Building a TrainGIF, Part 2 
Creating the Outline

Fig. 2.  I located a scale drawing and found that the walkway was about 6 feet above the rail. This converts to 8 pixels (6 ft. x 12 = 72 inches, then divided by 8.5) so I drew a line 8 pixels up from the bottom of the drawing that extended between the ends of the couplers. I then roughed in the steps at each end.

The colors are not critical at this stage, but I tend to use ones that are similar to what will be in the final image to make it easier to keep track of what I'm drawing.

Fig. 3.  Referring to the scale drawing, I determined the height and length of the hood, radiators, cab and nose and drew their outline on top of the frame. I also added the platforms at each end.

Fig. 4.  Next, I positioned the driving wheels and fuel tank. Note the "blockiness" of the wheels in the enlarged drawing. This is not so apparent in the actual size GIF. Most of this will be disguised when the truck frames are drawn. Now we have the basic skeleton upon which we can begin adding the details.