Before 2018 I was like many of you:
A car enthusiast that had never done any sort of digital art (about cars or anything else).
Back then, this message from a championship winning racing team was definitely not something I expected reading in my DMs anytime soon:
"I've showed your illustration to the team and they loved it. Will you be in Spa next month? We can arrange something."
Exciting, no?
Let me tell you how one illustration led me to being invited to one of the most iconic race tracks in the world and meeting both multiple WEC champion and one of my favourite racing teams.
And after the story I'll also share how you can start such a journey yourself too. 0 previous experience needed!
How the illustrations got made
It all started in October 2021.
I received a DM after sharing my illustrations regularly on Twitter since 2018.
The DM simply asked if I was interested in doing a celebratory illustration for Nielsen Racing, currently my favourite team, who had won the Michelin Le Mans Cup the year prior.
After ironing out the details, we went for it.
This is the result ๐ฅ
Sponsors Nielsen Chemicals were happy.
I was very happy with the result, and my newfound favourite team.
Le Mans Cup or European Le Mans Series were not in my radar by then, since they were not popular categories in Argentina.
But I watched them and got instantly hooked.
Time passed and I kept in touch with both sponsors and team, mostly as a fan.
I was always interested in doing another commissioned artwork, but things didn't align.
I ended up doing one of my favourites on my own:
The Centennaire piece with the Nielsen Racing iconic gold livery.
The Spa Francorchamps ELMS experience
Fast forward to 2023. By then I had already moved to the Netherlands.
I know I would visit Spa Francorchamps eventually, but one day another DM came in:
"I've showed your illustration to the team and they loved it. Will you be in Spa next month? We can arrange something"
It was not in my plans, and I had to contain my excitement.
After some arrangements, getting time off at work and renting a car, I was off to Belgium.
When I got there, the surreal started.
On Saturday I was invited to the garage, met the team, saw the cars SUPER up close.
Really a dream I'll be forever thankful to Nielsen Racing for.
I got pictures with the team, talked with some of them (they're the nicest people), and gifted them some art prints.
Two of my pieces were even signed by drivers and engineers!
The day ended by walking one lap around the track.
An experience I recommend to any petrolhead.
On Sunday more races were up.
But the day started with a pit walk to meet drivers and teams.
I remembered Pechito Lopez, a very successful driver from my home country, had to be there on ELMS Sunday with Cool Racing.
Maybe he was also around? It was certainly worth a shot.
I started walking among the crowd, garages and teams.
Until I found him!
I approached him and with my most nervous Argentinian Spanish I told him I was a huge fan, and very happy to be able to meet him there.
He was super nice.
I showed him I had two A3 prints of his #7 Le Mans winning car, one signed by me dedicated to him, and one for him to sign for me.
He signed, thanked me for the artwork, I thanked him for being so cool and signing, took a picture and left.
Can you imagine yourself:
- meeting your favourite racing team,
- meeting one of your favourite racing drivers,
- gifting your art to all of them,
- getting your own art signed by them,
- and having an overall blast
in just two days?
I couldn't! But it happened โค๏ธ
Now I have all this very special art in my office, ready to hang, that reminds me sometimes even your craziest wishes can come true.
And to think it all started by "just" installing a vector art application in 2018 to "see what's up" and what I was able to learn.
Turns out, you can learn a lot if you do it from a place of passion.
Just like the passion we have for cars, which means you can do this as well!
How you can start with 0 previous experience
There was never a better time to start illustrating cars.
You don't need to learn how to draw.
You don't need to spend years practicing until you get something you are proud of.
Some of the biggest challenges for aspiring artists are:
- Not knowing how to start
- Not knowing how to draw
- Not knowing what software to use
- Not being able to come up with ideas or things to illustrate
- Being able to create traditional art but struggling with digital tools
And I know this because I asked you, and also because I was where you are now in 2018.
A car enthusiast interested in creating automotive art but feeling a bit lost.
I learned from a ton of different resources.
Back then, there was not one single resource that mixed creating art with automotive examples, so I had to spend time gathering mixed information and figuring out how to apply to my interests.
That is how my free course called "0-100: How to illustrate a car from reference".
It's a course that I would have loved to have when I started.
If you:
- Don't know how to draw.
- Don't have time to figure it out on your own.
- Know nothing about digital illustration software.
then this course is ideal for you.
You can read more about what's inside by visiting this page.
There you can sign up for free, just with your email and get started right away.
The course is self contained, and nothing is held back.
You start from 0 and end up with a finished illustration you will be proud of.
โGive it a shot and if you do, please let me know! I'd love to read what you loved and what can be improved on it.
That's it for today. If you enjoyed it, let me know! See you on the next one.
All the best,
Juanma from Creating Lightly
โ