Looking for a painter for a custom job

[Amoeba]

I'll be the first to admit that my painting abilities are somewhere between non-existent and vomit-inducing. It's like I have this anti-artistic forcefield of suckitude. So I'm looking for someone to do a custom paint job for me. Knowing nothing about painting this may be an easy design but I'm thinking it might be pretty damned complex.

Lid would be a solid purple base:
View attachment 6898

with a darker purple overlay of binary code similar to this:
View attachment 6899

as small and tightly packed as would be feasible over the whole body. I'm looking for very subtle, so blur/fade is nice. No "pop" to the code (if that makes sense?)

I know some of you painter expert-types have done lids for people in the past but I didn't want to get all up in your grill without asking for some recommendations or availability/pricing etc., especially since I have no idea how difficult this would be to do. I can order the lid & ship to you or compensate for materials cost in addition to labor.

So, anyone want to tackle this? Estimated cost?

 

[Candyman]

You may want to start by scoping out the "Painter Of The Year" thread to get a few good names. Also scan threads here in the Body Shop to see what the members are doing. I know that the majority of us painters don't mind someone dropping us a PM to ask what we can do. Although a lot of us are busy with the outside world, all the guys I know that paint here will be more than honest about their ability to get the job done.

 

[NCNitro]

Wow! I don't think I would even attempt that. The time alone to do the binary code, small, over the entire body will be insane. Then to get it to look good, and look like binary coding and not a mess will be another feat in itself.

 

[marauder]

You might have better luck with a shop that will print a vinyl wrap that you could cut to fit?! It would certainly be cheaper, down side is that it would be on the outside of the shell.

 

[Amoeba]

You may want to start by scoping out the "Painter Of The Year" thread to get a few good names. Also scan threads here in the Body Shop to see what the members are doing. I know that the majority of us painters don't mind someone dropping us a PM to ask what we can do. Although a lot of us are busy with the outside world, all the guys I know that paint here will be more than honest about their ability to get the job done.

Oh, I did look through the POTY thread and know there are some amazingly talented painters here. but I also wanted to get a feel for whether this was even a feasible design as well as the effort involved.

Wow! I don't think I would even attempt that. The time alone to do the binary code, small, over the entire body will be insane. Then to get it to look good, and look like binary coding and not a mess will be another feat in itself.

Well, though I lack the ability to paint, I have been thinking about how this would be done technically. I would assume the code color/dark purple would be the base coat, then a reverse vinyl mask of the binary code applied over the base and the backing pulled, leaving just the binary stencils on the body (all nicely lined up and even). Apply the lighter purple over that, pull the stencils once dried, lightly ghost over binary with base color to blend, cleacoat & done.

Then again, I'm probably talking out of my ass.

You might have better luck with a shop that will print a vinyl wrap that you could cut to fit?! It would certainly be cheaper, down side is that it would be on the outside of the shell.

Wait, you paint the inside of the shells??

Whoa. That i didn't know.

 

[Rolex]

It's like I have this anti-artistic forcefield of suckitude.

Love your honesty....

The fact that these lids are painted on the inside, in reverse order of normal painting, is what makes the nominated painters ALL geniuses.

 

[Amoeba]

Love your honesty....

The fact that these lids are painted on the inside, in reverse order of normal painting, is what makes the nominated painters ALL geniuses.

I'm always willing to admit my shortcomings. Pisses people off when I beat them to it.

I was going to pick up a new lid for that craigslist special since the existing one was trashed. I figured even I could wave a paint can over it for a solid without too much trouble. But the whole inside thing has my mind blown.

I mean, now that i think about it that totally makes the most sense what with scratches and stuff.. but I had no idea. My admiration of their skills just went all the way up to 11.

 

[NCNitro]

Wait, you paint the inside of the shells??

Whoa. That i didn't know.

Yep, all masking would have to be done in reverse, applied to the inside of the lid, then the main body color painted, then all those tiny little binary numbers would all have to be pulled up and shot with color you want for the code, which btw since you want the body lighter than the code, the body will also have to be backed after shooting the it to prevent the darker code color from bleeding through since you paint from dark to light on a lexan body. You would need someone with a high end vinyl plotter to cut the masks in a mask grade vinyl, and applying the mask straight is going to be a nightmare. You will most likely get bleeds in the complex bend areas of the body. That scheme is way more involved and time consuming than anything I have ever painted. If you do find someone to attempt it it aint gonna be cheap.

 

[Amoeba]

Yep, all masking would have to be done in reverse, applied to the inside of the lid, then the main body color painted, then all those tiny little binary numbers would all have to be pulled up and shot with color you want for the code, which btw since you want the body lighter than the code, the body will also have to be backed after shooting the it to prevent the darker code color from bleeding through since you paint from dark to light on a lexan body. You would need someone with a high end vinyl plotter to cut the masks in a mask grade vinyl, and applying the mask straight is going to be a nightmare. You will most likely get bleeds in the complex bend areas of the body. That scheme is way more involved and time consuming than anything I have ever painted. If you do find someone to attempt it it aint gonna be cheap.

Wow. Thanks for the information and education. I had no idea. Maybe I'll just have to revise my plans

 

[Candyman]

My first idea was to hit a craft store and find some precut numbers that would be suitable size and just buy the hell out of the 1's and 0's. Easy peasy lemon squeezy after that. I do agree with NC, though. That would be one busy assed body. I would consider maybe doing a purple body with wide black Eurostripes on it. Then embed the binary into the stripes.

 

[Lessen]

Best outcome would be to do it with an ultra fine point Sharpie. I recently did some written work and learned alot.

1: always write with the Sharpie pointed downward. Altering positions will change the darkness of the writing.
2: the writing will come out more consistant if you do it once. Allow it to sit for a day or so, then go over it again. (I did not do my work this way but this is what I would do if I were to do written work again)

If I didn't have soooo much paint work ahead of me already I'd give it a go but I'm just jam packed with paint projects right now.

If that's the only effect you want on your body then cost really shouldnt' be tooo bad IMO. Granted it is alot of tedious work but if there are no other effects involved it wouldn't be outrageous. Time to mask is minimal. Time to plan and layout is minimal. If all you wanted was the binary code and probably window trim I'd say $40 for the work.

 

[NCNitro]

I have never seen a fine point purple sharpie. Plus, to me that wouldn't look consistant, no way can you hand write that over an entire body and have it all look the same, the sizes will vary even if only slightly, the spacing, same thing, it will show a human element rather than computer binary which is what I thought he would want. I have also seen sharpies used on bodies, and no matter how hard you try the transparency between what was done in shapie is NEVER consistant, I don't care how many times you go over it. Thats why I paint the outlines on my cartoon bodies like the spongebod lid, rather than sharpie them, even though it is much more work. I did try the sharpie thing on scrap first and it did not look good at all. Sharpie looks like marker writing, it will never look like paint. Yeah, I could write a bunch of 1s and 0s on the inside of a body with a sharpie, do I think it would look like what he wants, nope.

Jeff, your idea is similar to what I was talking about by having someone with a plotter cut out the 1s and 0s on mask grade vinyl, but those craft store decals are meant to stick, they will leave glue residue on the body and be much tougher to remove than a mask grade vinyl.

 

[Lessen]

I have never seen a fine point purple sharpie. Plus, to me that wouldn't look consistant, no way can you hand write that over an entire body and have it all look the same, the sizes will vary even if only slightly, the spacing, same thing, it will show a human element rather than computer binary which is what I thought he would want. I have also seen sharpies used on bodies, and no matter how hard you try the transparency between what was done in shapie is NEVER consistant, I don't care how many times you go over it. Thats why I paint the outlines on my cartoon bodies like the spongebod lid, rather than sharpie them, even though it is much more work. I did try the sharpie thing on scrap first and it did not look good at all. Sharpie looks like marker writing, it will never look like paint. Yeah, I could write a bunch of 1s and 0s on the inside of a body with a sharpie, do I think it would look like what he wants, nope.

I just checked online. There are ultra fine point Sharpies available in purple, but not extra fine point. when doing written work with Sharpie there is a difference between an 'Extra Fine' and 'Ultra Fine' Sharpie. Ultra fine is like a felt tip pen and requires a little more pressure which often smudges the markings that are already there so going over your work to make it darker is pointless. Extra fine Sharpies are better for this work but they do not come in purple, only black, green, blue, and red unfortunately.

Anyways, I can agree with most of that about consistancy except for size. If you just print out a bunch of 1's and 0's you can trace them on the body and get the size very consistant. Of course, this method will certainly not look computer printed but have much more of an 'artist's eye' look if you will. That's just my style I suppose. The best way to do it in paint would be with computer cut mask. More and more I think about buying one of those cutters. At any rate, it just depends on the look that he wants I guess. If he wants it to look exactly like computer screen binary then the only way to do it is with a custom cut mask. If he want the general effect of binary then the options are plentiful. He could use decals, liquid mask and cut out the binary, hand write it.. whatever. Personally, I would hand write it because he stated that he wanted it to be subtle. If you mix the background color just a couple shades off of the sharpie color then the inconsistancies with transparencies (which I agree will always be there at some level) will be less obvious.

 

[NCNitro]

To me, writing it with a shapie is just an inferior way to do it. It's going to look like hand written marker and not computer generated, completely defeating the idea behind this scheme. Not to mention, you said go over it again after it dries, the more times you go over it, even once, and it is going to show even more inconsistencies, both in the numbers themselves, and transparency. Imo, sharpies just don't look good in lieu of real paint, also imo, the only way to do this properly would be with a custom cut vinyl mask, and it will be a very tedious job. Sure, you can cut corners to put something close to this together, but will the owner be happy with it? I know I wouldn't.

I do like Candymans idea though, painting the code within some racing stripes, I think that would look killer. But again, I would only do it with a propper mask and not a marker.

 

[Lessen]

That's cool. We can agree to disagree somewhat I do agree that paint does look 10x better than sharpie but the only way to do it without spending a quadrillion hours handcutting mask is to get the proper masking. However, it would look great done in that manner. I really should take the dive and purchase one of those home cutters.

 

[NCNitro]

I would love to have one of those cutters myself, I could really take my painting to the next level. I just haven't had the expendable cash to get a good one, and I don't want to get a cheap one that either won't do what I want, or won't do it as well as I want.

 

[Lessen]

plotter.. new car. plotter... new car. You can see the delemna here.

 

[Amoeba]

Why can't there be more threads like this in here? Just reading the discussion between Lessen and NCNitro I find fascinating. I've always enjoyed learning what goes on "behind the curtain" so to speak and hearing the technical aspects & merits of different techniques from people with great skill.

I may have to start seeding the forum with "how would you do..." posts

My first idea was to hit a craft store and find some precut numbers that would be suitable size and just buy the hell out of the 1's and 0's. Easy peasy lemon squeezy after that. I do agree with NC, though. That would be one busy assed body. I would consider maybe doing a purple body with wide black Eurostripes on it. Then embed the binary into the stripes.

Hrm, that sounds like a nice alternative.

Jeff, your idea is similar to what I was talking about by having someone with a plotter cut out the 1s and 0s on mask grade vinyl, but those craft store decals are meant to stick, they will leave glue residue on the body and be much tougher to remove than a mask grade vinyl.

Dumb question but the glue residue on the decals... could you remove it with denatured alcohol or similar after the paint dries without stripping it? I don't know what kind of paint is used (oil, acrylic, etc) so no idea if the decal route for masks would be workable or if you'd need the plotter and mask grade vinyl.

 

[Lessen]

quality masking will leave zero redidue on the body. It would peel off cleanly. The vinyl masking that body manufacturers like Proline use are first rate and can be left on for days and days without any redidue issues. This is unlike other masking alternatives like regular masking tape which may leave tack behind on the body if left on for too long. There are also alternatives such as blue painters tape which is also popular when doing custom stuff. It can be left on longer without fear of residue issues.

You may have already seen this but this is my first attempt at written work with an Extra Fine Sharpie. Knowing what I know now I know I could get it a little darker if I wanted to but I was actually going for somewhat of the same effect you mentioned... subtle. No, it doesn't look like it came straight off the newspaper printer but it's more artistic IMO. It all depends on the look you want.

What hursts the clarity and transparency the most is the fact that it's backed with a metallic paint. If it were backed with a solid tone I believe it may have looked a bit nicer. At any rate, it was my first attempt and I'm relatively pleased with it because I got the look I wanted.

 

[Candyman]

Dumb question but the glue residue on the decals... could you remove it with denatured alcohol or similar after the paint dries without stripping it? I don't know what kind of paint is used (oil, acrylic, etc) so no idea if the decal route for masks would be workable or if you'd need the plotter and mask grade vinyl.

Glue residue from masking is a big pain in the ass. Especially if we're looking at very small masked areas. Remember, we're painting on the inside of the body. So any glue that's left will show on the outside. Even though we cover it with paint, that is actually the "top" layer that's seen. To remove it, you can use things like DA or Goo-Gone. But you always run the risk of messing up your color borders or smearing paint or adhesive. Mask grade vinyl uses an adhesive that leaves no residue, so you can peel it off with no lasting effect. It's really important to try to keep the plastic as clean as possible while painting. That even includes finger prints.

Josh, may I offer an alternative? When I have to do outlines or if I were doing text, I use an Opaque Paint Marker. They are available in many different tip styles and colors. They are as easy to use as a Sharpie, but instead of ink, it's paint. I have used black and white on different projects and after 2 simple coats they are really bold. The black outline on the Taz body and the while lightning on the bug are examples: