Endless Road: Building A Social Network for Automotive Art

When did you last draw a car? It may have been age 5, or, if you’re like some of our inducted designers it may have been the other day, but you’re not alone. Automobiles and art have always been intertwined. Designs for many of today’s automobiles still often start with a pen and paper. Plus, the shape and look of the best automobiles have always inspired artists to break out the easel and recreate the metal and plastic designs in paint or pencil.

This appreciation of automotive form was the ultimate starting point for Draw to Drive, Tomislav Palatinuš’ website that aims to be a social network for automotive artists and their fans. Tomislav started sketching cars himself at the age of 14. He said he was always interested in the wider world of Automotive art, searching it out on social media. “Every once in awhile I would stumble upon someone’s Facebook profile full of car drawings, sketch, designs. Then I would stumble upon another one, and another one.”

So it went for awhile, but Tomislav said all the searching got in the way of actually enjoying the work artists were producing. “Then it clicked. Why would I have to search every time I want to see what artists and designers are drawing, why would they have to be searched? Lets just gather together.”

So Tomislav started Draw to Drive as it’s own Facebook page, searching for artists one by one to add to his growing group. Then came Instagram, with a much more visual focus. “That was the most important thing. ‘Full screen’ automotive art, no distractions. Each day hundreds of new followers. People were actually interested in automotive art, and those were not just the artists.” Sure enough, eventually the Draw to Drive instagram had more than 50 thousand followers submitting, sharing and liking tons of Automotive art.

Tomislav doesn’t see Draw to Drive as just a place to look at art, or even just as a social network. It has also become a way to promote and grow talented artists. “We have one rule: Quality has to be good. A lot of young artists want to be featured right away, but we would like to teach them to work hard to get to the top. That way they learn to respect professional artists and all the hard work they put in, and also improve themselves. And lot of them succeeded. There is no better feeling for me, then to see the improvement of beginners.”

Although cars and the social media we use to appreciate them are changing fast, it’s never been easier to find a group for your favorite automotive niche. Currently on Draw to Drive, you’ll find everything from artist profiles to featured art, to the week’s top picks, and Tomislav says they’re not finished yet. “We are still developing it, but its growing each day. [There are] more than 1000 artists and more than 4000 artworks. If you search for #drawtodrive on Instagram you will find more then 43,000 car drawings. Imagine the number of hours to create 43,000 drawings. We are giving our best to improve it, to help artists to be seen, and to help enthusiasts find artists.”

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