NA Miata Drawing

We’ve made a trade! The barter system is alive and well! A couple weeks ago, we went to an art and craft show where our daughter saw a knit dinosaur and fell in love. It was a raffle item and she didn’t win, to her little heart’s everlasting devastation. Our good friend Brock knits, though, and we’ve made a trade – one dinosaur for one NA Miata drawing representing his beloved car.

What an awesome idea! Lucy was so sad when she didn’t get to take the dinosaur with her and it’s difficult say no at such a young age (she’s a year and a half).

I started with a rough pencil sketch on white paper. This front 3/4 view is my favorite perspective of this car. I think the low angle makes the tiny car look surprisingly aggressive.

I thought keeping the headlights up was a requirement on this car. The pop-up headlights are a beloved and key feature of the NA Miatas and deserve to be represented in the artwork. I thought the line drawing turned out quite nice.

Next, I shaded in the gray areas. I’m particularly proud of the light fade on the windshield.

I used five different shades of pink and red on the body. The entire body was rendered in this light pink base at first, which looks kind of funny.

Here, I layered in the next darkest red. Working from light to dark helps to keep the drawing from overshooting the depth, and it helps with blending.

Finally, to finish the NA Miata drawing, I layered in the darker reds and even some maroons around the bottom of the body.

To add a little design splash, I put a basic rectangle behind the car. Finally, it’s framed in 8×10.

Lucy loves her little dinosaur and will cherish it for many years!