Clay modeling
Encyclopedia
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
prototypes was first introduced in the 1930s by automobile designer Harley Earl
Harley Earl
Harley J. Earl was first Vice President of Design at General Motors. He was an industrial designer and a pioneer of modern transportation design. A coachbuilder by trade, Earl pioneered the use of freeform sketching and hand sculpted clay models as design techniques...
, head of the General Motors
General Motors
General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...
styling studio (known initially as the Art and Color Section, and later as the Design and Styling Department).
Industrial plasticine, or "clay", which is used for this purpose, is a malleable material that can be easily shaped, thus enabling designers to create models to visualize a product. Clay modeling was soon adopted throughout the industry and remains in use today.