Effective Vehicle Design by SVS Learn

SVS Effective Vehicle Design is an online class from the School of Visual Storytelling, taught by illustrator Shane Hunt. It teaches you to design memorable, story-driven vehicles: conveying personality, balancing form and function, using reference without copying it, and getting creative with your designs. You finish with an original boat, car and flying vehicle. The class has 21 lessons with about two hours of video, five assignments, a final project and six downloads, and is included in the SVS Learn membership.

Vehicles are hard to draw because they combine mechanical logic with perspective. This class approaches them as characters, asking what each vehicle says about its owner and its world.

What You Will Learn

• Conveying a vehicle's personality through its design
• Balancing form and function so a design looks believable
• The value and the danger of reference
• Combining several references into one original design
• Getting creative with shapes, proportions and details
• A full process from first idea to finished vehicle design

Who Is SVS Effective Vehicle Design For?

The class suits illustrators, comic artists and concept art students who avoid drawing vehicles, or whose vehicles look like copies of real models. It is also relevant to children's book artists, since cars, boats and flying machines appear in many stories.

Some perspective experience helps; Basic Perspective Drawing and Visualizing Drawing in Perspective are useful first steps.

How the Class Works

Each topic is introduced in a short lesson and followed straight away by an assignment, so you design as you learn. Two demonstrations show the full process: one combines several references into a single vehicle, the other creates an original vehicle from start to finish in three parts. The final assignment asks for three designs, a boat, a car and a flying vehicle, which together make a strong portfolio page.

Course Structure

1. Introduction: conveying a vehicle's personality (Assignment 1)
2. Balancing Form and Function (Assignment 2)
3. The Value and Danger of Reference (Assignment 3), with a demo on combining references
4. Getting Creative with Vehicle Design (Assignments 4 and 5)
5. Demo: creating an original vehicle from start to finish, in three parts
6. Final assignment: an original boat, car and flying vehicle

Price and Access

The class is included in the SVS Learn membership. SVS lists its Studio membership at $29.95 a month, and class pages show a $300 annual option. A 14-day free trial is available with a card and becomes a paid subscription unless you cancel. Members also get live events and a monthly art challenge.

About the Instructor

Shane Hunt has worked as a professional illustrator and graphic artist for more than a decade. His work has appeared in video games, books, animated films and apparel for international brands. He lives in Payson, Utah.

How It Fits the SVS Curriculum

Effective Vehicle Design is part of Level 3 of SVS Essentials, the environment level. It follows the perspective classes and sits alongside Designing Rocks and Plants, also by Shane Hunt, and the exterior and interior environment classes. Vehicles, nature and buildings together give you everything needed to build a believable world.

Things to Consider

• Time: two hours of video, but three final designs take several sessions.
• Reference: gather photos early, but use them as a starting point, not a template.
• Before this: basic perspective and Introduction to Prop Design.
• Next steps: Designing Rocks and Plants and Exterior Environment Design.
• Feedback: share your designs in the SVS community.

Start the Course

Interested in learning with SVS Learn?

Start Effective Vehicle Design

For the full curriculum and membership options, visit the official SVS Learn website.

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Last verified: October 26, 2026