Book Review: DRIVE: vehicle sketches and renderings by Scott Robertson

DRIVE, the latest book from Design Studio Press is a collaborative effort between Scott Robertson and two of his students at the Art Center College of Design: Annis Naeem and Daniel Gardner. It's a great idea to have an art book as a portfolio.

This book is about cool cars and awesome rigs. It's a 176-page hardcover with a very nice cover. A paperback edition is also available.

The pages are just loaded with concept sketches, paintings and 3D models. Four basic vehicle types are featured as chapters, namely Aerospace, Military, Pro Sport and Salvage. Within each chapter, you'll see fast cars, off-roaders, juggernaut-type vehicles, a few bikes, and other sleek mean machines. This book is a valuable resource for ideas with its immense variety. There are so many ways you can design chassis, wheels, suspension, exhaust, etc.

The concepts are good looking, inspiring and sometimes surprising -- the first vehicle looked like a frog. Through the multiple thumbnail sketches provided, you can see how the design evolved at different stages until it's finally painted or modeled in 3D.

Speaking of 3D models, they are impressive. And there are lots of them in the book. Tremendous amount of detail are included in the models, before they are textured, lit and finally rendered in a photo-realistic manner. It's amazing to see the vehicle when everything is put together, with all the cuttings, wirings and parts. The result is a vehicle that looks believable and like it has character.

Artist commentary is also available throughout to give a sense of what they have to work with and how they think.

DRIVE is a book I'll recommend to anyone who likes concept vehicles.

-

If you like this book, also check out Cosmic Motors.

-

There are both paperback and hardcover editions. Links below.

Visit Amazon to check out more reviews.

If you buy from the links, I get a little commission that helps me get more books to feature.

The paperback edition is available at:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it |Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn

The hardcover edition is available at:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn