Automotive design and styling is done through 2D sketching and simultaneous clay and 3D modeling. Therefore, a car designer could be a person who not only produces 2D concept sketches, but also someone who generates three-dimensional digital data. So trying to answer the question whether it is possible to become a car designer without a degree it is worth taking a closer look at what kind of person it takes to produce such work.
Can I become a car designer without a degree? You certainly can. After all, your skills is the most important job landing factor. Your degree is just a key that opens gates to the car design realm. However, your exceptional skills and an outstanding portfolio could very often be the “door left ajar” opportunity for you to push it open with your abilities and perseverance.
What is design?
Automotive styling encapsulates appearance and functional design. It is done through 2D sketching and simultaneous clay and 3D modeling. In the car industry, designers are required to posses all sets of skills. Therefore, a car designer could be a person who not only produces 2D concept sketches, but also someone who generates three-dimensional clay models and digital data. Let’s take a closet look at these three closely correlated disciplines in order to better understand that it is actually possible to become a car designer without a degree.
2D Sketching
In order to become good at sketching one should start early is his/her life. Such artists are usually very aware of what is waiting out there in the industry, and sculpt their career paths towards this direction from a very young age. Their sketchbooks are full of art, starting from quick thumbnail sketches and ending with entire renderings. They strive to secure a place at their dream college, and finally land a designing role on completion of their education.
Therefore it is extremely hard to find a 2D car designer who hasn’t got a college degree.
People who were hesitant might be in for a rude awakening. Breaking through to this group of enthusiasts at a later time might turn out to be very hard if not impossible. After all, there will be plenty to catch up with, not mentioning increased difficulties during gaining and polishing the skills due to the fact that the older you are the more difficult it is to grasp new knowledge. Having said that, it won’t be impossible. If your self-mastered sketching skills are backed up by a portfolio that is better than someone who has a degree, then you opportunities increase dramatically.
3D Sculpting
It takes exceptional modeling skills to 3d create designs that so far have only lived their lives on paper. Unfortunately, this craftsmanship can’t be mastered overnight. Even with today’s technology of quick polygon modeling techniques, it will still take a significant amount of time to grasp the nuances of good digital surfacing.
College students will never have enough time to fully acquire the knowledge required to comfortably build automotive models.
As the result of that, during college education, digital modeling is something that is forcibly pushed through the ‘designing digestive system’. Is is actually reflected in automotive design studios. Car 3D modelers are very often people with different educational and industrial backgrounds. These include:
- few-years-in-industry designers, who found themselves being more devoted to 3d sculpting rather than 2d flat work
- modelers who at the beginning of their careers don’t necessarily put automotive industry on pedestal. Their jobs very often have little to do with automotive. They usually begin small and steadily develop their skills through years. They find distantly related 3d modeling jobs, and, at some point, they come to the realization that moving up the ladder to automotive digital modeling can be a good career choice and the ultimate challenge for them. With such experience creating an outstanding digital models portfolio is a piece of cake. When they transfer, they take a bag of expertise together with them. The situation is the best chance for everyone without a degree but with a sack of hands-on experience.
Has History got the Point?
History proves the whole point of this article. In the olden days, especially during the post-war period, education wasn’t readily available. Talent for design and daily hard work helped people stand out from the crowd. These were the most sought-after personal values also present in the automotive industry. History is filled with people who relied purely on their creativity and passion to produce stunning automotive creations. Here is the list of some of them.
- Harley Earl is a legendary head of design at General Motors and ultimately the vice president. Earl has never completed his study at Stanford University. He quit prematurely to put down roots in industrial and transportation design at his father’s venture – the Earl Automotive Works. He was a pioneer in a number of craftsman techniques to the industry, such as free-form sketching, clay form sculpting of conceptual models. He also was the first to display early-stage conceptual vehicles for marketing and design.
- Battista Farina got the bug at the age of 12 when he began to work at his family’s body shop with his older brother. It was there that he learned the design knowledge and his passion for car styling was born. He stayed at the Giovanni’s Stabilimenti Industriali Farina for decades, learning bodywork and beginning to develop his personal automotive designs.
- Marcello Gandini was negatively influenced by his father who hoped that his son would follow his artistic dream and sent him to a liceo classico where such education was lectured. Unfortunately, because of lack of interest young Marcello did poorly at a chosen major. In fact, he was fascinated by mechanical engineering and developed a love for fiddling with mechanical creations, especially cars. Eventually he dropped out of the art school and shifted his attention, looking for the right design career direction. At 20, it turned out that his decisions and perseverance paid off. With no formal education and a lot of talent Gandini was a profit earning designer. He was very comprehensive, challenging graphic as well as furniture design. In 1959, at 21, he took upon himself to build a completely new body work for a 1500cc OSCA Barchetta.
- Carroll Shelby was an automotive designer and racer. He is also a great example of where pure design talent might take you. He formerly even resorted to raising chickens for a living. But his unique creations rose him to great heights. He was an automotive designer, racing driver, entrepreneur and author. He is most remembered for his legendary affair with AC Cobra and Mustang. Later he established Shelby American Inc. to manufacture and market position performance vehicles, as well as Carroll Shelby Licensing, which grew into Carroll Shelby International. His autobiography, The Carroll Shelby Story, was published in 1967. As a race car driver, his highlight was as a co-driver of the winning 24Hours of LeMans in 1959.
When Couldn’t You Become a Good Car Designer?
Are there any circumstances that will prevent you from becoming a designer even with a degree? Running out of steam and starting thinking of your job as only a job might cause some troubles. It might not make you lose your job, but it might lead you to nowhere. It is not about devoting your entire life to your job, but rather devoting yourself to the design when at work without any distractions.
If you have symptoms of job humdrum or even frustration, and you don’t have that hunger to trod a step further for more exploration, you will spin around well-explored ideas feeling hollow and possibly even more frustrated.
At the beginning of your career your mind might be ‘frozen’ and afraid of making mistakes, which is not ideal but not the worst that you can experience. The most demonizing act you can perform is making obvious, avoidable mistakes at later stages of your career when you have collected more experience, which result from lack of sense of responsibility.
Lost of personality is another serious problem. Automotive design varies, just like people’s personalities. If you don’t embed yourself into your design idea you might just follow others and your project might never step ahead of its time. Who knows, maybe your personal ideas will suit car industry for many years to come.
Market Fluctuation?
Time and Place Matter. Global economic situation is strictly representative of your chances of landing an automotive job. During a recession even most talented people might face redundancy, as market supply quickly becomes greater than the market demand.
In 2020, the global auto industry is expected to sell 59.6 million automobiles. This number is a dramatic decline of over 20 percent year-on-year. The sector is facing a significant downturn caused by a slowing global economy and the advent and lingering of corona virus pandemic in all major economies.
Conclusion
There is a huge chance that the door stays open for automotive design candidates with no degree. After all, landing a dream job depends only on the candidate. Searching for digital modeling jobs tend to return higher rates of success even for someone without a college history. This might be because of the fact that mastering an automotive software package is very time consuming and generally very tough. But also 2D sketch artist might find their luck in the car industry. It is all up to their skills enclosed in one handy document – Portfolio.
