As an former professional vector graphic designer, I can tell you exactly what's going on here. They traced photos of cars.

I got my first graphic design gig by being insanely fast (for the time) at creating vector graphics that would read well at any size, from page number decorations to billboards, for a magazine. We seriously got unsolicited compliments on our new graphics sprinkled around the magazine, and had new clients advertise with us just so I'd design some new logos for them.

What most people didn't know was that my speed was because I was really quick at finding source images, clipping things together so that my reference image would be "unique", and then I'd just isolate and trace the general shapes and enough details. Unfortunately, I became too popular for my own good.

My publisher one day gave me a very vague and broad request for a two-page spread, which included objects, people, and a "landscape or background that doesn't draw too much attention." It took me a day, but I presented my design the next morning. The publisher stared at it for a while, then simply said, "so, I guess you're only good at tracing things," and handed my printout back to me.

He later visited my desk and said that he didn't want to see another design until I figured out how to make the background as good as the foreground. So, of course, I made the foreground graphics worse. He was very happy with this.

Over the next couple of months, with lots of practice, I became very skilled at making my traced designs just sloppy enough to not stand out. Understandably, they fired me. The end.

Yep that does make sense