This month we're taking the opportunity to show you some of the cool project trucks we're building during the rest of 2012 and looking towards 2013. Project trucks are our way of getting you excited about turning some wrenches and looking at your daily driver or weekend warrior as a constantly upgradable truck. Knowing we have a diverse readership, we're working on several different trucks with different end goals in mind. If you have an idea for a buildup, shoot us an email at max.matthewson@sorc.com.

When Joel was about six years old, the Dukes of Hazzard and Smokey and the Bandit were big time hits. "I remember drawing vans with huge rear tires and spoilers, scenes with Chargers and Trans Ams jumping over hay trucks and monster trucks anytime I had the chance," Joel told us. Throughout the '80s, Joel's love for drawing really ignited and he sketched cars all the time, then when the Pro Street scene blew up in the early '90s, he would draw every car he could with tubbed Mickey Thompson's and polished blowers. Soon after that, Joel discovered the artwork of Steve Stanford, Thom Taylor, and Chip Foose who all helped to inspire him. He started using airbrushing and markers with a little pastel as well as drawing more hot rods and customs. Joel has done more than just renderings for customers; he has done work for Pixar, Toyota, Harley Davidson, and countless shops across the country. When asked what he currently does, Joel responded, "I get a ton of people coming to me for truck renderings, I think because trucks are more popular now than they've ever been, and the versatility they offer." Here are a few samples of what Joel has to offer. To see more of his renderings, check out his website, www.1320designs.com.

Gerard Blommaert has been in the rendering scene for a while. He started honing his drawing skills on horses when he was just five years old. A few years later, his fascination turned from horses to horsepower, and he began drawing cars and trucks. One of his first jobs was in a body shop shaping metal, slinging Bondo, and learning to paint. From that job, Gerard found himself in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attended Utah Technical College at Salt Lake. While there, he really learned to draw with great skill. This is a sample of what Gerard can offer in the way of illustrations.

Warren Simpson says that he has been drawing for as long as he can remember. Couple that with his love for just about everything on wheels and automotive art became his specialty. Warren works mostly from reference pictures, which provide the ideas for themes. Originally from South Africa, Warren now lives in London, England, and runs his website, http://simpsonartistry.weebly.com, with dozens of cool renderings. Everything you see is hand drawn with pencils and scanned for digital reprint.

Darryl Tracy is into custom everything. From cars to trucks and even bikes and boats, he designs, draws, and drools over them all. After graduating from the Art Institute of Houston for Graphic Design, Darryl started his graphic design company called Tracy Media. With this company he does everything from vehicle renderings and vinyl wraps to logos and business cards. Each rendering that leaves this artist’s desk is packed full of heavy detail and imaginative design cues that feature clean, striking paint schemes and slammed stances.

Tracy Media
(281) 844-4960
tracymedia@sbcglobal.net
www.tracymedia.net
www.facebook.com/darryltracy

Robert’s first memories and experiences with cars come from working with his dad and brothers. His dad was a mechanic for various dealerships when Robert was growing up, so Robert always found himself around cars. His brothers were constantly tinkering with their mini bikes and go-karts, so his first job was passing tools to them, and over the years, he was given more responsibilities. Eventually Robert was rebuilding his own motors and such. That eventually led him to get into the mechanical engineering field out of college. After 12 years working in the engineering field, the animation field was really blowing up, so while Robert was working, he put himself through school again to receive a degree in Traditional and Digital Animation. Since then he has been in the 3D industry working on a variety of projects and films. He spent some time at Disney Animation Studios working on the movie Bolt and most recently doing some freelance work on the upcoming film Premium Rush, where he created photorealistic vehicles for certain chase scenes that involves animated camera passing by 3D cars. At his current job, he also does quite a bit of work in the automotive advertising industry for some high-profile clients such as Audi, Chevy, Hyundai, Toyota, and Lexus. This involves creating billboards, magazine ads, and website content with the emphasis on photorealism.

Gerald Martin has been in the custom truck scene for a long time. The first truck he built was a 1955 Chevy Stepside when he was 12. Since then, he has built several Volkswagens and trucks. In his spare time, Gerald would read CARtoons magazine and draw cars and trucks. Now, Gerald owns Whatadesigns, the company that he started and does anything from business cards and flyers to vehicle renderings and custom apparel. Gerald says that even though his job is graphic artist, he still loves every minute of it.

It's that time of year again boys and girls, the SEMA show is upon us and we are busily getting ready. We have been working with premier shops who are building some of the sickest rides to debut in the city that never sleeps. Here you can see a glimpse of what to expect at this year’s SEMA show.

Karbon Kreationz is a full service graphic and automotive design company that was formed in the fall of 2010 by brothers Bill and Scott Denham. Their intention was to push the creative envelope to a new level within the custom world. They thrive on the challenges their customers present them and accept nothing less than perfection from themselves and their work. From business cards and web sites, on up to fullsize renderings and custom T-shirt graphics, they strive to put 110 percent into each design. After all, shouldn’t creativity come standard?

Robbie Bryant started Kutting Edge Graphix in the fall of 2002 and Brian Fields joined up in 2004. The name was shortened to KEG and the word Media added to showcase all the forms of advertising media they specialize in, which is print and web. KEG Digital Garage is what they call their automotive rendering section. They were one of the innovators when it came to digital renderings and practically set the standard for quality and have been raising the standard ever since. They have designed many award-winning vehicles for the SEMA show that have taken home GM and Ford Design awards. They have also designed countless cover and feature trucks including Robbie’s own truck, Head Hunter, which is on the cover of this issue. According to them, they have been in business longer than anyone consecutively doing digital renderings. With a client list from all over the world, KEG Media does more than 100 renderings a year. They also specialize in web design, logo design, and full color printing. Keep an eye out for Robbie or Brian at shows all over the country as they travel to a lot of shows throughout the year, particularly in the South.

Jesus Gonzalez started drawing cars and trucks in elementary school. He later stopped for several years, until thumbing through a copy of Truckin’ and seeing the “Radical Renderings” section. Jesus then decided that he wanted to get back into drawing. In high school, Jesus took a graphic arts class and learned Adobe Photoshop. He started with sloppy chops, swapping wheels, changing paint, and shaving stuff. Then he got his first truck, a 1993 S-10 Blazer. After joining an S-10 forum, Jesus found a Photoshop competition. He immediately began entering his drawings in the contests. After being crushed by professional rendering artists, Jesus really stepped up his game and eventually placed in the top three and finally won a contest. Now, at 19 years old, Jesus and a friend, Antonio Kemper, are launching a web-based rendering company called No Life Designs. Keep on the lookout for Jesus’ new company, and for more of his renderings, scroll to the bottom of the page!

Koapono Patrick is the mastermind behind these great looking renderings. At only 20 years old, he is one of the young guns in the industry, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his artwork. Koapono has been drawing cars and trucks since he was a kid, and about six years ago, he started working with Adobe Photoshop. With a degree in Graphic Communication, Koapono is more than capable of taking your visions and putting them on paper. For more information, go to www.kpconcepts.com.

Corey Calloway has been drawing cars most of his life. After graduating with a degree in Visual Communications, he has worked in numerous design firms and agencies. He finally landed a job with Weld Racing as a creative director and broke into the automotive industry. He has done SEMA vehicle renderings for companies such as Weld Racing, BMF wheels, Genuine Boyds, and Sean John.

When we first laid eyes on Ben Rickel’s renderings, we knew we had to get them in the magazine and share them with all of our readers. They’re just so unlike anything we’ve seen before. Each rendering shown here is the culmination of between 60 and 300 hours of computer modeling from the sheetmetal to the frame. The trucks are fully 3D, so once it’s complete, Ben can show any angle you’d like, and in any color. Ben designed each wheel you see in the renderings, so don’t ask who makes them, because so far they exist only on his computer. Ben wouldn’t share what sort of modeling software he uses, he’s keeping that a secret, but if you’d like to contact him about his renderings, you can find him on his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/benjamin.rickel. In addition to the small sample in the magazine, this story includes more than 40 other killer renderings by Ben!

SOURCE
Benjamin Rickel
www.facebook.com/benjamin.rickel

Billy Fish
"In 95 I saw a rendering by Steve Stanford in Truckin’ and knew that’s what I wanted to do one day."

After years in the magazine and advertising industry as a Graphic Designer and Art Director, Ryan Curtis ventured off on his own to found Sin Customs to follow his true passion, cars. As a kid, Ryan's artistic talent was focused on drawing cars and trucks, so it was only a matter of time before he returned to his roots. His digital creations have been the basis for several magazine feature builds and one soon-to-be Truckin' cover. If you'd like to see more of Ryan's work, check out www.sincustoms.com

Nathan George, aka Nate Shrum has had art featured in Truckin' in the past, including the renderings for project Street Shark and Novakane. Nathan has developed his own distinctive style and has come a long way in his short time as a rendering artist. To get in contact with Nathan for your own rendering, visit www.NGArtwerx.zenfolio.com.

We first displayed Eric Brockmeyer's work in Issue #12 of 2009 and described how he'd used his Industrial Design degree to move from designing yacht interiors to starting his own design business. Since he had such creative and vivid renderings last time around, we asked if he had anything recent in the works that was not filed under "Top Secret". He sent us the following renderings that picked up right where his old ones left off.

We've been planning for 2011 for quite a while. We hashed over ideas for new recurring articles, new project trucks to build, and new ways to haze our new Associate Editor, Max Matthewson. We'll tell you about the hotel balcony, rope and cinder block later. For now, all you need to focus on are the project trucks. We'll keep bringing you Fantastic Fours every month for the basic improvements that you can make to your completely stock truck, but there's a lot more to customizing a truck than that, so we'll be showing you how shops all across the country are building show-stopping customs. Here's just a sample of what you can look forward to:

Dale Markgraf of Extreme Vehicle Concepts (EVC) is no stranger to Truckin' magazine. We've shown his renderings in the past, and after nearly 25 years in the hot-rod business, he continues to churn out amazing concepts. He's still fueled by the passion that comes from seeing his visions come to life as the projects are completed. Dale shared an amazing Pro Street C10 and two modern versions of '70s sport trucks and we just had to pass them on to you.

SEMA is upon us and the world's most custom cars and trucks will be out in full force showcasing the aftermarket's latest parts. We contacted some of the best builders from across the country and got the 411 on the nation's premier custom trucks debuting at this year's mega-show. Take a look at the amazing renderings and be sure to check back each month for features on each truck.

Most of the rendering artists we showcase share a couple common bonds with each other. The first similarity is that they all possess more creative ability in each of their pinkies than the entire Truckin' staff has in their combined body mass. And by the way, that's quite a bit of mass we're talking about. Secondly, these artists have all been raised in custom car culture in one form or another. This month's featured radical renderer, Matt Sutton, from Garland, Texas, grew up going to drag and street races, and since the age of 10, he's grown familiar with cracking open a toolbox and getting his hands dirty.

There are no computer-aided design programs on the market that quite cut it as far as rendering artist, Sammy James, is concerned. Every single illustration that leaves his desk is hand drawn using everything from assorted pencils for line drawings, and acrylics, pastels, and BIC ballpoint pens to fill them in. Sammy sketches until the lead runs out, and his obsessive enthusiasm for wickedly cool custom vehicles shines through in every piece.

We're suckers for striking artwork. Of course it's great to see a freshly painted custom in the flesh, but being able to see someone's creativity on paper builds a level of overwhelming anticipation that's almost impossible to duplicate.

It's been a while since we last featured the artwork of Joe Iacono, so we figured we'd check in to see what he's been up to recently. If you don't already know his story, Joe started his studio, Iacono Design Group, in 2000, and has kept himself busy with many innovative, high-profile gigs since then. Joe has designed custom vehicles for the likes of rocker Tommy Lee, and many world-renowned shops that build only the best of the best. For those of you who have stroller-bound kiddies, you might be interested in Joe's most recent venture, Kid Kustoms. If you haven't already heard or seen The Roddler, we can only describe it as one of the coolest, most full-blown custom lines of baby haulers that has ever existed. One thing that hasn't changed about Joe Iacono, however, is his in-depth design process that he completes in three phases to deliver a final rendering that is sure to 'wow' anyone who lays their eyes on it.