Etienne Carignan Part 1. The Roadrunner

Designer and Illustrator Etienne Carignan. How Muscle Car Rims and the Roadrunner came together. Read also Part 2 'Still Going Strong'.

Etienne Carignan

Automotive Artist Etienne Carignan works and lives in Montreal, Canada, as a designer and illustrator. His works have been in several expositions and he recently did all the illustrations for a car story in the Playboy. Over the last 10 years his technique evolved from working with pen and markers towards working completely digital. With the use of a tablet and digital pen he is still sketching the same as before but the result is enhanced by the technological possibilities. At the start of a new automotive artwork he tries to see the real car, study all the details and talk with the owner. But he also finds his inspiration and study material on the internet, through photos, stories and video, that he uses to familiarize himself with the car.

The next step is finding the right view for the car. As with the Plymouth Roadrunner 1972 he wanted to show the bumper but also the details of the rear and the side of the car. Creating his own car view allows him to present the vehicle in much more dynamic views than possible with photography.

Etienne Carignan Automotive Art

It takes a lot of time to get the colors right and complete all the details. For most illustrations he saves the wheel rims for last since those are difficult to do but are also very rewarding. There goes a lot of detail in drawing the rims. The last element is adding a background to it and for the Plymouth off course, the Roadrunner cartoon.

“I had long planned drawing this car; the bright green color in combination with the link to the Roadrunner cartoon makes this muscle car unique” Etienne stated. The owner of the Plymouth Roadrunner, the car he used as the model for his artwork, put different wheel rims on the car. While these are muscle car rims they are not the original rims.

Etienne Carignan Automotive Art

The end result of all his sketching and drawing is a digital file. Since Etienne is using a high end computer screen he can compare his artistic results very well the actual colors. In combination with the calibrated digital printers the result are stunning museum quality artworks. To maintain the exclusivity of his artworks Etienne decided to only issue 10 Giclée prints for each of the three colors of the Plymouth Roadrunner. This illustration he did in three different colors; Sublime Green, Candy Apple Red and Lemon Twist.

Etienne Carignan Automotive Art

More artworks are on their way but for the coming weeks there will not be much drawing going on in Etienne his studio since he will get married with his lovely girlfriend. Join me in wishing him a lovely wedding day!