A project log of an Airbrushed computer ( final fantasy )

[Bill Owen]

Very good, I like the flame layout

[R B Customs]

Hi all
So this is where I left you all last time, with a small warning that it looked crap but the next step would make it.



Th next step is just to add some dark yellow candy. When I say 'dark yellow' I mean it is dark to look at, but when applied it comes out almost like an eggy yellow / golden orange. All of the red underneath will darken it too.

This 'dark' yellow is also 'dark' because if you applied enough coats It would eventually go to near black. It's very easy to over-do and defy the point of the previous step.

Here's what it looks like straight after the dark yellow, To give you an idea, most of the face has been painted with the same colour too. but remember that is painting candy yellow over white, not yellow over yellow so the results are different.

See, Told ya it would all change




Next, I go in with an orange candy and reduce some of the bright spots and add some shading into the face.


I pick out some 'highlights' with a 50/50 yellow / white basecoat, Although it appears to be white when sprayed on, it is actually a very pale yellow. Using pure white would just kill the whole thing.


and halfway through adding the yellow candy over the pale yellow:




Finally I go over the whole piece with this 'light yellow' It gives a similar tone to the dark yellow ( Oh my... Could I make this any more confusing? ) but no matter how much I apply, It will not make anything any darker.

By rbcustoms



I'll have to take some pics of all of this dark and light candy business, It is quite hard to explain !


The next step is the Wolf design, the beast signs / logo's and then the artwork on top of the case, which is a mini project in its self.

[kopite]

Wow.

[R B Customs]

HI guys,

Sorry for the late update, but it's here...

So last time I left off saying that the next step was to do the sign and wolf work, this has to be the most time consuming part of the whole thing to be honest. stop - start all the way through.

I start with a sheet of masks, I've cut a few different sizes of the same thing in case one goes wrong, or one doesn't look the right size etc. Here you can see I have started 'weeding' the masks - removing the pieces that are not needed.

The masking material is a heavy frisket film, it has a thicker backing than usual (plotter friendly) it is tinted grey (artist friendly) and it is solvent proof (paint friendly) unfortunately it is not pocket friendly




I've also cut the wolf head design out, weeded and offered it up to the side panel to get the position right.


The mask is then stuck to a piece of transfer paper (12" low tack masking tape - not pocket friendly) and applied to the case. I use the back of the panel as a guide.



I'm going to be painting the design with a specially mixed candy/prismatic mixture. When sprayed it has the habit of landing everywhere, I have to mask everything off!
You can see the gaps in the masking film where i will be spraying through


I told my client that the wolf head would be 'ghosted' in. By this I mean it will be painted with a pearlescent / prismatic paint so it can only be seen at different angles. It wont affect the colour of the under lying flames much either.

The paint is a mixture of red pearl, which is a very pinky pearl tint, green-gold prismatic ('flip') paint and finally a dark red candy to kill off the green of the green-gold and give it an orange glow.
You are never going to see what this wolf head will look like until the clear coat goes on but here is the paint that was used:


and the final result



Next stop is the company logo's there will be 2 'beast computers' logo's and 2 'R B Customs' logo's
I use the same process as the wolf head, but this time I am spraying through the mask with pure black. then I dust some of the red pearl mixture I used before over the whole thing. It will give it a kick in certain lights, and just look plain black the rest of the time.





I'll have to cut this update short, I plan on putting up my guide to candy paints tonight as I am just about to leave for work.

next step - top mural and clear coat.

[[GSV]Trig]

Sweet (thats a good sweet btw )

[R B Customs]

okay, as promised:


CANDY 101

One of the most common questions I get asked is some how related to candy paint. It is a strange concept and none of my work would not be complete without the use of candy paint somewhere. I'm pretty much addicted to the results it gives.

I've already had a few emails from the various places this log has been posted by people asking about candies so here is my brief guide. If you know about how paints are made, specifically automotive paints you will spot some holes in my explanation, I've tried to make it as simple as possible.

what is a candy?

A candy is a paint with no pigment.
Pigment doesn't just mean colour, it also relates to opacity. A pigment is usually a powdered solid - talc, silica, titanium dioxide etc etc are all mixed into paints to give them an opaque appearance. in automotive paints, these normally take the name 'base coats'

the other component to paint is a binder, in the case of automotive paints Binder is a thick, clear yet cloudy unpigmented paint. it is comparable to 'clear varnish' if you like.

A candy is simply Binder and dye.

A dye is not the same as a pigment. Pigments contain opaque solids, dyes do not.


As mentioned before, the best way to describe a candy paint is to think of a stained glass window, or a boiled sweet... if that does not clear things up - this picture will:

As you can see, the black and white text remains visible, yet the white has simply been tinted by the candy paint. The black has not been made any lighter, it's colour value has not changed.
this is why i paint everything in black and white to begin with and add the colour afterwards. blacks stay black and the whites and greys will pick up the colour of the candy.


dark candy, light candy
I think I'm the only guy who uses this term but here's what I mean.

The appearance of candy paint when it is still in the pot is pretty dark. It almost looks black.

From left to right: Red, Dark Orange, Dark Yellow, Light Yellow

The red in this case is nearly empty, you can see a little bit in the bottom which looks black.

Here is what the same paints look like on a white surface:


As you can see where the candy is thicker it looks darker. where the candy is thinner it looks lighter.
Candy paints are notoriously difficult to use because of this. coats have to be exactly even when you are spraying things like cars and bikes. if one part of the candy coat lies thicker than another you will get a dark patch.
Thankfully using candy paints for artwork like this means I can be a little more relaxed about ho even the coats are, as you would never notice.

the 3 on the left are what I would call dark candies. the light yellow however is different. when sprayed it is almost exactly the same colour of the 'dark yellow' but no matter how much I put on it will never get any darker. this makes it fab for working with red/yellow/orange schemes, or even green/yellow schemes as I can lash it on in multiple layers and I know it will only alter tones that are lighter than it.

For example, probably the last thing I will do is use pure white for extreme highlights to the face and hair. I'll use the light yellow to turn these white highlights to yellow and the yellow candy cannot darken the image down or make it patchy. If i was to use the dark yellow it would likely ruin the whole thing.

Rick

[R B Customs]

Back to the art...

So this is the space I have on top of the case ( behind the blue line)


It's about 200x200mm

My client wanted the phrase 'one winged angel' on the case. No matter where I put the phrase int he concept design it never sat right. We decided to go a long with a faux scroll sitting on top of the case with the phrase burnt into it.


I will eventually paint a drop shadow under the scroll so first of all I need to give my self a lighter background than black. I use some bright orange, misted in random cloud like patterns, then a thick coat of dark orange candy.

I leave this over night to dry.

I've ran out of my magic masking film, So I've had to use an alternative, It's horrible to work with but I got there in the end.

I cut the mask out, but this time instead of picking the unwanted pieces out, I stick the whole thing to the case:

This way I can remove one section at a time to paint the correct shapes of the curled up ends.




I start with this section, I'm using a buff / sand coloured paint to tart suggesting some shape to the flat piece.



I remove some more of the mask, but leave the text where it is.

Like most things so far this one will look BAD before it looks good!
I tend to work in a 2 steps forward, one step back manor. I will over shade, and over highlight then come back in to reduce the effect. This is not a bad way of working.




I remove the masks covering the words, I wanted to make them look like they were burned / charred into the paper rather than drawn on. to do this i just airbrush in the middle of the line and let the over spray create a soft edge.



I've taken the outer mask off now, started to add some heavier shading and scarring to the paper. Some tears and holes too.




This is when the camera died... I've started to 'over highlight' some parts which i can go in later and reduce back. A lot of what you see here is just over spray that can simply be wiped away.

There's still some way to go on this little piece of the puzzle. As I said though - it looks bad before it looks better!

again, any questions JUST ASK !
Rick

[adoo42]

dude you are v talented at what you do. love the FF case. how long have you been doing cases? i bet you have some seriously cool looking stuff around the house.

[TAKTAK]

i bet you have some seriously cool looking stuff around the house.

interesting thought...

what does your microwave look like?

that scroll looks epic (goes with the rest of the case TBH)

[R B Customs]

dude you are v talented at what you do. love the FF case. how long have you been doing cases? i bet you have some seriously cool looking stuff around the house.

I do grow very attached to the things i create, so yes there are lots of things in my house that perhaps shouldnt be there... It's very hard to sell these things / move them on.

With projects like this one I know I have to let the case go but it is stull tough.
also, o answer "adoo42"'s question, I have been painting cases specificvlly for around 3 years or somethign and prior to that I was doing car / bike stuff. I much prefer paintintg computer cases though. the scale is just right. well PC-P80 scale is just right

to answer both of your questions, Model making got me into airbrushing, which I started doing in 2000. I have tons of grusome large scale figures which circulate the house! and al the associated medals and awards to go with them. I don't paint models any more though. sadly I just do not get the time

thanks again for the kind words guys, I'm glad you are enjoying it!

[BeastComputers]

Looking awesome buddy!!!

[R B Customs]

Hi guys,

I apologise for my bad typing in this update! It's late and it's been a long day.

This, unfortunately is going to be one of the last updates to the project as it is very very close to being finished.



Tonight I'm going to go through some of the last touches, and the clear coat process.

Final touches:

one of the last things I'm gonna paint is the bottom plate of the front door. this plate can only be seen when the door is swung open. It's quite a nice space and fits one of my logo's nicely.
I start by flatting the panel off with a grey scotch pad then clean the surface with panel wipe followed by a tack rag.

I prepare the mask, this time we are going for a negative mask (or is it positive :S I never learned the difference! lol) The letters will remain black, with the airbrushed effect around them.

I lay the mask down and use a bright orange, carefully painting over the mask. the over spray creates a nice glow effect.
I add some suggestion of shapes of flame licks and then go over the whole thing in dark orange candy.


I forgot what the size of the piece was when i filled the cup with paint... I ended up with excess which I had to get rid of, I thought this sentence ended quite ironically



I add some highlights, and go across the tops of the letters in bright yellow then remove the masks and cover the whole lot in dark yellow candy. I remove the masks because it prevents building too much of an edge up on the piece. and of course candy does not show up over black - which you should all know by now.







Clear coat:

This is always the most difficult part of a paint job, and is usually where amateurs will struggle.
I never used to do my own clear coats as it is a very skilled thing. but you will find that no body shop is willing to even touch panels with artwork on as they are notoriously hard to clear coat because of their uneven surface and extremely high risk factor. I've learned my lesson getting other people to do it for me, so now I do my own. Its a nasty job - but someone has to do it.

The paints used for clear coating are quite unique, and take a little while do get your head around. They are known as '2k' or 'two pack' paints. and they do not dry; they harden - and this is very important.

The clear coat is made up of a lacquer and a catylist / hardener / activator. The two components need to be mixed with a ratio of 2:1.

I'm using a medium slow activator, with a slow thinner and high solid clear coat in a cold room. despite the 'slow' title it does not take that long to harden compared to regular stuff but the 'slow' part of it is more toward the application end. When you apply a slow clearcoat, it has more time to level out. When it gets sprayed on it goes on like orange peel, infact you can actually see it wrinkling up. but then as if by magic the whole thing tightens up and hardens to a mirror finish.

I prepare the parts i intend to spray by wiping them down with panel wipe then giving them a rub with the tack cloth to remove any dust. I look for any defects at this point too and fill them in with the relevant colour.

Fresh masking paper lines my work surface to prevent any dust, dirt and other stuff from being blown up and onto the parts:



Pay close attention to this photograph:


As you can see it looks blotchy - some parts are glossy, some parts are matte. you can even see some lines where the original mask were but they have been painted over with black.
some parts are rough, some are smooth. the red's don't really look red and the blacks look s dull shade of grey or brown.

the clear coat goes on in 3 stages
1.tack coat - with these new high solid clears, some painters recommend not to use a tack coat but it is essential for anything with artwork.
A tack coat is pretty much just giving the whole thing a light coat aiming for about 100% coverage but it's and extremely light coat. It looks horrible!
I leave this for about 15 minutes to let it 'flash' - Flashing is when the solvents start to evaporate the paint and the finish ends up being tacky. When I can put my finger in it and pull it up so that it comes off like string then it is ready for the next coat.

2. wet coat
THe tack coat was to seal the artwork and not let any colours bleed. If i was to go with an initial wet coat then it would melt the underlying artwork and ruin it.
Once the tack coat is on and 'tacky' I can go with a wet coat. This is still a fairly light coat but it goes on so that you start to see a shiny finish.
Ilet this flash off for a little longer ( 20 minutes, or until it becomes stringy ) then I go with a 3rd wet coat.

I let this harden over night and begin the wet sanding.

The panels are int heir prime for sanding and polishing when they are still a little bit soft. This makes it quite hard to work with as they are very easily scratched and damaged! watches, rings bracelets and sleeves have to come off, and hands need to be wet.

I let some 2000 grit wet/dry soak for 20 minurtes and then begin sanding in straight lines to get rid of any spots of dust, defects or orange peel.
I use cold water rather than hot as it seems to harden the paint a little more and prevents it from scratching as easily. I try to keep a constant stream of water over the piece to prevent any grit getting between the paper and the panel.

Here's what it looks like sanded down:



now watch the magic:
you will notice it doesn't look a lot different from the pictures above. the colours are dull, the blacks don't look black etc etc. the only difference is that it is consistently smooth.
This is next picture will sow you the beauty of clear coat - just imagine what the flames will look like when cleared !

I run water over the dry piece to give an idea of how much difference the polish will make.


notice how much deeper the black is, and how much more vibrant and rich the colours are. the details in the scroll begin to pop out too.



That's it for now - next update will be the polished versions.

[kopite]

Mate your a painting GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111one

[Disturbedguy]

That looks awesome!

[R B Customs]

Hi guys,

Another late night update...

So tonight is clear coating the side panels night.

The amount of fumes and mist in the air makes it hard to take pics, so i can only show teaser pics tonight.



I'll start a the start.

I thought I'd take a pic of some of the things that you need for spraying 2k clears


from top left to bottom right:
Medium / slow thinners; 2k activator ( normal / slow); 2k clear coat (high solids); a tack rag; a pair of latex gloves; a twin filter respirator and a bright orange jagermeister bandanna.

Most of the dust and dirt that can make it's way onto a freshly painted panel is from the painter. I'm not saying I'm a particularly dusty person. but the last thing I want is fro my hair to fall into it or something daft like that. I also wear fresh clean overalls or clothing and keep them as clean as poss throughout the process.

Not in the picture is the spray gun; I use a mini gun with a pretty small needle for my clears. A full size gun is sometimes a bit too much and with flat panels that lie flat, using slow clear coat the gun choice tends not to matter that much as the paint will settle flat on its own.

I lay the panels down for the last time and go over them with panel wipe and finally a tack cloth. I tack cloth them again moments before i start painting too. ( a tack cloth is a cloth which is kind of sticky. It removes dust, overspray and other nasties you don;t want lying on your work prior to clearcoat)



the first coat is the tack coat. It goes something like this:


as you can see, there is full coverage but it is very light. it looks blotchy. Remember this is just to seal the artwork to prevent colours from bleeding too much.
I let this sit for 20 minutes then go for a wet coat:


I do apologise for the poor picture but it is like trying to take a pic in a steam room! you can just about see reflections and stuff.


This will get wet sanded tomorrow then probably receive another to coats of clear. then wet sanded again and polished up to a shine.

[mayhem]

congrats you have some skill. Fancy do mine lol ...