AH-1 Super Cobra Drawing

I drew this AH-1W Supra Cobra back in November 2013 after being in a phase of obsessing over helicopters.

Conceptual Designs - Light Armored Vehicle

This is an illustration and design of a conceptual armored vehicle used for light attack and infantry support. This drawing was done on regular HP printing paper and a scanner was used to obtain the images.

Step 1 - Begin laying out the outline of the vehicle. The cabin has a boxy appearance and the hood and front fender has a slight descending angle which is pointed forward to deflect incoming projectiles. The windshield is composed of three separate units for added protection of the vehicle's occupants.


Step 2 - Continue laying out the outline and adding the shape of the headlights, windshield, doors and windows. Add a grille and some sensors in the front.

 Step 3 -Darken the headlight housing and lay out the hood assembly. Start working on the shape of the wheel wells and grille.

Step 4 - Start detailing the bumper assembly and ventilation panels on the hood. A winch was added for recovery operations. For the ventilation panels it is best to use the cross hatching method. Rear view mirrors are added along with door hinges and latches. Smoke launchers are also added because you know, you gotta lose those enemy cats coming after you =D

 Step 5 - Foundations for the gunner's overhead turret is added

 Step 6 - The gunner's overhead turret takes basic shape.

 Step 7 - The gunner's overhead turret is detailed. Note the heavy duty bolts around the turret shield.

Step 8 - The gunner's overhead turret is armed with a machine gun and a roof mounted light bar is added for enhanced visibility during nighttime operations.

Step 9 - Tires are drawn and an outline for a ram bar is laid out. The vehicle receives some dark shading under the wheel wells and shocks are detailed as well. Bolts and rivets are also drawn to show the vehicle's armor plating and separation of body panels.

 Step 10 - Finish off the ram bar by adding other details such a set of fog lights. Start shading the vehicle heavily. While shading, pull your shading stick downwards on the bolts and rivets to show weathering and rusting. After drawing the windshield wipers, give it some streak marks on the windows as shown. Give the vehicle a "Coalition Forces" look by drawing the pyramid marking on the driver's door.

 Step 11 - Draw and shade the vehicle's shadow and tire marks on the pavement.

Step 12 - Finish off the background. Add various vegetation and rocks to show the vehicle is in an off road environment.

Hope you enjoyed this drawing tutorial! Please leave a comment and tell me what you think!

Ronin Cloud Finally Created a Blog!

Well I had a crazy idea of starting my very own blog about something I love doing as a kid and still enjoy today - drawing. This will be my first time ever creating a blog and hopefully I can learn a lot from the process. I've always been curious to see if blogging is an effective medium to communicate and exchange ideas with others on the internet. My aim is to show others how to draw and improve upon their skills so they too can enjoy the process of drawing and sketching as well.

"Intercept the Bogeys" This drawing is of an F/A-18 Super Hornet which was completed sometime during mid August 2013. From sketching this Super Hornet at an aggressive front angle I wanted to depict that it was rushing above the clouds to intercept an enemy aircraft. The pencil that I predominantly used was a Staedtler 0.5mm mechanical clicker with a softer lead (I believe it is in the 2B+ range) for outlining and general sketching work. For the darker areas I used a General's Woodless Graphite 97-HB with firmer control. I kept the shading light to moderately dark to illustrate a sunny day with favorable flying conditions.