been busy and haven't been around much. I have a customer that wants us to paint the endzones of our high school football field if we go to the playoffs. What would be the easiest way to mark the layouts? I can't see cutting stencils for a 150' x 30' area. How do they do the layouts at NFL, NASCAR, etc.???
-------------------- Jerry VanHorn, Pres. Pure Sports Designs, LLC Pro Sign Design / United Wholesale Signs www.prosigndesign.comwww.unitedwholesalesigns.com West Liberty, OH 937-465-0595 866-942-3990 Since 1990 Posts: 925 | From: West :Liberty, OH | Registered: May 2004
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posted
Jerry, this is a mainly a bump to keep your post from sliding into oblivion...
I have done a football field a couple times, which consisted of the school name in the endzones, "FLOMATON" and a big Hurricane logo in the center....
I'm going to tell you how I did it, at the risk of opening myself to ridicule at the hands of the professionals.. hehe. This was before I was a letterhead, so I didn't know any better but just figure out a way to go about it, and then go do it...
But I made a grid in Coreldraw and put my letters and design to scale on it. At the field I measured out and put down some spikes, and wove string between them and around the whole perimeter to make that grid on the field...
Then I just went by my printed pattern and traced the letters out to match... I first just went around and drew the letters out with little dots of paint.. so I could change them a little.. then made my solid outline, pulled up my strings and filled them in. The whole process went fast and really well, and I was pleased with the results. It looked awesome from the stands.
I did the design in the middle of the field the same way.
Anyway, like I said, that may not be the BEST way to do it, but it works! The only way I could think of in my simple mind.. hehe.
-------------------- Jon Jantz Snappysign.com jjantz21@gmail.com http://www.allcw.com Posts: 3395 | From: Atmore, AL | Registered: Nov 2005
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posted
Hey Jerry, did a search because I remembered a post about this a while back. Ran across this post from several years ago. This is almost exactly like I did it.
Turns out I'm not retarded after all... I gotta go tell my wife.
posted
I have edited the previous post with some new tricks,...
Field marking is basicaly alot like wall painting,you need to start with a scaled layout. I use one inch equals a foot for stuff as small as what you mentioned. As Tony said you can save yourself alot of grief with a pattern if you cannot freehand the layout directly on the grass.
First of all you will need to plan the procedure so that your efforts will not be tinted green by new grass growth during the event. We usually try to mow the area to be painted the day before painting begins,and then use a blower of some sort to remove any loose mown grass away, I assure you it is no fun using an airless pouring paint out on the ground and then having a cloud of dirt and loose grass clippings splatter everywhere messing up your efforts before you get halfway started.
Also make sure there are no practice sessions to take place during the process,...it's no fun dodging race cars,stray baseballs,monsterous football players,etc,... and trying to paint at the same time. The trick is to avoid the distraction, get the job done and have it dry before anyone can mess it up with footprints,cartracks and or endanger the painter,in that order,....Don't ask me how I came to know this,...
Down south here we usually paint the design no more than three days maximum before the event.The area to be painted has to be dry and then there has to be time for the paint to sufficiently dry before the event. The primary trick in this is to have a couple of dry sunny days that occur exactly two or three days before the event,I assure you it isn't any fun painting all night under the lights the night before the event,hopeing the dew and or rain won't wash your efforts away,besides you don't want to know what kind of mess you'll have if rain interupts your efforts and you don't have time to fix them before the event,...again don't ask me how I know this,....
As for laying out the area with the design the best trick is like Tony suggested,inverted latex traffic marking spray bombs. I usually layout my work freehand from a scaled layout as I find it a pita to do the layout twice. String and long gutter nails work to make good guidlines ,somewhat similar to the way you would layout a footing on a construction site.For the less experienced it would be wise to make a pattern and correct any layout mistakes on it and not the actual design,thus saving yourself alot of grief. Like Tony we use clear plastic with holes cut out to spray the drawing directly on the grass. We usually secure the plastic patterns down with the same gutter nails we use for the string guidelines.
Once the design is transferred or drawn directly on the field in some fashion we usually start painting. In our case we have already secured power and or use a gas powered airless to apply the paint.An extention for the airless is preferred to avoid a backache from bending over while painting,as usually you'll already have one from either spraying the patterns on and or laying the design out freehand.You will also want to use a small fan tip to attain any sort of detail. We use the same tip they use to mark street lines and parking lots here. A note here,...any copy or part of the design that is less than 18" high or lines less than 6" wide are next to impossible to do with an airless,so to keep your design neat and clean in appearance it often is better to try and do your design as large as possible without some sort of stencil. If need be old carpet scraps and or coroplast can be cut for these areas of detail.These can be stored for future use,...hint hint,..don't leave these with the client for storage,....they might have a talented nephew
Once you actually get started painting you need to have enough field marking paint to do the job. Painting grass is somewhat like pouring paint out on the ground so be prepared to use alot of paint.If you cannot order field marking paint from your local paint supplier,any cheap grade of latex paint will suffice,as it hasn't got to last over a week or so,and if it does the grass will grow up thru it before the paint fades away.You do not want to spray the grass so thick as to kill the grass by soaking the roots but you will need to put a couple of coats to make sure the design is opaque for the short time it will last.Plan your painting process so that you won't have to walk thru wet areas and track paint,thus ruining your efforts.On another note we try to plan the sequence of colors we spray so to limit the cleaning of the gun and hose,...lighter first then to darker colors last. I assure you it is easier to start white ,yellow,red,blue,..black than it is to try and do it in the reverse of that order.
As for changing the design two days after the event or making it go away,don't even try. You do not want to see what the field will look like after a lawnmower sends a billion multi colored grass shreds all over the place.Green paint won't even fix that. It is best to plan a panel large enough to hide the old design then paint the new one within that area,saving the mowing for a few days,or plan the whole process with a panel area for both designs in the first place,one right over the other in the same panel.
Finally make sure you make the client pay for the paint,and get out of town before it rains,....
-------------------- fly low...timi/NC is, Tim Barrow Barrow Art Signs Winston-Salem,NC Posts: 2224 | From: Winston-Salem,NC,USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I hsd thought about the grid system but didn't think about the pounce pattern with plastic. If they go to the play offs I will get to try it next week. I am tempted to go out in the morning a do a tigers logo at the 50 yard line but I have other obligations.
thanks for all the help, I knew I could get it here.
-------------------- Jerry VanHorn, Pres. Pure Sports Designs, LLC Pro Sign Design / United Wholesale Signs www.prosigndesign.comwww.unitedwholesalesigns.com West Liberty, OH 937-465-0595 866-942-3990 Since 1990 Posts: 925 | From: West :Liberty, OH | Registered: May 2004
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