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Well I finally broke down and actually put some graphics on my own vehicle for once.. =)
Since there isnt a vinyl to match my truck's paint, I actually used CLEAR vinyl and airbrushed it with the highlights and shadows. Lemme tell ya, I was workin' a little "blind" sprayin the highlights on clear vinyl on a white liner.. hehehe.
I think it turned out OK... I've already noticed it grabbing some attention at stoplights.
Here's the effect I was going for, as generated by photoshop:
And here's what I ended up with, after a slight design change.. the shadows didnt show up so well in this pic, I'll have to snap a new shot tomorrow in different lighting...
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Well I could see the cut lines while airbrushing because the lines showed up with the lighting behind me.. had to kinda bob-n-weave to make the reflection hit the right spots so I could see it.. hehe.
The hardest part was knowing how much white to spray on.. didnt wanna go too heavy but needed enough to cover a dark surface. I had no way to guage it (clear on white liner) so I was pretty tickled with the result after I pulled the transfer paper off.
I used vinyl ink for the white, and black createx (the regular stuff, not AutoAir) for the shading. Cleared over it with Dupli-Color clearcoat. There's no particular reason I used this combo of paints, it's just what I had handy already.. it was all thinned, in glass jars.. ready to go and the clearcoat was within arm's reach..
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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Yep, it's a mazda.. it's nice of mazda to use decals for their logos instead of plastic badges like Ford... otherwise I woulda had to fill some holes and repaint the tailgate to get a nice smooth look.
Here's a close-up shot.. actually two of 'em combined in one image.. just realized I missed a hightlight on part of the "G"..
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So what do you do, do you take your photoshop printout, and use it as a guide for where to paint the highlights? Or do you just know where to paint.
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I just use the photoshop pic to get ideas and help get the shading in the right spot, but when I actually do the work, I work from memory and a little physics know-how to place the light. =)
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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------------------ Dave Grundy AKA "applicator" on mIRC "stickin' sticky stuff to valuable vessels and vehicles!" in Granton, Ontario, Canada 1-519-225-2634 dave.grundy@quadro.net www.quadro.net/~shirley
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Stevo, I used the "Bevel and Emboss" Layer Effect which is standard with photoshop. In Photoshop 6.0 they enhanced the bevel/emboss tool. Instead of being able to adjust the location of the light source around a flat circle, you can now adjust the "height" of the light source.. basically if you imagine a 3D Sphere around your artwork, you can place the light source ANYWHERE on that sphere.. it's pretty handy.
------------------ Mike Pipes Digital Illusion Custom Graphics Lake Havasu City, AZ http://www.stickerpimp.com
Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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