NAME: CRISTINA DEUKETT

AGE: 31 LOCATION: AUCKLAND OCCUPATION: BRAZER WEBSITE: DEUK46.WIXSITE.COM/DEUKETTART INSTAGRAM: @DEUKETTART

NZ Performance Car : Hi, Cristina. Your highly detailed drawings have been popping up all over the internet. Can you tell the readers how you got into drawing?

Cristina: Hi, NZPC. I first got into drawing at about the age of nine or 10. Our family used to get complimentary calendars from our car mechanic — we still do, actually — and I used to be fascinated by the cars they would feature in the calendars. It would have all the latest sports cars, luxury cars — the kind of stuff that was amazing to see as a kid — and I just drew what I thought was cool. Mostly on refill paper or in the back of my school books.

So, you have always had a bit of a talent for drawing?

I guess so, yes. I’ve been drawing for such a long time, I knew it was ‘my thing’, but it was only in the last three or four years that I’ve really upped my game.

Besides those calendars, what’s your background with cars?

Not much in the sense that I don’t build cars or anything like that. I would consider myself an armchair enthusiast of sorts, kind of like someone who supports the All Blacks but has never played a game of footy. I do try to attend car shows when I can, and chit-chat with car builders while at the shows. I’ve found it to be quite a source of inspiration, seeing a person so passionate about their car or bike, and their willingness to share it with others. That’s really cool to see.

And what caused that armchair interest to develop into drawing the cars you saw?

When I saw a car that was cool but knew that I could not have it, I guess recreating it in art form was, and is, the next best thing for me.

That makes a lot of sense. Lately, you’ve been drawing a lot of very detailed and technical-type images. How did that develop?

I started out drawing cars and then moved on to motorcycles. I got bored of doing that after a while, so I tried drawing cutaway diagrams of engines, but just simply drawing them was kind of boring too. That’s when I tried combining caricature style, which I tinkered with while at high school, with the cutaway portraits of motorcycle engines. That was really enjoyable! A couple of years ago, I drew my first engine-bay portrait, which I call ‘enginescapes’, and I loved the details. I don’t know why, maybe I was dropped on my head as a baby, but that’s where I get the most enjoyment.

Do you find your drawing abilities better in those small intricate details, as opposed to the larger type drawings?

Drawing the intricate details of an engine has improved my ability to draw full car and motorcycle portraits. My attention to detail in general has improved overall, but I know I can improve further; it’s just practice.

How do you go about choosing the images you draw?

When I was in high school, car magazines were my main source for reference material, and it would just be the one image. Nowadays, especially with the enginescapes and cutaways, I’m having to look at several images to piece all the details together, mostly from the internet. If it’s a commission, I ask the customer to send me several high-res photos of their vehicle. Very rarely do I get to see the vehicle in reality before I draw it. I remember way back in 2008-ish, I drew a Brough Superior, and it wasn’t until a couple of years after that that I saw one at the Pukekohe motorcycle show for the first time. I was totally in awe, like a 12-year-old kid seeing

Justin Bieber, I guess. I looked that bike over for ages; it’s always a buzz to see something in real life, something you’ve only ever seen in books or online, then finally getting to see it in the flesh/metal.

Can you tell us about the typical process of producing a drawing?

I draw my initial sketch in a sketchbook which is A4 size. Once I’m happy with that, I’ll outline it with black ink pen, scan it, and blow it up to whatever size is required. Then I’ll transfer the scaled-up version of the sketch onto the brown card that I use, and, from there, I render it to give it more detail and pop.

Do you try to stick to perfect scale, or is there a bit of artistic licence involved?

Plenty of artistic licence; I’m not a perfectionist. Though I do pay more attention to not just the small details but things like angles and proportions. If I can’t be perfect, I want to at least showcase the beauty of vehicle/engine and hopefully do it justice.

I’m not a perfectionist. Though I do pay more attention to not just the small details but things like angles and proportions

What materials do you typically use through the process of a drawing?

I use 0.5mm mechanical pencils for the initial sketch. The small nib allows for small details like bolts, clips, threads, etc., to be drawn. Black ink pens, graphite pencils, coloured pencils, and toned card — some people call it ‘cartridge’.

Can you tell us why you use the brown card as a base, and what effect it has on the finished image?

The brown card is perfect for coloured pencils. It’s pretty heavyduty and can take a lot of layers of coloured pencil, which is ideal for blending. You don’t get to see it in the enginescapes, though, because I fill up the negative space, if there is any. You see plenty of it in the engine cutaways, as I do not colour in the background. Having a toned background means that the highlights stand out more. Plus, I just like the nostalgic look it has. It’s fitting for the cutaway engines I’ve drawn, which have mostly been classic engines: the BSAs and Nortons, for example.

Are there certain techniques that you’ve discovered work better than others, and how have your abilities changed over time?

Drawing my initial sketch at small scale makes it easier to get a sense of proportions and angles rather than drawing it large scale. Using multiple high-res images makes the drawing more accurate and the process more enjoyable than working from one small image. I look at the image(s) as a series of lines and points. All the lines and points are positioned relative to one another: intersecting, overlapping, converging, running parallel, etc. If I can position one in its place, then it allows me to position the rest; that’s how the sketch comes to life. It’s kind of hard to explain in words. My art has only improved because I improved this ability and I’m always looking to improve it further. However, it’s not special; just about every artist does this on a subconscious level.

How would you describe your style? Do you think it’s different to what others are producing currently?

My style is slightly obsessed I think [laughs]. The caricature-style cutaways are very different indeed. In general, though, there are more artists paying attention to the detailed engine style. You just need to look at Instagram for two minutes and see that. I think it’s fantastic that artists are paying more love and attention to the engines; after all, if it wasn’t for them, we’d still be cruising Fred Flintstone styles.

The brown card is perfect for coloured pencils. It’s pretty heavyduty and can take a lot of layers of coloured pencil, which is ideal for blending

They are a massive part of what all those involved in the car community do, so it’s good to see the love for them shared! Lastly, where do you hope to see your drawings progress in future?

I hope to see my art owned and being enjoyed by car and bike owners and enthusiasts. They may display it in their homes or garages; it doesn’t matter to me where it goes, as long as people get to enjoy them, perhaps even giving them a new-found appreciation for the vehicles in our lives. We will no doubt see more of your art in a few familiar places at this rate, Cristina. Thanks for giving us and the readers an insight into how it all goes down.