How to draw a cartoon car - Part 1

This series of articles is a case-study of how to draw a cartoon car step by step. Let's start by choosing our subject. In this case, the subject that I've chosen is the lead character in animation movie Cars: Lightning McQueen.

Why did I choose this subject? This looks like an exciting image to work with. Observe the bright colors. It'll be an excellent reference picture to work with if you're using colors but for now, let's just stick with monochrome.

The curves and contours of the car also make it ideal for line drawing practice, and the lights, shadows and textures makes it the perfect picture to work with.

I can show you how to apply the various sketching techniques.

For this report, I only used these drawing tools:

1. Cartridge (drawing) paper
2. 2B, 4B, 8B pencils
3. A graphite lead
4. An white pencil eraser
5. My right hand

Bear in mind that you don't always have to follow what's on the reference image. You can pick subjects to draw, compose your drawings, and shift things around until you're satisfied with the outcome before starting work on your drawing.

A little planning before the start of any artwork is always a good idea. This will save you from a host of unwanted problems later on, and the final outcome will always be more satisfactory.

First, let's start by figuring out how to transfer the image to our drawing paper. There are a number of ways you can transfer the subject to the drawing paper.