Exactly one year ago I made my sketching tutorial eBook “Sketching Cars“
In this eBook I made several step by step tutorials about the basics of sketching and also of illustration, several medias to color car sketches. In this presentation video you can see a bit of it.
So, if you are interested about this eBook or others I made please check the following link to be directed to my eBook page: Luciano Bove’s eBooks
Yesterday 30th of December 2019 Syd Mead passed away.
It is difficult to find the right words to describe the man, the artist, the designer, the visionary talent he has been and how much he inspired all of us and still will continue to do for next generations to come.
Syd Mead was born in Minnesota on the 18th of July in 1933, he was a student of Art Center in Los Angeles (later renamed Art Center College of Design in Pasadena) where I graduated in 1959. Car designer first and visionary designer later he is most known and remembered as probably the most visionary designer whom inspired the Science Fiction movie industry in USA during the 80’s. Star Trek and Blade Runner just to name a couple of films that made us dream of a future life really different from the real one we were living at that time.
Syd Mead, since his Design Company creation in 1970, worked also for some European firms as industrial designer and visionary designer, he also gave a strong contribution to some important Japanese brands like Sony or Minolta, he contributed to some video games productions.
I met him when he came to visit our school (ACCD) during my 7th semester, he came to give a speech with many visuals and we were all completely struck by his words and images, definitively an inspiring person. After his speech he came down stage to talk to us closer and we discovered a very nice person, too. Warm, smiling and enthusiast to share his experience.
When I started to teach car design often, I would say to students: please search for this name “Syd Mead” you will find the right inspiration!
We all love his illustrations and his gouache technique, we all tried to copy it mixing the indigo blue the black the white the orange and violet for the sunset reflections, the glass reflections and the magic rule for the Warm light and Cool light, the dramatic perspective for a dynamic composition on paper. I could continue, we all learned from him to be better and more complete designers (in any field).
Syd Mead was someone with an extraordinary talent, one of a kind. He worked motivated by his strong passion for designing the unknown and he never really stopped. He inspired tons of people and still will because he is unforgettable!
We will miss you!
How many times did you think how to show your works to gain visibility in internet? How many times you hoped to be seen by Design professionals? How many times you hoped to be contacted by one of them or to contact them?
Social Networks like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Linkedin, Youtube, and websites are a great opportunity to communicate with the world.
You do something and you can share it with anybody, what is delicate is “how” you do it! In some disciplines like Design (specially Car Design) you have to be smart enough to communicate and share your works without provoking a negative reaction. It is about your behaviour.
In my video I give few tips & suggestions to avoid most common mistakes.
Enjoy!
In October 2019 I moved to Shenyang in China to become the Design General Manager for Renault-Jinbei vehicles (RBJAC Company, a joint-venture with Renault).
I do not hide the fact that I was very excited to leave and very scared to do it!
It is always very difficult, at my age, to leave what you have for something you do not know at all. More than that, it is hard to quit your nice comfort zone.
At the same time if you want to accomplish in life relevant experiences you must quit your comfort zone, you must go, and this is what I did.
Today is the 25th of December 2019 and while I am writing I remember that, here in China, there is no Christmas holidays…so no days off for me, I am working just like all my colleagues here. (Do not worry I will take my short vacation during the Chinese Spring Festival).
I am very satisfied of my living conditions, I am based in downtown and walking distance I have almost all necessary shops and stores. Here lots of shopping malls in which I can find everything, it is also nice to walk around and discover lots of restaurants, too. Main train station is also close to where I live, and it makes easy when I have to travel with the high speed train to go to Tianjin.
What I see here is the will of growing more and better as a Country, what I mean is the engagement & energy everybody is putting in going to work every day included Saturdays and sometimes also Sundays (it happens to me too). I guess it is one of Chinese secrets of success, to grow fast thanks to the people’s daily commitment.
So, here you can decide to change a front-end design on your model and 24 hours later you have the new one on your clay model. This is a small example of what we can do here without colleagues protests or resistance or time schedule changes. If you need 3D Printing parts no problem, the service is reliable and fast, same thing if you need to update your Alias model with important modifications. The changes will be implemented fast and very well, too.
The Chinese food, in this part of China, is particularly tasty and not expensive. However, if I feel like eating Italian or French food no problem to find very good restaurants with Italians or French people working there. Now I already have few references restaurants.
I can say that I am having a great start in this new experience.
It is a different life compared to the one I had in Europe. The daily speed is different, the overall timing spent at work is longer, the opportunities to apply changes respecting the planning is a reality, the high cold temperature is also a reality (here we can touch -20°). Wechat application on our smartphones help us to be in touch with colleagues, friends & family (just like Watsup). I can pay using my telephone, and to find a taxi or a driver it is easy and fast, too.
It is a good thing for design students to try getting in contact with design professionals. The main objective is to get a feedback about their works in order to improve their skills and design approach.
However; there are several ways not to do it and others to do it correctly.
In this video some info about this important topic.
Enjoy
To manage a car design project is not easy because it is a complex task. You need a vision, a strategy and most of all you need the right “attitude'” to do it.
In this video I try to explain what does it mean to have that right attitude to manage a car design project. What does it take to impress the right mood to the team to cooperate all together.
Team building and problems solving are important, but the way you as manager work and interact with the team members is more important to achieve the mission.
Enjoy!
Very often people say that “today’s cars are too similar to each others”. However, if we get deeper into how we plan and develop automobiles we discover that this assumption is not really true.
In this video I give my personal view of it, telling a bit about what I saw and see today while making a new car project.
Enjoy!
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