How to Draw an Abandoned Truck
This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to draw an abandoned truck with flat tires, a broken cargo compartment, and a rusted body.
The differences between drawing a new and an old car are very significant, and we showed this in our tutorial on how to draw an abandoned car.
Here we want to focus your attention on the most important points in sketching an old, abandoned, and rusted, truck, which distinguishes it from drawing any other abandoned car.
How to draw an abandoned truck: step-by-step tutorial
Step 1 – Outline the cab and broken cargo section
Sketch the general silhouette of the abandoned truck. Draw the cab in front and only the frame of the cargo bed behind it, showing that it has collapsed or rusted away. Keep the lines loose and irregular, since this is an old broken vehicle.
Step 2 – Draw the abandoned truck front fender
Add the front wheel arch with an oversized fender above it. Unlike new vehicles, this rusty pickup should have no rear arches or fenders at all. The absence of symmetry highlights its neglected condition. If you want to show heavy damage, make the fender dented and uneven.
Step 3 – Detail the old-fashioned front section
Depict an old-fashioned metal bumper in front. Above it, add the hood lines with confident strokes. Then sketch a convex headlight and small decorative elements on the hood. To emphasize the age, you can draw cracks in the headlight glass or missing chrome details.
Step 4 – Draw the door of the abandoned truck
Outline the truck’s door with smooth but slightly uneven lines. Add a side window, making its top edge follow the contour of the door. The glass can be cracked, foggy, or partly missing to show age. For variety, you may leave the window fully intact if depicting a recently abandoned truck.
Step 5 – Add the broken handle and step
Draw a dangling, broken handle with a couple of simple lines. Sketch a step under the door and continue the broken lines of the cargo section behind. Handles on old vehicles often sag or stick out, so keep it crooked. You can make the handle broken or bent.
Step 6 – Draw the deflated wheels of the abandoned truck
Unlike standard cars, make the tires irregular and flattened. The upper parts can be narrow, and the lower parts wider, showing that they are deflated. Wobbly outlines help create a sense of neglect. For a very old truck, you can even leave parts of the rim visible through the damaged tire.
Step 7 – Sketch the old stamped rims
Inside each wheel, sketch the rims with a central circle. Around it, place smaller holes in a circle pattern, typical of stamped metal rims. These utilitarian details match an old truck style. For variation, you can replace them with simple spoked rims if you want to depict an earlier antique truck.
Step 8 – Shade and add corrosion effects
To make the drawing of the abandoned pickup truck more dimensional and realistic, add shadows. Start shading from the darkest areas, such as the arches, underbody, and wheels. Build up volume with additional hatching layers. To enhance realism, add corrosion patches, scratches, and broken glass. These details make the abandoned truck look authentic.
How make the truck look more abandoned
Panels and body parts often lose their shape over time. Try sketching a bent bumper, a dented fender, or a door that doesn’t align correctly.
Even one or two warped elements can make the whole truck look much more abandoned.
The suspension can also tell a story. Instead of the truck standing evenly, show one side of the body sagging lower than the other. This subtle tilt shows that the springs and shocks have worn out.
Adding vegetation makes the drawing richer. Small plants, weeds, or vines growing around the wheels and under the truck give the impression that nature is slowly reclaiming the machine.
This works especially well if you let the plants overlap parts of the truck’s outline.
Missing parts are another strong indicator of abandonment. Leaving out one headlight, removing a side mirror, or sketching gaps in the grille gives the drawing more character.
These small absences make the viewer imagine the truck being scavenged for parts.
Dirt and grime are easy to add but very effective. Use shading to show mud caked on the bottom panels, streaks running down from windows, or uneven stains on the doors.
These touches prevent the truck from looking too clean or artificial.
Finally, complete the effect with holes and corrosion. Draw sections of the body where the metal looks eaten through, leaving uneven edges and gaps.
This can be especially effective on the floor panels, fenders, or lower doors, where rust tends to accumulate the most.
Further practice in drawing old cars
Once you’ve added all the details that make a truck look abandoned, you can continue practicing with other types of old vehicles.
For example, visit our antique car drawing tutorial, where we illustrate a vehicle from the 1950s. Car of this era look very different from today’s models, and can also be sketched in an abandoned construction.
You can also check out our classic car drawing guide, focused on a model from the 1970s. You can combine it with the tips from this guide to sketch an abandoned version of this vehicle.
And for something closer to the theme of this lesson, explore our old truck tutorial, where we show how to depict a mid-20th century pickup. This tutorial will show what is the difference between an old truck and abandoned one.
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Share this lesson with friends or classmates who might also enjoy sketching old cars and trucks, and keep building your collection of classic vehicle drawings.
