No. 030, in six platesSketches of Formula One
A race car, a palm tree and a lot of cream paper: six pages from a sketchbook kept somewhere warm.
Every plate here starts as a drawing: confident black pen line, a little scratchy hatching on the palm trunks, then thin washes of tomato red, olive and dusty green laid over the top. The ground is untouched cream paper, faintly mottled like a page that has spent a summer in a bag. The pairing never changes. Each sheet sets one classic open-wheel race car, the kind with a tall airbox and fat slicks, against a single palm, and the fun lies in how the two are introduced.
In The Tallest Palm a lean trunk climbs almost the full height of the screen, with a low red car parked at its foot like a toy left at the base of a flagpole. Car on a Book shrinks the racer to model size and sits it on a closed hardback, the palm sprouting from the page edge in a shower of ink specks. Number 13 in Blossom is the odd one out: a white car head-on, and behind it a palm crowned with white flowers that seem to burst off the sheet. Corner of the Page is the most patient of the set, a tiny grey car and a small palm tucked into one corner beneath an ocean of cream.
Most of the drawing hangs from the middle of the frame down, so the time sits on bare paper and only the palm crowns reach toward it. On a light Home Screen the cream feels like a notebook under your icons and dark labels read crisply. In dark mode the paper dims to a soft parchment rather than glaring white.
These suit readers of design annuals, sketchbook keepers and anyone who likes a nod to motor racing without the noise. The Tallest Palm and Corner of the Page are free in full resolution; the other four pages are premium.
The palm does the climbing; the car just waits at the bottom of the page.
Try each one on before you save it.
Tap any plate to hang it on the Lock Screen, then switch to the Home Screen to see it behind your apps. This is the same preview the app gives you, on your own phone, with your own clock.
Every plate here can be ordered as an unframed matte print, from A$59 with free shipping. Or hang three side by side: any three plates from Sketches of Formula One, 8 × 16 in each, for A$179.
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Plate IThe Tallest Palm -
Plate IICar on a Book -
Plate IIINumber 13 in Blossom -
Plate IVPalm Behind the Cockpit -
Plate VRed and White Profile -
Plate VICorner of the Page
How Sketches of Formula One wears.
Sunny, unhurried, wry, light. Pen and ink sketch with watercolour wash, sized for every iPhone up to 2160 × 4800.
On the Lock Screen
Corner of the Page leaves the entire top of the screen as blank cream, so the time and widgets have the paper to themselves.
On the Home Screen
Car on a Book keeps its drawing compact in the lower middle, which leaves a calm cream margin for rows of apps.
Full resolution, every model
Each plate is delivered at the exact size of your iPhone's screen, up to 2160 × 4800, so nothing is stretched or soft at the edges.
- Sketchbook cream#E0E0C0
- Tomato wash#E03020
- Olive frond#A0A080
- Pencil grey#808080
- Ink#202020
Free plates, and the rest.
Open Sketches of Formula One in pxCream and preview any plate on your Lock Screen first. Prices come from the App Store in your region and are shown in the app before you buy.
Sketches of Formula One
Two free platesFree
Full resolution, saved straight to Photos.
A single premium plate10 credits
Yours for good: re-download it any time, on this iPhone, at no extra cost.
pxCream UnlimitedMonthly
Every premium plate in Sketches of Formula One and the rest of the gallery, for as long as you subscribe.
On the App Store · iPhone only · No account needed
About Sketches of Formula One.
Why is there a palm tree in every sketch?
It is the series motif. Each sheet pairs one classic race car with one palm and varies the scale and placement, from a towering trunk over a tiny car to a racer the size of a model parked on a book.
Do the cars belong to a real team?
No. They are drawn in the spirit of classic open-wheel racers but carry no official team livery, and the series is not affiliated with Formula One or any team.
Which of the six drawings are free?
Two of them: The Tallest Palm and Corner of the Page download free at full resolution. The other four pages of the sketchbook are premium, at 10 credits each with re-downloads forever, or included with Unlimited.
Something else? Support answers within two business days.
Sketches of Formula One, in your pocket.
pxCream is on the App Store for iPhone, with Sketches of Formula One and the rest of the gallery inside.