Causeway Headshot

Her name is Causeway, and the owner of the character asked for my own design take on her Transformers character. More info at the links below:

http://seawolfpaul.deviantart.com/art/Causeway-Lady-ElitaOne-s-OC-Transformer-558947030

Causeway the character belongs to this artist:
http://lady-elitaone.deviantart.com/

Camaro Design

Blogger is acting a little strange for me. Hope this text isn't highlighted.

A Camaro design, somewhat my idea for a more refined sixth gen design. I didn't like the chunky rear end of the new model for one thing, so I chiseled it down a bit.

Dark Flower - Original Transformers Character Design

Dark Flower is my own original transformers character complete with backstory and side characters. She is styled like the Michael Bay movie designs, though I hope to make it my own as well. This is basically my second attempt at a Transformers design project (for those who remember!). Only this time, I'm focusing on only two characters, mainly Dark Flower, and it will be mostly digital renders. I imagine Dark Flower as an independent, free-spirited and very sadistic Transformer who hides among the humans as a custom designed hotrod with a Ford GT350 flat-plane V8. She is visually dark as she is mentally, with extreme acrobatics and dexterity for combat and two fierce weapons at her arsenal.

Cadillac "Super" ATS-V Design Study

This was a brief design exercise. At the time, there were rumors going around that the Cadillac brand plans higher-level V-Series performance vehicles. The ATS-V and CTS-V were the newest V models released by the brand. Cadillac has plans to use a new naming sequence with possibly different models to replace the current ATS and CTS models, and it is a sure bet that the "super" V-Series models will be based off of that.

However, I decided on imagining what an ATS-V could look like if it had gotten the higher level treatment. The whole idea of models above the V-Series is similar to how Mercedes-Benz builds their "Black Series" models. Ideation sketches were done in pigment liners, and the final renders were digitally sketched.

Chevrolet Colorado ZR2 Concept Design

If you prefer to see my art on Facebook, follow the link!

https://www.facebook.com/paulkimarthaven

Quick environmental sketch practice.

Bonneville Stretch

Prints and more information are available here: http://fineartamerica.com/featured/bonneville-stretch-paul-kim.html

Squirrel Monkey Ninja

Something besides trucks! This was a quick render for practice. I love squirrel monkeys, and I wondered how a ninja squirrel monkey would like like. This was not a serious sketch, so I did not spend too much time on it...

BMW Conceptikus

This was done back in February 2014, I forgot to upload it. The design is not great, but the render was a good practice, and it helped when I rendered the latest Silverado K35 design for my project. BMW purists may hate this design, because there were a few things I did differently, such as the triple slash logo for the M performance label being warped into a slim horizontal line seen on the lower vehicle.

Chevrolet K35 Design Update

This is just a quick update to show a tweaked design for the K35, detailed in the previous post. This updated design showcases a more balanced overall look with some tweaks on the bumper and the lower body panels on the side. The A-pillars are also angled inward to decrease blindspots and aid in aerodynamics. I have to figure out how to design a complete overhead lamp setup; currently there are only the two side lights but not the middle lights. For those who are not aware, those roof lights are government required to indicate that these trucks are above a certain gross weight rating and exceeding width limits as well. All commercial trucks and tractor trucks have them. On concept designs, they are not required, but because they are a visual statement on dually trucks, I wish to focus on them as part of the design.

The design is still in need of some tweaks here and there, and the rear end is needing some thought as well. Other than that, this design is nearly final. The adaptable bumper design is another thing left to do, but that will be a part of the "special variant" that I plan on doing for each of the trucks in the design project.

Like all of my digital renders, this one is sketched by pencil first and then colored in Adobe Photoshop. In the future, I may rely completely on Photoshop to do these renders. My scanner is getting old and I will have no way of transferring my pencil sketches in the future (I need to watch my wallet right now!).

Chevrolet Silverado K35 - A look back and a look forward...

I may or may not have mentioned it, but the Chevrolet Silverado K35 was the first vehicle for my project when it began. It has gone through many design changes, and I feel I have come a very long way since it all started.Creating a proper design and body configuration was difficult due to the fact that heavy-duty trucks are not usually built to be design statements (they are work trucks after all). Before trying some different design styles, I had created some quick sketches of my former design ideas for the truck. Before I discuss the former designs, I wish to show the design change I have decided on.

This design is more fluid and aerodynamic up front. It has a look very similar to my Colorado SS concept (see previous post), and this could be a new family face for all of my Chevrolet truck designs. The body sculpting on this truck needs some work, especially the lower section and the rocker area. This design has more sculpted lines, and a more organic flow overall, but it is somewhat difficult to master for a heavy-duty pickup truck, in the sense that this design is not very adaptable for . One solution is an alternative front bumper design, which would feature a more adaptable design. The above design is too cumbersome for folks to work with if they desired an adaptable front bumper, especially for the purposes of bumper conversions, or bumper extensions for fire and rescue or snow plow vocations. Regardless, I am liking the new design and it is definitely a different direction for a heavy duty truck compared to what the industry usually likes to go for: big rig looks.

This image was already posted a few months ago. Looking back at it, I am glad I walked away from this design. Chevrolet design does not seem to work well with a big rig style; my amateur level of design skills may be to blame. Also, this truck looks too much like a product that may come from Ford or Ram. The cabin design was also a pain. My decision to go for invisible A and B pillars made it difficult to shape the cabin in a good way. I do not have any other renders to show what the cabin is supposed to look like, but I can only say that I am happy to have changed it altogether with the newest design shown in the first image.

Here we have the former designs. They are recently rendered based off of the old sketches that I had done when the project was in its infancy. My design and drawing skills have advanced monumentally since then, so these designs look far better than they did when I first drew them. I may have uploaded sketches showing these designs in a very early post in my blog. The above two renders show the design I was working on right when the project started, around the year 2009 - 2010. This design is very familiar and rather old-school. There are clearly separate bumpers front and rear, a boxy front end, and nothing spectacular. Well, there are the LED lights, the forward-tilt clamshell hood, and the strong body sculpting, but this design did not really break much revolutionary ground, and it looked a lot like something Ford may build, especially that front end.

This design is my answer to solve the problems with the first design. This design is more aggressive, and very different from what Ford and Ram usually does. This design also features round fenders and wheel-housing, something General Motors themselves are not too fond of! I also decided on round fenders on the final design. At the time, I was not too happy about this design because it just did not seem like the right design for a heavy-duty pickup truck, especially that radical front end design.

I went even more radical with this design, which is basically a tweaked version of the second design. Unlike the Camaro-like nature of the front end of the second design, this design is more like the new age semi trucks with their aerodynamic front ends. This design would work very, very well due to the massive grille opening for the largest radiators that can fit in this truck, and these trucks need all the cooling power they can get. The reason for why I did not choose this design is because it was TOO different from a traditional or familiar Chevrolet truck design...

I have already posted these in an earlier thread, but here they are again. This design was the closest to being final, until I did a double take on that front end. That front area looks too much like a minivan on steroids. It just was not working the way I wanted it too. The body sculpting was not too exciting either. The rear, however, is almost perfect. I am planning on transplanting the entire rear end design onto my latest design, but with a few minor tweaks.

More renders will follow for the latest design, with different body sculpting, and the alternate front bumper design. With the newer design, I may have a better idea of what the interior will look like as well.

Chevrolet Colorado SS Concept Renders

It has been a while. The design project is still ongoing. I have been busy working for my friend, creating renders for motorcycle concept design templates. Those will be uploaded when I receive permission to do so. Concerning the design project, I have changed plans with a few of the trucks. The project included a 7/8 pickup truck for both the Chevrolet and GMC brands, but the Chevrolet variant was somewhat troublesome. I had originally planned on a crew-cab short-bed model that would be well-suited for the suburban and rural demographic that uses trucks as their main mode of transportation, but uses the utilitarian aspects every now and then. Honestly, I found that to be a rather boring direction, and this project was purely conceptual after all. I decided on a high performance direction instead.

This is rendered from the initial sketch that started the idea. The truck has a stepside body style with running boards around the rear fenders. The front is very aggressive in its shaping and colors to emphasis the truck's performance edge. The body sculpting is lacking, though, especially at the doors. The red trim on the lower fascia up front may be a bit too much, too.

This render shows some experimenting with body sculpting. The top left corner shows the truck seen in the first image. The second one takes after the C1 Corvette, just somewhat. And the third one at the bottom is the one I wish to use.

This design is the Corvette-inspired version, though I decided against this one because that body sculpting does not fit really well with the rear bed piece.

This design may become the final one, but the front bumper fascia may change, most likely based off of the initial design seen in the first image. The wheels are of better quality, too. All three of the designs have a nice hugging rear cabin section where it seems to "hug" the bed together. The truck with have a very bright silver paintjob, almost pure white, but with enough of a metallic tint to it to make it look very steel-like.

Desert Mingle

The setting is the famed Bonneville Salt Flats, after a post-apocalyptic event, or the collapse of civilization. The vehicle is a makeshift truck made from old bus and mining truck parts. It is powered by a massive twelve cylinder diesel engine with custom intakes. The chopper in the foreground is built from old chopper parts with some new outlandish ideas thrown onto it. The people are desert bandits who eye their timid enemies approach...

This is a full digital render titled "Desert Mingle". It is a milestone for me because this is the first fully completed artwork I've done entirely on computer. I have finished other digital sketches in this manner, but they were just quick scribbles. I usually start with a pencil sketch and then scan it into Adobe Photoshop and carry on, but I decided to practice my hand at sketching on Photoshop right from the very start.

The sketch was done fully in Adobe Photoshop using standard brushes. On rare occasions, I did use some fancy brushes, such as some cloud brushes that were available for download on Adobe's website. This drawing was done at random, to test my hand at these type of concept renders where the ideas are usually outlandish and bizarre, or lacking in seriousness. It was quite fun, and great practice.

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As for my blog in general, I have been getting busy with some custom chopper design work for a friend down in San Jose. One of the motorcycles is nearing completion, and I hope to upload some things concerning it on my blog when I get permission.

And, the truck design project is coming along slowly due to the motorcycle work, but it is still going strong, and I have many more ideas to test and show in the coming weeks...

Just one sketch...

The holiday season hasn't been too good for my family and I, so things have been slow. And, I was busy working on the "Timely Companions" artwork, which was delayed a full week because of my poor truck breaking down (which required me to carpool to work with the family). I only have the below sketch to show for now. I did finish four renders for the GMC Fenrir, but I want to hold on showing those until I have more done.

This is the most basic representation of what I wish to do with my Chevrolet Silverado K35 concept's redesign. It is much bolder and tougher, and that larger grille allows for better airflow and bigger radiator area. The gap between the grille and bumper is a different take, and I have a few ideas on refining that area further. The bumper may or may not be so bulky in the final design. I am wanting something slimmer, which means a bigger and taller grille. But, that can work well, too. This truck does pack a 6.9 liter Duramax diesel engine that puts out around 450 horsepower and above 900 lb-ft. of torque, so a larger cooling duct may be necessary. The body is more sculpted and rounded at the edges in some areas. I wanted to have a good mix of sharp and rounded creases throughout to emphasis muscular strength. Just for comparison, below is an image of the original K35 design I had decided on last summer...

This render is supposed to be a final render, so it is fully detailed. But, it should still be obvious that the newer design is much better for a heavy-duty pickup truck! I am thinking of a more curvier and hot rod like design for the wheels, whereas the original design was too simple and squared. The biggest issue I am having with the new design is the bumper cutout for the lower lights, tow hooks, and the transmission intercooler opening. What I have drawn so far works, but I feel it is too unimaginative. The rear end is also going to change, so that it can fit with the front end design style. The rear end on the older design will be used for the Colorado SS concept instead.

Timely Companions

This is a drawing done for a client, my brother's girlfriend. Her grandfather had operated a trucking company using the two trucks. The white truck is a Peterbilt 352 cabover, and the blue truck is a GMC DF-Series, possibly a DL7000, or DLR7000 if it had the air-ride suspension. This drawing was done on Strathmore Artagain colored paper using Prismacolor pencils.

Meow-Pow!!!

This is just a fun scribble. I wanted to test out some brush presets, and experiment with some basic shadow ideas for future renders.

Chevrolet Desperado ZR2 - Initial Ideas

The GMC Mjolnir's exterior design is ready for some finalizing. In the meantime, I focused on my idea for a compact Chevrolet truck. It is known as the "Desperado" with the ZR2 moniker. The concept design's theme is aggressive off-roading capabilities with inspiration from trophy trucks. Ideations for this truck began about a year ago, but there were difficulties with some of the exterior design elements...

This is the first sketch I had completed of the Desperado, which was also known as the "Champion Silverado" and then the "Colorado". I settled on the name Desperado since the Colorado will be used by the larger model above this one, and the "ado" at the end of the word desperado fits perfectly with Chevrolet's truck naming. This sketch was drawn on letter size paper with Prismacolor Verithin Indigo Blue pencils.

These are additional sketches brainstorming body panel ideas. The trouble was with the limited area that I had to work with for the front end. I also wanted to see if I could create a new Chevrolet theme for this truck that does not use the chunky stacked headlight design that is common on Chevrolet trucks. This collage was drawn on Strathmore Artagain paper with Prismacolor pencils and markers.

Here is the first digital render, and the design of this truck is heavily based off of the indigo blue sketch, though there are some major changes. This was also a quick sketch to practice some advanced coloring, compared to the Mjolnir renders. Also, I did not like the rather simple feel of this design. It also lacked the muscular look I wanted... This render and the following two renders were first sketched on letter paper and then colored in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

This render is a bit better, and I experimented with some Corvette-inspired beltline shaping. The lower valiance does not really fit with this style of truck, though. It seems more fitting on a luxury truck...

This is the final render, though it sure won't be the last for this truck! I went a little overboard and added more detail to this one. This design is a bit better than the previous one, but I feel that hte bulging beltline curves need some massaging. They seem very awkward with their flow over the entire vehicle. I was aiming for a very strong rear panel shaping that alludes to classic muscle car bodies. I am planning on making the final concept design a nice shade of dark blue with some yellow-orange pinstripes.

I am still having issues with the front end design. It will all boil down to how I shape the front fenders. With the way I sketched the trucks in the digital renders, I have a somewhat limited area to work with, and any design that I could use would be very derivative (think Chevrolet Volt front end). I may go for a 5th-generation Camaro front end, or even reshape the whole front body to allow for more workable space. The rear will not be too much trouble. I am thinking of deleting the tailgate and adding some type of bed accessory to load and unload spare tires or even regular cargo... 

Pickup Truck Design Project - Names

Alright, I felt that my blog posts keep jumbling up the truck names I am using for my project, making things quite confusing. So, I thought I would create a quick list here to show what the names are and which truck they are for.

Chevrolet ~

Silverado K35 - Full-size 1-ton pickup truck
Colorado SS - Mid to full-sized pickup truck
Desperado ZR2 - Compact pickup truck

GMC ~

Mjolnir - Full-size 3/4-ton highly mobile pickup truck
Grand Denali - Mid to full-sized pickup truck
Fenrir - Compact pickup truck
Topkick (temp.) - Cab-over-engine commercial truck

The names are pretty much final, but in any event that I change any of them, I'll post again, with the updated list.

GMC Mjolnir - A Look Out Back

The following renders show the rear end designs for my Mjolnir concept. My primary aim was to try something new and allow for a useful setup for off-road purposes. I also wanted to create something unique for the GMC brand, which has never had anything that stood out with their tailgate designs. In reality, it does not matter, but I wanted to go that extra step, partly because I doubt General Motors will do the same to add some additional levels flair to their often conservative designs.

This sketch shows the initial idea: a wide wedge with small horizontal taillights (compared to the usual vertical designs used on today's trucks), and an armored bumper that has rear tow hook connections, a built-in winch, and corner steps like the current General Motors full-size trucks. The tailgate is a traditional setup, but it offers some additional utility on the inside. I will expand on that design further in future sketches. The body panel shaping is also much more aggressive than on any other traditional truck. The panel shaping and the flow of the creases are loosely connected with the front end theme, but also I made those lines and shape taper up and backward, giving a bit of a visual connection with the whole idea of departure angles.

 This is the same design as show in the first render, but I made the wedge color-keyed. This look works very well, but I feel the blacked out design can add more substance and flow with the front end, which has a blacked out grille section; in short, I mean a sense of balance.

 Just as a quick experiment, I tried a vertical taillight design, which works just as well, but I wished to go back to the horizontal nature of the original design, though I felt even that one could use some work... 

 I tweaked the original design by taking away some angles and making the shaping much simpler. I also simplified the flow of the creases across the tailgate as well, though the differences are very small. Also, I tapered the rear bumper for absolute maximum departure angle that could be possible from this particular vehicle. I imagine that the exact departure angle for this truck could sit between that of a 2014 GMC Sierra 2500HD and a 2009 Hummer H2.

This render shows an idea of how much the fenders jut outwards. I am not going to carry over that chrome trim in the taillights onto the final design. I wish to avoid anything flashy with this truck at all costs. This truck also, albeit loosely, shows the sheer amount of grand clearance that can be possible from a portal axle setup.

This render shows the front and rear design from a different angle to show how much the front grille or the rear bumper juts out. The front is rather rounded out, but the front tires will still be very close to the bumper corners, unlike the current GMC Sierra pickups. The rear bumper juts out a bit less than the standard full-size truck. Also, this bumper shows a bit more in the way of shaping and detail.

At the moment, I feel that the basic body design is complete, and now it is time for the interior and details until the final renders. The interior will be focusing on utility and functionality, but also a nice lifestyle feel with some outdoor-style luxury trimmings. The details that I wish to focus on are the lighting, grille pieces, decals, door handles, mirrors, and everything in-between. After that, the more detailed renders will follow!

It is possible that I may go back to my K35 concept to refine it a little further before finishing up the Mjolnir. Having used a much more efficient method of design experimenting with the Mjolnir, I wish to have a second go with the K35. That old design could use a bigger front end and a larger cabin...

GMC Mjolnir - A quick followup to the previous post.

That last image in the previous post shows the design I decided on. But, for an off road vehicle, I felt that the grille needed a quick revision, and the body shape felt a little narrow. In the above render, the body is wider, the panel under the headlight is cleaner with a single crease running through (instead of two), the bumper still needs some refining, and I added some LED off-road light arrays on the top and on the front bumper. The tow hook connections (a more detailed render of those pieces will be done later on) are a dual design that allows for two tow hook connection points, which would allow for a strong foundation for the LED light array frame. Most importantly, the grille inserts are re-positioned to allow for more enclosure at the bottom. I did this because I noticed some off road vehicles have a high set grille opening to allow for deeper water fording. This truck is meant to be more capable than the old Hummer H2, and even the Ram Powerwagon, and water fording is something I felt was too important to disregard. Right now I am thinking that this new grille revision is the better way to go, or there could be some type of grille shutter system that fully closes the lower sections, though that would add too much complexity. For the most part, I have decided on the front end design, and the body is pretty much close to what I wish to use. The rear end and tailgate design is up next. The rear bumper will carry on General Motors' new corner step feature on the new Sierra pickup trucks, but my design will also incorporate tow hook connections and a rear winch setup (with the challenge of positioning it properly due to the possible extreme tapering of the bumper to allow for massive departure angle).