Interview with vehicle designer John Frye

In this interview, which runs for 1h35min, John Frye, who also happens to be one of our own personal favorite concept designers, touches on many different topics, from details about his technique and workflow, to advice for design students.

The interview was done by our friend Arvind Ramkrishna, automotive designer who runs DrivenToDraw.

You can see more of John’s amazing work on his ArtStation page and on his personal website fryewerk.com.

Also, make sure to subscribe to DrivenToDraw’s YouTube channel for more interviews and drawing tutorials.

A Formula 1 Concept by John Frye, rendered in the style of Tamiya’s scale model box art from the 1970s. 

Here are the topics covered in the interview:

• Developing a passion to draw at a young age
• Some of his influences growing up
• Early interest in how things work – Being Curious and Creating
• Reading History Books
• Leveraging Star Wars Books
• Experience at Art Center – Struggles and Aptitude
• Design Jobs Post Graduation
• Design is not about Art
• Working at Honda
• Using 3D modeling to enhance your design skills
• Experiences in the Industry and collaborating with cross-functional teams
• What students should keep in mind when designing a vehicle
• Fun design projects from Sprumeister to the Batmobile!
• Book recommendations – DK books – Using books to understand details.
• Sketch Swap! Process with working with other designers
• Batmobiles/Anachronoid/Bat Buggy/Superfuel Detonation at .25 mile
• Tools to use when drawing digitally and traditionally – Wacom Cintiq 21UX, 17 flatbed scanner/Photoshop CS6
• Importance of drawing by hand and learning fundamentals
• Future of Design Education and Online Learning
• When is it too late to pursue a design degree
• Future of Transportation Design

(Source: DrivenToDraw)