Core77

Nitty gritty ID: let's take a look at some drawing and rendering tips from the pros, on three different levels: 2D analog, 2D digital and 3D.

For those of you who, bless your little hearts, still like to hand-sketch with God-honest pencils, Allan Macdonald's latest tutorial on designertechniques shows you how to draw "the kind of lines that have so much tension it is almost like they could snap." Hint: your wrists and elbows, consider those gifts.

For those of you who like mixing old- and new-school by rendering 2D sketches up in PhotoShop (gotta love them layers), over at Concept Salad Miroslav Dimitrov runs through a six-step process that'll take three hours, or seven episodes of 30 Rock. Put the TiVo down and pick up the Wacom.

Lastly, for those of you who swear by actual 3D renderings, Stryker over at 3DM3 shows you how to set up pro quality virtual lighting. If you've ever spent days or weeks modeling something only to run into the brick wall of a crappy lighting set-up on your render, you'll need to check this one out; Stryker seamlessly duplicates the lighting of a pro-level car photography studio in 3DS Max.

Enjoy!