Dougal Cawley GN/Ford ‘Piglet’ Illustration
Over the summer, I took a couple of photographs from the Harewood Vintage Hillclimb and created illustrations from them. I wanted to see how I could take my photographs and create a new artwork based on them using other skills. The first of these was the Winston Teague GN Wasp illustration, which I completed over the course of a couple of weeks.
Picking the right motorsport photograph and car
Having enjoyed doing this, I set about creating another illustration based on one of my favourite VSCC cars, the GN/Ford ‘Piglet’ machine of Dougal Cawley. After winning in 2011, this car has become iconic at VSCC events over the past few years, mainly because of Dougal’s blistering pace, and flamboyant racing style.
The flamboyant Dougal Cawley at the wheel of the GN/Ford Piglet VSCC car at Harewood’s Vintage Hillclimb in 2012.
I used the photograph I had taken as the Piglet machine exited Quarry at Harewood as the base for the illustration. Using the pen tool in photoshop on an A1 canvas, I set about creating the illustration by drawing shapes to make the different components of the car.
The many layers of motorsport illustration
After many hours of drawing, reshaping and colour picking, I finished the artwork, and added similar typography as I had done to the GN Wasp illustration.
The final result, complete with umbrella timing strut mount!
I was really pleased with how the final illustration came out. I initially thought that it would be hard to capture the character of Piglet, due to the flat colour style I would use for the illustration, but I think the final outcome worked really well.
I’ve no idea what I’ll do with my illustrations, and I feel that a third one would make a complete set. I don’t know when I’ll find the time to do one, or which car it would be, but another GN or Frazer Nash car would probably be the best companion to these two cars.
Related motorsport articles
You can see my first illustration of the GN Wasp here on Foot Lambert. I also went to Mallory Park for the VSCC racing, as well as Cadwell Park’s VSCC Shuttleworth and Nuffield trophies with a variety of cameras. To see more of my graphic and web design work, please visit my portfolio.
Posted in: Illustration, Motorsport, VSCC
