1974 AMX Drawing

I’ve always admired American Motors because they were will to take some pretty serious design risks with their automotive styling. Some of their most avant-garde designs – the AMC Gremlin and AMC Pacer – have often been the butt of jokes but live in historical significance today. The Javelin was a beautiful design, but in typical AMC fashion, incorporated some unusual design cues. I made this 1974 AMX drawing for a client I recently met at a show, and it incorporates some of the unique body lines AMC used to divert from the standard boxy-ness of the Muscle Car Era.

I started with a basic pencil sketch on gray paper. I love this front 3/4 view because the height of the shot makes make the car look extra aggressive.

Next, I lined the drawing with Micron 005, an extra-fine line weight pen.

I re-traced over some of the drawing with the 005 pen to add some depth to the line drawing. I really love how clean this line drawing came out. Note how severe the contours in the fenders are compared to some of the boxy cars like the late 1960s Roadrunners.

Next, I began rendering the details in the car outside the body work. I used a variety of gray makers for the wheels, grille, and interior. I added a splash of light blue in the chrome to represent the sky reflection. The stripe on the hood is actually rendered in a variety of skin tones, which appear gold on the gray paper.

Next, I used white charcoal to render the white body. I love how the white charcoal pops the car off the gray paper.

Next, I used a couple light Copic grays to shade the areas in the body under shadow.

I think the white-bodied car on the gray paper makes this 1974 AMX drawing look extra cool. The contrast really makes the car jump off the page. The final touch was using Posca white paint to add in light reflections in the chrome, as well as the raised white letters in the tires.

Finally, I cropped and framed the drawing in 8×10.

Thanks Michelle for sharing this beautiful Javelin!