Vehicles and machines

1. Silhouette first, in three views. Sketch side, front and top thumbnails before rendering; the readable big shape sells the design more than detail. Give every machine one strong silhouette element (tank treads, a flat head, a long nose).
2. Collect 3–4 reference silhouettes and compare ratios before pixel work; invention comes after you know real proportions. Relative sizes between units follow their real specs.
3. Wheels (or the main masses) go down first. Package order: footprint → wheels → body box → wrap the skin → details. A wheel is a circle from rules://72-3d-forms, not a drawn ring.
4. Car proportions in wheel diameters D (measured from sketches, approximate): wheelbase 3.5–4 D; body height 1.8–2.5 D; overall length 6–7 D for a sports car, ≈ 7 D for a pickup; ground clearance ¼–⅓ D; off-road buggy 4–5 D long with oversized wheels. At 32 px wide: two wheels of D 5–7, wheelbase about 20 px.
5. Wheels cut into the body. Draw the body, then a ring one pixel larger than the tyre in the outline colour, then the tyre: that ring is the wheel arch. Near wheel full size; far wheel 1–2 px narrower, slightly offset along the receding direction, its lower arc hidden by the body. Long lens: far/near ≥ 0.75; wide lens ≈ 0.5.
6. Hub detail: tyre ring, rim ring, hub pixel; D=5 gets a hub pixel only, D=7 a plus-shaped rim, D=9 a round 5 px rim. Several wheels in a row: widest at the margins, flattest near view centre.
7. Side-view car in three blocks (32×16): lower body about ⅔ of the height, cabin a shorter trapezoid at ⅓ (offset to the rear for sedans, centred for vans), two wheels that bite into the lower body. Greenhouse narrower than the body by 1–2 px per side, A-pillar at 1:1.
8. Only 3–5 details survive at 16–32 px: wheels, windows, head/tail light, one trim or grille line, one roof feature. Choose by vehicle type.
9. Sheen and value: one 1 px highlight line along the shoulder and a short one on the hood; one dark band below the shoulder ("reflection split"); windows darker than the body with a 1 px lighter diagonal; headlights pale yellow, indicators amber, brake lights red.
10. Iso car (63×45): length ≈ 2× width and wider than two characters; build from body block, cabin trapezoid (A-pillar 1:1, windscreen taper 1:2, roof 2:1), spoiler slab, wheels each on a layer; tyre about 7 px with one extra ring of rubber; bevel edges with 1 px bands, add rhythmic dots on angled edges; stripes and glass sheen last (rules://71-isometric).
11. Top-down units: nose up for vertical shmups; the sprite sets the resolution for the game (jets up to 25×36, helicopter ≈ 29×31 with blades, tanks smaller). Draw the half hull and mirror around its centre line for symmetric craft. Do not flip a 3/4 top-down craft vertically for "enemy facing down": redraw (rules://70-perspective).
12. Planes: fuselage = long tapering cylinder; wings are flat planes with taper ≈ 0.5, dihedral 3–7° (1 px per 8–12 px of span), tailplane span 0.4–0.5 of the wing. Top-down 32 px wingspan: fuselage 3–4 px wide, 22 long, wing chord 6 px at the root and 3 at the tip, sweep 1 px per 3–4 px of span. Side-view plane: the wing is a short slanted parallelogram ⅓–½ of the fuselage length.
13. Side-scrolling aircraft move by roll, not pitch: rotating pixel clusters distorts them. Five orientations (level, two roll-up, two roll-down); tap shows the first roll level briefly, hold shows full bank. Spend extra frames only on units that move a lot; ground units get tread or wheel shimmer and a 1 px bob.
14. Propellers and rotors: 4 frames at 50 ms with steps of 22.5° (template in rules://75-rotation-and-turnarounds); squash vertically for a 3/4 view; reuse the animation for palette-swapped enemies. Thrust: 2 frames at 50 ms; rocket trail: bright frame, stretched flame, wider/shorter/darker, smaller.
15. Turrets are their own layer with ≥ 8 directions; a destroyed turret leaves a husk.
16. Mech or walker: build from separate parts on layers (head, torso, arms, legs, weapons) and keep an exploded-view sheet. At 32 px: torso like a tank front, shoulders higher than the head, head low with 1–2 bright pixels, upper legs mostly unseen, leg+foot one unit (skis, talons), 2-px hands. Legs of 2 equal segments (8+8), leg span ≥ 1.5× body height for walkers, middle joint pointing outward or up, feet 4–5 px, 3 values only. A tiny human next to it gives scale.
17. Function drives form for spaceships and machines (no aerodynamics in space, but each universe has rules); evolve the silhouette alongside the detail pass. Submarine: hull oval in 3 bands → conning tower → rudders → propeller → rivets.
18. Panel detail is rhythm: secure silhouette and structure first, then repeat panels, screws, stripes like a tune; random greebles become noise.
19. Paint last: stripes that wrap around forms enhance depth; one neutral base, 1–2 accent colours; 5–7 colours per sprite.
20. Shadow and ground: drop shadow = flat dark copy offset down-right; wheeled units sit on a contact shadow ellipse (rules://70-perspective).

The 8 and 16 px cells are derived from rule 4 and rule 8; 32 and 64 px follow the measured sprites cited below.

veh-car-side-32 — side-view car: lowered hood and trunk, glass with glints, door line, head/tail light, wheel arches cut by an outline ring, body shade band. Recolour roles for vans or trucks by raising the cabin.

K = outline        #1c1824
B = body-mid       #c8392f
L = body-light     #e8645a
D = body-shade     #8f2540
M = handle         #f5d0c8
G = glass          #6f9fc4
W = glass-glint    #d7ecf7
Y = headlight      #ffe58a
R = taillight      #ff4a3d
T = tyre           #3b3947
r = rim            #aab4c8
H = hub            #e6ebf5
---
................................
...........KKKKKKKKKK...........
..........KGGGGKKGGGGK..........
.........KGGWGGKKGWGGGK.........
........KGGWGGGKKWGGGGGK........
...KKKKKLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLKKKKK...
..KLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLK..
.KBBBKKKKKBBBMBKBBBBBBKKKKKBBBK.
.YBBKKTTTKKBBBBKBBBBBKKTTTKKBBR.
.YBKKTTTTTKKBBBKBBBBKKTTTTTKKBR.
.KBKTTTrTTTKBBBKBBBBKTTTrTTTKBK.
.KDKTTrHrTTKDDDDDDDDKTTrHrTTKDK.
..KKTTTrTTTKKKKKKKKKKTTTrTTTKK..
...KKTTTTTKK........KKTTTTTKK...
....KKTTTKK..........KKTTTKK....
.....KKKKK............KKKKK.....

veh-car-top-10x13 — top-down car: hood, windscreen, roof, rear window, trunk, side tyres, light pairs. Symmetric except for glints.

K = outline        #1c1824
B = body           #2f7fc4
L = body-light     #6fb4ea
D = body-shade     #1f5388
G = glass          #27466a
W = glass-glint    #8fc4dd
T = tyre           #3b3947
Y = headlight      #ffe58a
R = taillight      #ff4a3d
---
...KKKK...
..KYLLYK..
.KLLBBLLK.
TKBBBBBBKT
TKGGGGGGKT
TKGWGGGGKT
.KLLLLLLK.
.KLLLLLLK.
.KGGGGGGK.
TKBBBBBBKT
TKBBBBBBKT
TKRDDDDRKT
..KKKKKK..

veh-jet-top-17x20 — top-down fighter: nose, canopy, swept wings, tail fins, engine notch; light from the left on the hull.

K = outline        #1c1824
B = hull           #9aa7bd
L = hull-light     #d4dcea
D = hull-shade     #5f6b86
G = canopy         #4fb4d8
---
........K........
........K........
.......KLK.......
.......KLK.......
......KLBBK......
......KGBGK......
......KGBGK......
......KLBDK......
.....KLBBBDK.....
....KLBBBBBDK....
...KLBBBBBBBDK...
..KLBBBBBBBBBDK..
.KLBBBBBBBBBBBDK.
KLBBBBBBBBBBBBBDK
KKKBBBBBBBBBBBKKK
...KKBBBBBBBKK...
.....KBBBBBK.....
....KBBBBBBBK....
...KBBBKKKBBBK...
...KKKK...KKKK...

veh-wheels-5-7-9 — tyre/rim/hub wheels at D = 5, 7, 9 (K ring is the arch outline when overlapping a body).

K = outline        #1c1824
T = tyre           #3b3947
R = rim            #aab4c8
H = hub            #e6ebf5
---
................KKKKK..
........KKK....KTTTTTK.
.KKK...KTTTK..KTTRRRTTK
KTTTK.KTTRTTK.KTRRRRRTK
KTHTK.KTRHRTK.KTRRHRRTK
KTTTK.KTTRTTK.KTRRRRRTK
.KKK...KTTTK..KTTRRRTTK
........KKK....KTTTTTK.
................KKKKK..

1. Choose the type, projection and size; note the wheel diameter D and compute the proportions from rule 4.
2. draw op grid the wheel stamps at their centres; box the body above them with rect.
3. Cut the silhouette (hood, cabin, nose) with row spans; check look op preview for the three-block read.
4. Add arches by painting the one-pixel-larger ring, then the tyre.
5. Fill value roles (body light/mid/shade, glass, lights) from one ramp; add the shoulder line.
6. Details from the 3–5 list; outline last; look op ascii for orphans; validate.

• Silhouette alone says "car", "jet", "tank" or "mech".
• Wheel diameter and wheelbase match the proportion ratios; arches present.
• Far wheel or wing narrower than near; no identical stamped copies.
• 3–5 details; highlights follow the longest surface sweep.
• One light, one shadow, 5–7 colours; thrust/rotor/turret layers separable.

• Robertson & Bertling, How to Draw (vehicle packaging, wheels and ellipses, aircraft).
• Slynyrd, Pixelblog 12, 18, 19, 27, 31, 32, 34, 46, 48, 54, 59, 61, 63 (ships, aircraft, mechs, shmups, cars).
• Tuts+ isometric vehicle tutorial; Megavoxels pixel-car guide.
• Saint11, Spaceships, Tech, RocketTrail tutorials; Pixelblog 61 (isometric mecha).