Thoughts on the 2021 BMW M3

Personal File: The new BMW M3 and M4 made waves this week and generated a ton of online discussion. The designs of the coupe and sedan are very similar up front with massive twin kidney grilles that wouldn't look out of place on big rig semi truck. Needless to say it's been designed to be polarizing. The sculpted hood wouldn't be too far off if Pontiac was still alive and kicking. From the front wheel arches back, everything diverges especially in the rear - where each car takes on it's own personality. The M3 carries the more traditional and classic BMW sedan design cues, while the M4 breaks new ground and perhaps losing some BMW-ness in the process.

Creative Brief: The goal of this chop was to take the excessively large kidney grilles and resize and reshape them down into more realistic proportions with the rest of the car. Then just a few bits to tidy up that will bring it all together.

Execution Highlights - Front Grille Comparison

• Decreased kidney grilles to better proportions
• Lower air dam intake now goes across the entire front face
• Retailored inner headlight housings on both sides
• Color change and black hood stripes!

Final Thoughts: I'm very pleased with how the chop came together. The smaller kidney grilles helped the front end flow better and the horizontally connected lower grille grounds the vehicle and makes it look wider. What do you think? Did I make it better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners

Blog Updates - September

Blog Update: Welcome back to Automotive Renderings! It's been quite awhile: a busy family with two kids, my wife going back to work teaching, a demanding full time job, and many other less glamorous distractions. Before you know it, poof, six years go by! While I have continued to do one-off chops from time to time I never got around to keeping things fresh on the blog. This year though, in a post-covid world, I'm doing my best to get things back up and running again.

I've started a Fiverr account right after the Covid-19 lockdown, finally setup an Instagram account which I've really been enjoying. I've also found some sites of inspiration too:

• a hilarious and fun FB photochopping group called Nose Swap Nation. The group of artists are talented and the posts not only make me laugh but they get my creative juices flowing.
• I've also been hooked watching TheSketchMonkey on YouTube and while I don't always agree with his design choices I find his photochop work fresh and creative.

The blog itself needed a lot of TLC so I've been doing widget clean up, manual template adjusting, and working on better mobile support. The mobile view has always been a sore spot so I welcome any feedback on the adjustments so I can keep improving the experience.

Hopefully you recently saw a new post on a triptych of chops for the Nissan Z Proto. That was a lot of fun and totally spur of the moment. I plan to start showing some of the one-off works I've done over the past couple years as well very soon. I'm even mulling over creating a YouTube channel with perhaps some significant rebranding as well (developing an actual logo). Who knows maybe even creating some merch! Anyhoo ... welcome back to my blog and thank you for visiting.

Nick

Thoughts on the 2020 Nissan Z Proto

Personal File: The new Nissan Z Proto just hit the airways this week and it is making quite a stir. It's been a long time since Nissan gave us new a Z - in fact you have to go all the way back to 2009. Much like the GT-R concept shown at the 2001 Tokyo Motor Show, the finer details of the Z Proto are not yet fully baked, but it does give a good indication of the overall design language, interior concepts, and structure of the vehicle.

Overall the car moves away from the past few generations and favors instead a mix of it's greatest hits. Gone are the bold (overstyled) elements like the boomerang headlights and tail lights and instead feature heavy Fairlady 240Z influences in the front and profile combined with a very miminialist 300ZX style rear end. There is no mistaking this is a Z car and that's a good thing.

Creative Brief: As much as I like the concept car there just aren't enough details in the design. The goal of this triptych was to take what Nissan started with and lay in details with what I hope the real production car might look like when revealed. Some of the highlights include:

Execution Highlights - Front

• Revised headlights from a 2019 Volkswagen Beetle
• Revised grille and lower air dam
• Added front running lights and grill ports on from from a 2017 Nissan GT-R 
• Revised hood and fascia cut lines
• Color-matched pillars to body color

Execution Highlights - Profile

• Revised headlights and tail lights
• Brightwork deleted after B-pillar window
• Color-matched roof and trunk lid to the main body

Execution Highlights - Rear

• Increased size of tail lights
• Added badge on deck lid
• Moved license plate area
• Simplified lower diffuser
• Brightwork deleted after B-pillar window
• Color-matched roof and trunk lid to the main body

Final Thoughts: I was suprised how quickly this one came together and how much better it flows from all angles of the vehicle. The detail bits and bobs were fun to add from the Volkswagen and the GTR as well. What do you think? Did I make it better or worse?

All source photos copyright original owners