Stage 7

Here you can see exactly how masking around areas that you don’t wont to colour enables you to put a smoother gradient down. I have chosen the colour red because as you move away from the light into the shade, colours tend to get colder as well as darker and less saturated. At the rear of the vehicle you can see I have even moved into a shade of purple. When spraying this area the idea is to have as smooth and steady a gradient as possible. In Photoshop this meant using a large soft brush, which covered about half the vehicle, and with an airbrush, would mean holding the spray relatively high. What you don’t want to do is have blotches of colour.

Stage 8

Once you remove the masking (or use the eraser) you can see that the vehicle now has a real sense of depth. You can see at the rear of the vehicle I have also darkened down the bodywork until it is almost as dark as the ground. This helps make the drawing more dramatic, although take care not to completely lose the details in this area.

Stage 9

As in stage 6 I have now masked of the windscreen, although I ignored masking the wiper arm. This is such a small detail that it is probably best left until the end, when you can add it back in with coloured pencils. If the car you are rendering has side windows then you might want to include them here. Doing the front and side windows at the same time will help ensure you have continuity in your shading.