I attended the Art Center College of Design’s Invitational car show at the end of May. It was an amazing show, showcasing classic and modern cars designed by Art Center alumni. I saw lots of rare cars, like the Lancia Stratos, Lamborghini Miura, Espada and the Alfa Romeo Montreal. What car that really stood out was the 1974 Lamborghini Countach. It was very striking in person. It looked like a spaceship, with its angular form, and bold, but functional ventilation details. Bright red paint with a tan interior was a great classic color combination.
The owner was very nice enough to allow visitors to sit in his car. I was a little hesitant at first, but my inner child told me that this was a rare opportunity to sit in a very special car. As an adult industrial designer, it was a good looking interior, but very dated and impractical by today’s standards. The leather was top notch, but there were a lot of loose panel gaps and quality issues. It’s very expected of a hand built car built by a small company.
The ergonomics were very weird. I’m 5’8 wearing 9.5 Jordans. My feet couldn’t access the pedals. The only way I could drive this car, would be either barefoot or wearing slim loafers. The front wheel wells has to accommodate really wide tires, which means that my legs have to veer to right. Theres also a super tiny rear window, so if you need to reverse the car, you would have to sit on the door sill, while still keeping your feet on the pedals and hands on the steering wheel. It seems like that driving this car would be difficult. Overall, I could see people putting up with this, because this car is so cool!
I was thinking about painting another childhood icon, which is why I chose this Lamborghini for my next painting.
After the last painting, I wanted to try a different method. Rather than penciling in a loose sketch and filling in the color, I’m creating a sketch with my paint strokes. I put in a rough fill to better see how the car will fill the canvas.
I refined the sketch to the point where all the general details are looking good. After the basic layout was set, I added a general background. There will be a lot of tweaks, but the combination of a red car against a green background will make for a very vibrant painting.
