// Projects

Design Process

Liveries and Designs

Current designs rendered on 3D models - Models used from Race Sim Studio

Design Process

Many of my livery ideas begin with a spark of inspiration from my surroundings - be it colour, shapes, or even seeing a brand being advertised via a product placement.

To help with placing a design onto a canvas I use a self-made 2D template of a car on Photoshop. I explore composition and see what could work as a final piece, then transfer the design to Gran Turismo: Sport to enhance and finalise the concept and understand the design language within a 3D space.

Once I'm confident with the final outcome and can visualise the design used within a real-world environment, I will then transfer the design to a 3D model to allow for high-quality, ray-traced renders and images to add to my portfolio. The current 2021 model that I use is from Race Sim Studio.

Please select the images to the right to see a breakdown on each stage of the design process.

Research

The first element in developing a design is to identify the brands that you want to showcase. An independent racing team usually does not hold a strong brand identity in comparison to large-scale manufacturer such as Ferrari, with their strong colour linkage using red, or Mercedes’ brand identity use of silver. Choosing an independent team would allow freedom when it comes to the positioning of sponsor logos and the colours used on the brands. I choose my colour palettes through client branding and adapt to their needs to ensure a livery sits well within their promotional material and is recognizable in relation to their business.

2D Photoshop Designs

The example shown on the left is a concept for Campos, a Spanish racing team currently competing within Formula 2. The first design cue that grabs attention within the current Campos livery is the use of the Spanish flag on the nose of the car, an element that I wanted to accentuate throughout the design and have contour against the base white colour. Using the Spanish heritage of the team, I noted a Spanish company Santander, a company whose red branding is ideal to blend with that of the Spanish flag. To balance the colours, I opted for the use of Rockstar’s branding - an energy drink company that rivals Red Bull - to allow for an increased presence of yellow around the car.

3D Designs

This part of the design process is to work with the concept that holds the most potential when using Photoshop, to then transfer to a 3D model to understand the design within a 3-dimensional format. For me, this involves Gran Turismo Sport, a game on the PlayStation that I use due to the ease of applying shapes and importing certain logos and design elements straight to the bodywork of the vehicle. The ease of 3D movement also allows visualisation of the concept from a variety of angles to understand what elements of the design work within a professional context. Another feature within GT: Sport is ‘Scapes’, a feature that allows the user to place a vehicle into several environments, which is ideal when taking advantage of the built-in ray tracing to figure out the comparison between studio lighting and natural lighting.

UV Mapping Templates

This next stage requires a 3D model to manipulate within Adobe Photoshop, primarily through file layering where I merge the multi-dimensional formats. The template used here is for the Formula Hybrid 2021 model from Race Sim Studio and is editable in both 3D and 2D formats. With this template I can go into greater detail and work on the design in areas I previously could not, to see how the livery changes in real-time during the process. To do this, I use my knowledge of the different available file types such as a .png, and how to translate this into a .dds file.

Final Rendering

To finalise the design process is to render the model with the design in place and take images for marketing purposes and to promote my work across a multitude of social media platforms. The Formula Hybrid model comes with a baked-in AO template for natural-looking shadow detailing. I add this with Nvidia’s RTX technology to allow for an organic method of ray tracing, with local lighting reflecting off the bodywork and crisp shadows allowing the livery to become a professional studio render.

Anchor 1

Liveries and Designs

As I have created a number of pieces on an array of final forms, the locations of my final designs have been displayed below. The icons here will direct you to different locations where my final designs are located.

My designs are a slow and detailed process as a surprising amount of research goes into each livery. From brand identity, culture references, sponsor viability, logo placements, series' sticker requirements and the livery finalisation are among the many factors that make a design believable and worth sharing with others.

Instagram

RaceDepartment

Gran Turismo

Photoshop

YouTube

Anchor 2