Ok I have started over 100 times trying to figure out how to model this efficiently. I have what I consider passable meshes using different techniques but I'm very new to Blender and know there's something I just don't know that I'm missing.
Here's a render of my current model...
Here's the mesh for the cutout geometry...
This seems terribly inefficient, modeling it using a background image and sliding edge loops all day.
If you look in the upper left corner there's a contour that doesn't belong there, among other problems like too many verts, etc.
What guidance would you offer? How would you model this? How would you keep the geometric cutout tight while keeping the number of verts down? Do you use subsurf? Shrink Wrap?
Thanks in advance for any guidance you could provide. I've attached the .Blend file so you can take a look at it if that helps!
Pete