Car Body - Adding Detail
Side panels
When we adjusted the headlight swells in a previous detail step, we added a bit of curvature back along the top of the fender on the front side panel. At that time, we didn't take the curvature all the way back along the panels because we were strictly focusing on the headlight swell. Now it's time to revisit this portion of the model.
The points selected in the above image are the points that will be defining the top of the flare of the side panel that travels the length of the car. The technique is to pick a point, or group of points, along this line, and using the side view with the reference picture enabled, move the selected point upward on the Y axis until it drags the shape of the flare into a position that matches the shape of the reference picture in that location.
Since some of the curvature has been defined in the creation of the headlight swells, it makes the most sense to start with the point immediately after the last one positioned and work consecutively from that point to the back of the car.
The points have been moved into place to match the shape of the reference picture along the top of the flare. Also, some extra curvature was given midway back on the side of the headlight swell by selecting the two points shown highlighted in orange above, and moving them ever so slightly upwards along the Y axis.
Note that the points in the back of the car have not been moved horizontally to match the protrusion of the tail fins yet. That will be done later when we add detail to that section.
With the addition of the curvature on the tops of these panels, our car body object is looking a lot more like we want it to. Certainly a lot more stylish, anyway!