WAYNE WESTERMAN
PHOTOSHOP RENDERING

The tutorial continues by showing how to add simple reflections, as well as a background.  The final result being an eye catching and shiny vehicle side render.

Defining the Wheel Arches.
The wheel arches are quite round and organic on this car so dark tones were added free hand, using a large soft brush.
The process so far can be applied to most car rendering. However all car designs are unique and therefore so is the process for each rendering. From here the steps are more specific for this design and the form I was trying to describe.

On a new layer placed above the bodyside horizon and below the wheelarch opening/shadow layer create a circular selection. Scale and position the selection to create the wheelarch flats. Create a new layer and convert the active selection into a path. Stroke the path with a small white brush to create a highlight running around the wheelarch, delete the bottom half and play with the layer opacity until you have the intensity you desire.
 

At this point a core line has been added to define where the bodyside meets the roof and white added to define where the bonnet shut meets the front wing. A soft highlight has also been added to define the shoulder of the car.

The background can be added at any stage and can be as complex or as simple as you wish. It should help convey the mood/ feel of the type of car you are designing. Don’t over cook it, remember you want people to focus on the car and not be looking at details in the background. Working on the background also gives you the opportunity to absorb the rendering so far and assess if you wish to make any changes before adding more detail.

With the background added more details can be applied. Duplicate the sill layer and apply a pillow emboss, modify the depth, light direction etc as necessary. Note this effect runs around all of the sill but you only want it where the sill meets the bodywork! Create a new layer and merge with the modified sill layer, Now the un wanted part of the effect can be erased leaving the original sill layer visible underneath, Smart huh!!
This process is repeated for the splits around the grill, headlamp and tail lamp.

On a new layer create a path which follows the doorshuts you sketched on the original linework and stroke with a fine black brush. If the black is too harsh, lock the layer transparency and with a large soft brush paint lighter tone.
TIP: Remember the splits on a red car are not black they are dark red , on a blue car they would be dark blue etc.
Duplicate the split line layer and position beneath the original, lock the transparency and fill with white. Unlock the transparency and add Gaussian blur. As before when creating the window seal simply move the layer down and to the left to create the white highlight.
 

Here details have been added to the headlamps, taillamps, grill and a front air intake added. White highlights have also been stroked along Y-zero and over the front wheel arch.

This guide is exactly that, a guide to illustrate my workflow and hopefully help you to develop your own. . . . It takes lots of practise, so keep trying, at least with Photoshop you don’t get high on marker fumes, ah the good old days. . .