1970 Plymouth Cuda Drawing

If you don’t follow Ratty Muscle Cars, you definitely should. Their philosophy is to just get out and drive your car, regardless of whether it’s “finished.” Their events are full of well-loved and enjoyed muscle cars, and none of them are trailer queens. One of the coolest is a ’70 Cuda, which gave me the inspiration to make this 1970 Plymouth Cuda drawing.

I love the perspective of looking up at a car: I think it make it look large and aggressive. I started with a basic line drawing using Micron pens on white paper.

I left the grille open and gave the car basic steel wheels because they’re simple and easy. This car would have had the Mopar ralleye wheels which would look like this when they’re spinning. This stance might suggest the car is pulling out of an oversteering power slide.

I photocopied the line drawing so I could try out a few different styles. The first is this color version, colored with Copic markers.

I added this “’70” bubble block lettering, which is a throwback to an old advertisement from 1970.

Next, I worked out a black and white block-style sketch.

This version just uses Micron pens and Sharpie markers to render the shading. On this one, I added the grille divider back in. I like the striking contrast in this drawing.

In this final version of the 1970 Plymouth Cuda drawing, I rendered the car using black markers and posca white on toned gray paper. The black and white contrast even more against the gray. I used gray Copic markers to give the reflective appearance of the windows.

Which of these three is your favorite style?