Volvo 1800ES Sketch

One of my favorite car designs is the vintage Volvo 1800. The proportions and the lines, in my opinion, are perfect. It’s a beautiful car. They were built in the 1960s and early ’70s, and could be had in either a coupe or shooting brake (wagon). I think both are equally beautiful, though in very different ways (I really have a thing for wagons). We’ve been away on vacation last week, and I needed a quick sketch to get the blood flowing again – so here’s a quick Volvo 1800ES sketch.

I started this sketch off with a very rough pencil sketch on this heavy-toothed sketch paper.

I made some modifications of my own to the car to clean it up a little bit. First, I lowered it significantly to eliminate the wheel gap. The wheels are Volvo stamped steel, but larger diameter with the factory hub caps. I removed the bumpers that hang out far outside the body lines, and extended the front valence down. Finally, I added molded-in side pipes in this Volvo 1800ES sketch.

This car is sketched with Micron pens 005 & 03 with heavy atmospheric perspective and light hatching.

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