AutoDoodles

At home, I carry a small spiral notebook around with me quite a bit. I jot down my thoughts and ideas in it, which helps me remember things I need to buy, ideas for home improvements, and just general things to improve our lives. I also carry it to evening classes and meetings I attend, which allows me to do the above. The side benefit is that I get to doodle in the boring moments that typically happen any place I go - what else would I do while my oil is being changed at the dealer?

So here, for the first time ever, I am sharing some of the doodles I have in those spiral notebooks. A favorite doodle of mine is cars. I have drawing cars since I was about 9, and while I wouldn't want to make a career of it, it is a fun thing to do to pass the time.

From the drawings you'll see that sports cars and convertibles are drawn often. This is not necessarily because they are "cool" cars (whatever that means), but because they allow the drawer the most freedom. With sedans and trucks and SUVs (which are just tall station wagons), there are a lot of "must hit" points that limit the freedom of design. With sports cars, two doors and four wheels are the only requirements.

But I do draw sedans too. Here's one, with a coupe and a hot rod. Guess the coupe is my favorite out of the three. I think what sparked my interest in drawing cars was the discovery of CarTOONs magazine when I was about 9, a bi-monthly mag that was devoted to artists drawing cars. We lived on an Air Force base at the time, so that mag sold well to the single airmen on base. I would purchase one any time I went to the BX.

More of a quick sketch of a commuter car. I can't tell if I ran out of time, or decided I didn't like it enough to finish. It was coming out kind of frumpy anyway.

Another coupe, with headlights, etc running up the fenders to the base of the windshield. I predict this is going to be the decade of wild lighting designs on cars, with LEDs taking off and being small enough to do a myriad of new things. I also really like big flashy wheels, as you can see from the drawings. Tiny wheels make a car look like an elephant on rollerskates.

A sedan, economy car, and a pickup.
Economy car is my favorite of the three, with a industrial exposed-infrastructure look to the lower door area.

Don't car much for the front and rear views, but the 40s throwback at the bottom came out well. I don't relate well to pre-1960s era cars since I didn't see many when I was growing up, but some of the designs are still appealing.

And one more sports car to round out the bunch.