Audi R8 - Outline, No Shading

The Audi R8.
My dream car, and definitely my favorite of Audi models. Today, I'm going to show you how to draw the outline of it from this angle (seen above).

But first, some stats.


Engine              5.2 L V 10-cylinder
Drivetrain        All Wheel Drive
Transmission   7-speed Automated Manual
Horse Power    525 hp @ 8000 rpm
Fuel Economy  13/22 mpg
Bluetooth          Yes
Navigation        Yes
Heated Seats    Yes

Alright, now to the drawing.

All instructions are simply guidelines. The pictures are probably going to serve you better than the words.

Start with the wheels and a baseline. I also started on the back fender here a little bit. In the picture below, you can see that the angle of the baseline above the horizontal is about 15-20 degrees. If you want to accurately draw a car, I recommend that you have a protractor some something that measures angles.

Add the bottom line that is parallel to the baseline.

Estimate about where the bottom of the windows should go and draw a line parallel to the baseline. Always check your measurements with your reference picture. Then add the trunk and an additional line that will follow your fender lines.

Next, add the bottom of the windshield. For the Audi R8 at this angle, the bottom of the windshield is parallel to the horizontal side of your paper. It also happens to be the same length as the distance between the bottom of the tires (5 inches in my drawing).

Next, add the far side of the windshield, which is at a 40 degree angle above the horizontal. This angle will gradually curve to form the top of the car and meet up with the trunk. Keep the 40 degree angle for at least an inch or two before curving it tho. Always erase and retry to make it look good.

Now for the bottom of the front bumper. Draw a line parallel to the horizontal slightly above the bottom of the front tire. It's really up to you how much of a low-rider you want your car to be. The front bumper should be a little bit longer than the side of your car.

Now, that horizontal line you just drew is just a guideline. You can now lightly sketch the bottom of the front bumper. There is a slight curve to it, as you can see above.

Add a line underneath to make the bottom of the car. Then draw two lines to make the far fender and side of the front of the car. The line that connects to the bottom of the windshield is at 20 degrees below the horizontal. You have completed the outline of your car! 

Now, to begin on the details....

Take your time with these. DRAW LIGHTLY! I cannot stress this enough. At first you will make mistakes and you will have to erase. Here you are adding:

1. Door lines/Handle
2. Tire detail/3-D
3. Side-View mirrors
4. Vents (use cross-hatching shading to fill in vents)
5. Window border line
6.  Line that curves from the trunk to the front fender
7. Any additional detail you see in your reference picture or the drawing

Next will be the front grill and air vents/intercoolers. The line from the top of the fender will curve down to form the left side of the air vent. The right-bottom corner of the air vent should be just at the halfway point of from the front tire to the far side of the car. 

Next, add your headlight detail, and your vent separators. Notice how there is some depth between the separators and the mesh/cross-hatching. The detail of the headlights isn't all that important to be completely honest, because you will smear it later, but throw in some detail.

The middle grill and European license plate are simple, just draw 5 horizontal lines and 6 vertical ones, evenly spaced. Then erase and draw the plate.

Add cross-hatching and separators to the far air vent.

Add detail to the rims. You'll notice a pattern for most rims, and I personally think these rims are kind of difficult to draw. I recommend googling some different types of rims and practicing them before attempting these, but that's just me. (perfectionist!)

Add the same style to your back rims and BAM! An unshaded Audi masterpiece. I'll go over shading in my next tutorial post. Check out my other pages on my blogs for updates on car news, especially if you're in Atlanta.