Car Design and Automotive Styling: Beginner

Modules

8 modules · 48 lessons · 8 assignments

1. Module 1: Getting Started in Car Design

   6 lessons · 1 h 35 min

   Understand how a car genuinely gets designed from brief to production, and how the studio roles connect.

   1. The Ucanly Car Design Career Roadmap 2026Preview
   2. What Car Designers Actually Do All Day
   3. How a Car Genuinely Gets Designed, From Brief to Production
   4. Exterior, Interior, CMF and Digital: The Studio Roles
   5. Design Language, Brand and Why Cars Look Like Their Badge
   6. Ucanly Lab: Analyse and Decode a Real Car's DesignAssignment

2. Module 2: Sketching Foundations

   6 lessons · 1 h 54 min

   Build line confidence, perspective, and ellipses from zero, the three fundamentals every car sketch depends on.

   1. Line Confidence, Control and the Drawing Habit
   2. Perspective That Genuinely Works for Vehicles
   3. Ellipses, Wheels and the Hardest Shape in Car Design
   4. Basic Forms, Volume and Building a Car From Boxes
   5. Light, Shadow and Reading Form on Paper
   6. Ucanly Lab: Fifty Line Drills and Your First Form StudyAssignment

3. Module 3: Drawing the Car

   6 lessons · 1 h 56 min

   Control proportion, package, stance, and the greenhouse graphic, and draw a vehicle convincingly in every view.

   1. Proportion and Package: Why Cars Look Right or Wrong
   2. The Side View, the Designer's Truth Test
   3. Mastering the Three Quarter View
   4. Wheels, Arches, Stance and Ground Presence
   5. The Greenhouse, DLO and Graphic Details
   6. Ucanly Lab: Draw One Vehicle in Four ViewsAssignment

4. Module 4: Digital Sketching and Rendering

   6 lessons · 1 h 54 min

   Move to a digital workflow and render metal, glass, rubber, and plastic so a surface genuinely reads.

   1. Going Digital: Tablets, Software and Your Workflow
   2. Layers, Line Art and Clean Digital Construction
   3. Rendering Metal, Glass, Rubber and Plastic
   4. Reflections, Highlights and Making a Surface Read
   5. Backgrounds, Composition and Presentation Sketches
   6. Ucanly Lab: Render One Vehicle From Line Art to FinishAssignment

5. Module 5: Ucanly Minor Project, Design a Vehicle Exterior

   6 lessons · 1 h 54 min

   Run a complete exterior design from written brief to final rendered presentation sheet.

   1. Minor Project: The Brief, Research and Mood Board
   2. Minor Project: Ideation Sketching and Thumbnails
   3. Minor Project: Selecting and Refining a Direction
   4. Minor Project: Proportion Lock and Four View Development
   5. Minor Project: Final Rendering and Presentation Sheet
   6. Minor Project: Design Review and Mentor CritiqueAssignment

6. Module 6: Form, Surface and Introduction to 3D

   6 lessons · 1 h 57 min

   Understand surface language properly, then block your design as a real three dimensional volume.

   1. Surface Language: Convex, Concave, Crease and Highlight
   2. Thinking in Volume: From Sketch to Three Dimensions
   3. Digital 3D Foundations for Designers
   4. Blocking a Vehicle Form in 3D
   5. Clay, Physical Models and Why Studios Still Use Them
   6. Ucanly Lab: Block Your Vehicle Form in 3DAssignment

7. Module 7: Interior, CMF and Design Thinking

   6 lessons · 1 h 54 min

   Design where people genuinely sit, and understand how electrification and autonomy are reshaping vehicles.

   1. Interior Design: Where People Genuinely Live in a Car
   2. Ergonomics, Package and Human Centred Design
   3. Colour, Material and Finish
   4. Designing for Electric, Autonomy and New Packaging
   5. Sustainability, Materials and the Next Decade of Mobility
   6. Ucanly Lab: Build an Interior Concept and CMF BoardAssignment

8. Module 8: Ucanly Major Project, A Complete Design Project

   6 lessons · 1 h 57 min

   Run a full design project from user research to a portfolio standard layout, defended in a live jury.

   1. Major Project: Choosing the Brief and Defining the User
   2. Major Project: Research, Benchmarking and Positioning
   3. Major Project: Ideation, Exploration and Direction Selection
   4. Major Project: Exterior Refinement and Three Dimensional Form
   5. Major Project: Interior, CMF and the Portfolio Layout
   6. Live Session: Design Jury, Portfolio and Your Roadmap to IntermediateAssignment