Technical Illustrators.org Forum

As it's a bit quiet around here, I'll ask a question that I've wanted to know the answer to for quite a while...
It is directed informally to Jim - but if anyone else can chip in - don't hesitate...

I'm sure I'm not alone in drooling over Jim's work... and some of my favourites are the cut-away tyre renderings, such as:

http://www.hatchillustrations.com/Dunlo ... ustrations
and
http://www.hatchillustrations.com/Speci ... ustrations - scroll down.

What I'd like to know is : how are the woven threads being constructed on the compound curved surface of the tyre? While I've no formal education in perspective construction, I have done quite a bit of self education - but nothing of the complexity of projecting the hundreds of woven lines that Jim has in his illustration. Knowing that Jim is a '2D' guy - I wonder how this is constructed?

I've done similar - but nowhere near as complex projections in 3D software - where it's an order of magnitude easier job to project those lines - although you'd still need to get the calculator out if you are looking to do an accurate match to a real world product.

- but in 2D I'd be lost...

Hey Mike,

Thanks for checking out my tires! The Dunlop piece is 100% art and the Specialized Tires are cutaway art placed on the photos they wanted to use.

My process is pretty simple:

- I just create a line drawing defining the shapes for the art and cutaway (pic 1)
- I then created a sheet of line pattern with paths and stroke the sheet with a few sizes and colors to give a slight dimension to the "ribs"
- I then paste the sheet into the space I am working with (such as the #1 belt) and use the "warp" tool to tweak it around until it looks right. (pic 2)




I hope this helps!

Best,

Jim

Jim,
Thanks for that insight.

Sorry I couldn't respond earlier - it was a public holiday in the UK yesterday - the weather was good too

That makes sense - so I guess you must have had on-angle photo reference for the Dunlop tyre? Somehow I'd got into my head that you were constructing the tyre from orthographics - hence why I was scratching my head over how you'd projected the lines on the belting. The fact that it's eyeballed - and yet looks absolutely right is tribute to your skills.

I did wonder if the Specialized tyres had a photographic base. You've done a great job with the compositing of your illustrated elements - the whole thing looks perfectly matched.

Great work.