

You can draw an "X" on the square if you want a smaller, similar circle inside of the first one. The X serves to find the center of both the square and the circle inside it. Now match the center of the circles. It's valid to note that you have to fit the second circle in perspective before shrinking it.

Now the other wheel!

Construct the volume that's in front of the wheels.

Now that we have all of the volumes, we can go back and add some more details.

add in the cylinder shapes inside the tracks.

Here I added more details. The placement of the treads on the tracks is arbitrary in this drawing.

Keep adding details until you're satisfied with the result. You can also change small stuff on the draft, so don't be afraid to experiment!

And here's the final version! From draft to perspective. You can use this method to draw any vehicle! From alien ships to rowboats, from motorcycles to tanks.

 

Your limit is your imagination!

 

If this tutorial helped you, consider giving it a heart! It helps me back, and a lot!

 

You can find me on Instagram @marsyellow.art and on Youtube also as Marsyellow. Both accounts are new so give it a follow/subscribe if you're so inclined. If enough people show interest in this tutorial, I'll post more as soon as I can. Leave the suggestions in the comments or DM me on insta.

Your friend,

 

Mars