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Friday, August 24, 2012

From the Cartape Volumes: Untitled Concept (Part 1)

   
       While I was on Facebook yesterday morning, I saw a nice SUV concept from a designer and became inspired right on the spot. I grabbed a pen immediately, and began to dash out a quick sketch - I couldn't afford to lose the idea that was going through my mind. I rapidly began receiving visions of horizontal lightning, like leaping, bounding, horizontal lightning - dashing zig-zag-edly across a purplish blue night sky..I couldn't come up with a quick enough idea for the rear taillights though, as I had to get back to loads of work. But stay tuned to the Cartape Volumes for more blogs of more updates of this SUV concept! Leave a comment!

- Gebre Mesquitta

Monday, August 20, 2012

From the Cartape Volumes: Untitled Concept


       Recently, I had the chance to meet Spencer Nugent, the man I dub "the sketch king" and who is the co-founder of www.idsketching.com and www.sketch-a-day.com. I couldn't miss that opportunity, I had to be there by any means necessary! So it was a nice Saturday afternoon, when I took myself down there and watched him do his magic at a sketch presentation at Columbia College. I was crazy impressed, especially with the way he applied photoshop work to the sketches. I was simply blown away. I call it the art of drawing with light, because in a deeper sense that is what rendering is. It's all about playing with light and darkness!
       Now, I was so into the magical vibes of the sketching that was going on that I ended up being induced into sketching this hot car. It came out better than I though it would, in light of  the quickly rushed moments that I threw together to bang it out, while at the same time trying to not miss a beat of the sketch magic that Spencer Nugent was performing for the gathering of industrial design students and professional industrial designers. In regards to the automotive sketch, I think I was inspired by Bentley and Jaguar. Sometimes, inspiration comes to me along the way or after the fact (lol). I was quite happy with the finished product though, folks were peeping over my shoulder commenting on how hot my sketch was, which was a nice boost to my car sketching ego. I pretty much drew it just to impress those around me anyway (hahaha). I'm just an utter car enthusiast who loves cars to death, and nothing feels better than sketching cars to accolades (hahaha). However, I'm just really getting into the "game" though. I've been a baby here for a while, if you dig what I mean.

- Gebre Mesquitta

Saturday, August 18, 2012

From the Cartape Volumes: the AFHL Concept (Part 1)

A rendered version of this concept will be coming next, in addition to more views! So stay tuned! These are the cartape volumes! The beginnings of a lengendary series of automotive sketches!

-Gebre Mesquitta

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

From the Cartape Volumes: Jamaica Automotive Concept (Pt. 1)

Well this month, (especially this past Monday, Aug. 6th 2012)  the island of Jamaica celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence! Jamaica has contributed tremendously to world culture, from the internationally famous Reggae sound (of Bob Marley and the Wailers fame), to the often imitated patoi dialect, to sports - the nation owns the world's fastest man and woman! Of particular importance to me is Usain Bolt, who beautifully defended his title of "the world's fastest man in the 100m at the London Olympics. His time was clocked at an astonishing 9.63 seconds!
       Well in an ode to this insane speed of Usain Bolt, I decided to design the UB-876 sports car. UB stands for Usain Bolt and 876 stands for Jamaica's area code. In regards to the design of this car, I wanted it to look fast and mean - picture a Jamaican junkyard dog (lol)! On the hood and on the rear quarter panel I put small wings, a symbol to Usain's withering speed. Now in regards to the aggressive aspect of the car design, it is a hearken to the aggressive nature of Jamaicans, but even more so to the music. Reggae music, especially the roots reggae format -which is the most famous, has an aggressive fighting rhythm, so I tried to portray that. And that vibe extends to the huge wheels as well. Additionally, the wheel design itself is designed to represent bleeding, biting, clawing bass lines predominant in the music. The aggression also moves into the headlamps, where contrary to circular bulb housings, I have them triangular, representing teeth! Moving to the side panel of the car, I have a massive crease into the bodywork as well as a protrusion on the end of it that is shaped like a single sharp tooth. Below that is a lower body trim that symbolizes clawed "grippage" like that of a lion! The effect of that piece in particular is to represent the car being held from beneath by lion paws. Get the picture? (hahaha)



I tweeted this car to Cedella Marley, Bob Marley's daughter, and to my suprise, she retweeted it! That was really nice of her! That was only part one however. There will be a part two of this Jamaica automotive concept, which will include three other views: a front view , a rear view and a rear three-quarter view. Also, there might be a Part 3 after that, which could include an interior sketch and render. The interior will have two designs, a his and her version, one for Shelly-Ann (she's the world's fastest woman) and one for Usain Bolt! There will also be a Shelly-Ann version of this car, it will be called the SP-876. The body of the car will stay the same except for a minor change ( a cute difference lol). So stay tuned to the SeraniTafari Street Team blog for the updates. Shell-Ann and Usain Bolt we love yall!!!!!!!!!!

Usain Bolt, the world's fastest fan!

Shelly-Ann Fraser Pryce, the world's fastest woman!
Become a fan of the beautiful Shelly-Ann aka the Jamaican cutiepie at http://www.facebook.com/ShellyAnnFraserPryce?ref=ts
Become a fan of Usain Bolt at http://www.facebook.com/usainbolt
And watch the Olympics live all day and/or night at http://www.jamyardienews.com/p/vybztv.html!

- Gebre Mesquitta

Friday, August 3, 2012

"Out in The Streetz..." 1st Annual SeraniTafari Street Team Local Car Show

Summer in the city....Sweltering heat, crazy high humidity, and then the occasional thunderstorms. One thing is for sure, cars and bikes will be on display, shorts are coming out, and somewhere there is a barbeque going on. Luckily for me, I had the opportunity to host a local car show here in the city of brotherly love..Philadelphia. The show hosted by SeraniTafari Street Team featured a well stocked inventory of various vehicles. From the old to the new the cars were the stars here. Check out the photos below of this fun event.


Lets start off with the Aggressive Cadillac CTS-V Sedan






















Until Next Time.....Flashing Flashing Lights Lights!!

                                                                                                          - Jamal McClean