Mclaren Mercedes MP4-22
Subject: 2007 Mclaren Mercedes MP4-22
Created: September 2021
Client: Created as a personal project.
Adobe Photoshop CC
Wacom Bamboo Tablet
Logitech Craft Keyboard
Asus ProArt Monitor
Experiments can lead to successes or failures, but without experiments, we do not learn and we become stagnate. After a long while of burnout and a creative block, I’ve come up with this. I’ve been wanting to try some newer things with my art, and even if this is not a direction or path I want to pursue with future projects I can at least say I’ve tried.
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has always been one of my favourite all-time livery. It’s pretty challenging to work with a shiny silver surface when you work without shading or contrast. I’ve always loved rocket red as a colour, the sharp contrast of orange-red against the almost industrial silver and black color palette of the Ron Dennis 2000s really made an impression on me as a teenager.
For this project I wanted to symbolize the X across the car as a metaphor for the tension in the team between Lewis and Alonso. The glitch effects also being a metaphor for the spy-gate scandal that plagued the sport at the time with pockets of the team and personnel that knew about what was going on and those that we left in the dark. 2007 was an interesting time in the sport and the repercussions of that scandal rippled out for years afterwards. I will say though that I am and always will be a McLaren supporter, they were one of the best teams and companies I had ever gotten a chance to work with.