How Do I Become a Car Designer?

It’s one of the single most difficult, creative jobs to obtain. In the United States, you have a better chance of becoming a professional football player than you do becoming a professional car designer. Ask yourself how many professional football players do you personally know. Yet each year, a handful of 17 to 24-year-olds prepare a portfolio and apply to a very limited number of colleges to study transportation design and receive an automotive design education.  in the hope of becoming a professional car designer. Do you yearn to be one of them? If so, read on (or watch the video) and discover one person’s creative journey to join this very exclusive club. 

Abhi’s father contacted me about helping his son with his passion for cars and car design. Abhi was 14 years old at the time. He could draw like most other 14 year-olds which means drawing from his hand and not from his shoulder. His sketches had the typical, scratchy line quality that results in drawing with the same technique you use to write. Under my direction, Ahbi worked hard and improved quickly. With the contest season approaching, we decided it was time to submit an entry. Here in the US, there are 2 major car design contests per year. (If you have any questions about them or would be interested in working with me on an entry, write and let me know.)

His first entry was for the GM Design contest for a flagship Cadillac of the future. This was in 2017. This was followed in 2018 with his Lancia rally car for the Chrysler “Drive for Design” contest. One thing to remember is, as Abhi is working on the projects he is also going to high school full-time and living the life of a normal American teenager. This might make you ask, how? How did he have the time to do his normal high school program and still work on his car design skills enough to enter these top-level contests? The answer is, you have to have the passion. If you have it, you know what I am talking about.

Designing a Dream Car – An Alfa Romeo Speedster

Abhi and I continued to work together to improve both his drawing and overall design skills. The next contest Abhi entered was the Dunning Contest sponsored by the College for Creative Studies in Detroit Michigan, USA. CCS is one of the world’s leading transportation design schools. For this entry, Abhi returned to Italy choosing to design an Alfa Romeo super car. He created a red speedster in full color and was one of the 15 award winners!

The following year, Abhi did a Jeep SUV for the Chrysler “Drive for Design” contest where he finished 4th. This was his last opportunity to take part in such contests. With each contest entry, I worked with Abhi to push himself outside of his comfort zone. This is the only way to improve. I see so many aspiring car designers who post on social media and continue to draw in the same way. They never improve because they’re comfortable doing what they know how to do and nothing more. Staying in this “creative comfort zone” prevents them from pushing their talent and their skills and getting to the next level. It’s creative suicide. If you have not seen any improvement in your skills in a while, you may be stuck in this trap and not realize it.

With an amazing portfolio in hand, Abhi was not only able to secure admission to both CSS and Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California USA but receive a full scholarship to CSS and a partial scholarship to Art Center. It is extremely rare to receive a scholarship to either school. These were merit scholarships based on the quality of his work. After much deliberation, Ahbi chose to give up the full scholarship to CSS and attend Art Center. As an aspiring car designer, these are the kind of choices you want to have in your life.

Life At Art Center College of Design

Upon arriving at Art Center, Abhi realized it was about to get real. In a word, Art Center is HARD. Really hard. They throw more work at you than you can ever get done. This is done on purpose. It’s a sort of test to see who has it and who doesn’t. Abhi was the second youngest student in his class and reported that classmates were dropping out in the first week due to the difficulty!

As he moved from the first semester to the second, (Art Center is on a trimester system) his time management skills improved and the workload became more manageable. The projects in each class come at you fast and furiously. You have to have the fortitude to stay on top of it. If you don’t have the passion, you will not be successful. This is why I always ask the students that want to study with me if they have the passion. It’s that important.

When the video was filmed, Abhi was starting his 3rd semester. He did take a break after the 2nd semester to recover and regroup. This is common in such a difficult and stressful program. All signs point to Abhi continuing his success at Art Center. His design and drawing skills have grown exponentially. He is more committed than ever and hopes to work in Europe upon graduation. If you want to follow Abhi’s progress, you can do so on Instagram @ap.design.official.

The Value of Tutoring in Becoming a Car Designer

As Abhi’s case shows, there is great value in working with a tutor in pursuit of your car design dream. As stated, becoming a car designer is an extremely difficult thing to achieve as a professional. You need to put as many pieces in place and master as many skills as you can to make your dream come true. This starts long before you decide to apply to a top school like Art Center.

This is where the Tailored Course Program comes in. The course is custom designed to take your skills to the next level. It’s not a cookie-cutter, one-size fits all program like so many others. I will work with you one-on-one each week and you will improve. If becoming a car designer is your dream, then there is no better time to start investing in your dream than right now!

Please leave a comment below and let me know what you thought of the post and the video. Please be sure to check out the How to Draw Cars YouTube channel and the Automotive Design courses on  Udemy.

If you have any questions regarding the information contained in this article, please leave them in the comments section below and we will get them answered. Thank you.