I’ve been sketching for as long as I can remember. I believe I started with sharks. The movie Jaws was a big deal in those days. As a child, there was no context. All I remember was that sleek, predatory shape. Yes, a great white shark looks terrifying, but that aside, I thought it was the coolest shaped animal. At least until I saw a manta ray, but anyway. That sleek, predator shape influenced just about every vehicle I’ve sketched since.

I’ve never had any art schooling. Like any other kid, I doodled in class. All side view, 2D sketches. I got somewhat better over time, but still the same side view drawings. What was in my head seemed impossible to translate onto paper. Not that I couldn’t get better at drawing, but I wasn’t focused enough on just drawing. I was always drawing my dream car but one day I wondered, could it actually be built? And if it could does it have to be just a car? About a year and a half ago, I made an attempt at adding depth to a drawing. The sketch heading this article is that attempt. It’s sloppy, sketched at my old job instead of in class. Weeks after that sketch, I bought a Picasso XL drawing tablet. I’ve never used a digital tablet before. Discovering layers in drawing apps changed. It gave me the depth in my drawings to add details. I love to draw but at my heart, I’m a wannabe engineer. Being able to edit my drawings without eraser marks was nice. That I could now visualize them as schematics…game-changer.