Steve Anderson
Creating evocative automotive images for discriminating clients is a kind of busman’s holiday for Steve Anderson. By day, he works on future products in the West Coast design studio of a large car manufacturer; at nights and on weekends, he labors on exquisite renderings of some of the most exciting cars of yesterday and today. But don’t call his passion labor without adding the qualifier “of love.” Anderson has strong feelings about most of the cars he illustrates, and is in fact reluctant to accept commissions to depict cars that do not strike an emotional chord for him.

Anderson’s passion for the cars he depicts and the skill he brings to the task have brought him success. Currently, he has a backlog of several months’ worth of orders, and has numerous illustrations in progress. This makes a certain sense of pace critical; if the order book fills too rapidly, he’ll turn down work, not wanting to “shove them out the door just to get done.”  (Click image to enlarge)

The end result is easy to see. Though almost photographic in their realism, Anderson’s illustrations are much more than exact renderings. His keen eye and finely honed techniques allow him to depict the ideal flow of light across sculptured metal—and fiberglass—surfaces, exaggerating where necessary to emphasize form in a way no photograph could match. When he forces perspective, as in the case of the Porsche 911 illustration seen here, it shows off the original car’s form to best advantage.

His initial inspiration came from the beautiful illustrations prepared by Italian coachbuilders to present their designs to clients. Those meticulously detailed drawings, most often finished with colored pencils, were as much a work of art as the finished cars. Anderson has added to the techniques used, employing not only pencils but airbrush and gouache to add depth to the finished product.

Since each illustration is done to order, backgrounds, views, and extra details are included at the client’s request. In many instances, the decorative addition is as simple as a depiction of the car’s badge, while some ask for much more, as evidenced by the Porsche Turbo, with its extra perspective views, a digitally added miniature of the car’s original window sticker, and an engine illustration superimposed over horsepower and torque graphs.


In a few cases, clients make unusual requests. “The owner of a 1974 Porsche Carrera had specified the car’s colors when he ordered it, and insisted on the inclusion of an actual leather sample taken from the build packet. I created a mat for the multi-view illustration which incorporated a small window where the sample was laid flush under glass.” More common are the wishes of racecar owners to have their cars’ competition records in the illustrations, or, for cars with notable pedigrees, to have listings of previous owners.

Most of Anderson’s commissions come from owners themselves; some have provided poignant moments like the story of the Corvette convertible seen here. The car, a 50th Anniversary edition, was the gift of a man’s son-in-law who wanted him to enjoy his longtime dream of owning a Corvette. A family friend, hearing of the impending gift, came to Anderson and requested the illustration, which was presented with the car.

Almost half of Anderson’s commissions are repeat orders from collectors, from owners who replace cars he has already illustrated and want the same treatment for the new one, or from people who want him to depict cars from their past. A Shelby GT-350 is an unusual example of the latter: Anderson wanted to buy the car for himself and began the illustration while negotiating for it. Someone else ended up with it, but the episode was not a total loss, as the new owner bought the illustration as well. (Click image to enlarge)


A small but growing sideline for Anderson is the sale of prints. To date, these have been taken from his Porsche work, which is done under a license granted him by Porsche AG.

Steve Anderson
626.796.8410
www.saillustrations.com