Great news. I am currently in talks with pinstriping.es to become a pinstriping paint and materials distributor. It is not One Shot paint as most people are used to seeing. But, from the looks of it, it looks like a very promising paint and materials company.
Follow them on Facebook too. Look for pinstriping.es
Sorry to all those people who are actually following my blog! I have been lazy and non-confident of my skills and my posts lately. I have posted pics of my daughter’s RC car remote that I recently repainted and I will post pics of the RC car I painted for her to match the paint theme.
You must be asking yourself “what does this have to do with pinstriping?” Well truth of the matter is that I find that everything relates to everything else. So me painting an RC car, or a RC remote, or a scale model… It is all boils down to the same thing! My patience and attention to detail. Which is what should be what you focus on!
I am tired of putting my all into something and seeing that other people don’t… what’s that saying?… do it for themselves’? but I mean that, when you “know”.. YOU KNOW! you can do better but you choose to say… well that’s good enough.
That’s what I’m talking about. The path to 10,000 lines isn’t about getting it done. The path is all about doing it right and giving it my all. Hell I’ll listen to Skrillex or Zepplin or Zed or M or whatever while doing it. Even listen to nothing because listening to my own thoughts are sometimes more interesting.
Well progress is going well on the remote.
See for yourselves.
Soon I will do a gloss coat, but first I need to wet sand and then the gloss coat. After the gloss coat then the decals then another clear coat then trim in black and then gloss and seal.
Only a few more steps to go. Thank goodness for airbrushes.
I am terribly sorry that I have not kept up to date since my last post. I am still on the path to ten thousand lines. The unfortunate part is that, like all, I need to keep the bills paid. And at this current moment, as I am unemployed, the most important thing to me is keeping up the job hunt to keep the bills paid.
Luckily still within the same vein of painting; I have started to repaint the remote control to my daughter’s r/c car.
I have started out by deciding on a colour theme (Gulf racing blue and orange) and masking off the necessary parts. Well actually first step after the colour scheme was to disassemble and remove the electronics.
Whatever the case. I masked, painted, applied decals, clear coated, and am now doing the orange then applying decals clear coating and then sealing with a clear coat. In between there has been some wet and dry sanding.
It’s been a while since I have had the time to work on my lines. I started reading the hand lettering book by Dick Bird and it is a great read for a beginner. I would have preferred it to be more descriptive of the strokes used or have some practice exercises. But hey, still worth every penny. I did 30 lines recently as I have been working on my résumé and building up my professional network. I’m happily doing the corporate thing after realizing my skillet is in both the arts and the Information Technologies sector. In short I’m a artsy computer geek or vice versa.
I will be working on a new stroke soon as I’m almost at my 1000 vertical line mark.
Here is a picture. Enjoy.
Yes my lines are getting really straight.
So today at ten am we received a welcoming ring of the doorbell from the FedEx man. I received my Freehand Lettering by Dick Bird book. The reviews of this book were not spectacular but I decided to get it anyways. I mean for a book that has been selling since 1983, even with bad reviews, must have useful information to be still selling. And I was right. This thing is a GEM! Techniques, tips, stories. Some might look through the book and think nothing of it, but do not overlook and underestimate this book. This is essentially exactly like when I was taking hand lettering in graphic design back in college but in paper form and on file! This is a great piece of reference material. Along with my copy of The Elements of Typographic Style, I feel like I am armed to the teeth with lettering techniques and knowledge.
So what if the end of the holidays left me with sitting on my duff and enjoying the good food and company? Now it is time to get back in to the swing of things and become my own teacher and student as I learn the stuff I want to do.
On a good note. A friend came over and said “so I hear you are taking the path to 10,000 lines” as if it were a know thing to do. It felt almost religious or even zen link to hear that. “The path” I like that!
And now some photos.
So today I didn’t do many lines as I was in preparation for family and friends visiting for the holidays. Alternatively, I used the time to practice hand lettering on my kitchen wall. I’m fortunate enough to have a blackboard wall into kitchen so that periodically I can put up signs and drawings on the wall and practice.
So just in time for the holidays and time for a little break (maybe)… Enjoy the images.
Well even though I have not done any lines for day twelve I figured it important to at least provide some useful information.
Below you see my main supplies and brushes. I don’t have a lot at the moment, but I believe you shouldn’t need a lot if you care for your things.
I have two 00 MACK series 20 that I use daily and another brand new unopened for later. I have a 00 broad liner for thick lines. A HOT ROD CUSTOMS size 1 brush that I have modified and nicknamed my XX. I don’t like to take away people’s business but the HOT ROD CUSTOMS brushes found on eBay are awful, not only that the seller never gets back to you unless it is to trash talk you. I have a coach liner brush which pulls super fine super long lines and curves. This is a very difficult brush to use and it had sat around more that it has been used. I love this brush and it was my very first brush, but I don’t practice enough with it. Last but not least is my 0000 MACK x-caliber brush for super fine lines and control. This thing is a miniature beast.
Cleaning supplies are isopropyl alcohol 99%, mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, STEVE KAFKA brand brush preserving oil and fish eye reducer fluid.
As for paints, right now I have DorR’s custom formula Sublime Green 1Shot paint, white, and chamois all in the 4oz format. I will be picking up an 8oz can of red and white soon.
I use pearl ex micro flocking for when I want a sparkle in my lines but it is hard to handle.
I’m back at it. My daughter is sick so I had to skip pinstriping yesterday. Today just to get my groove on I started practicing and man does it feel good and motivating. I feel stubborn as I keep pushing, but the more that I push the more logical the path becomes to me. I feel like I see it unraveling before me. I told a friend about the progression and even he told me to be realistic. That’s what I am working on. Keep doing what I am doing and in the meantime keep looking for something to pay the bills. But keep shifting the energy on to this. Keep focus.
One hour and thirty lines. Not my best and I still have energy for another ninety lines.
That new brush i trimmed works well but also has its drawbacks. The lines may be straight, but surface jitter causes little paint build ups.
Small design and small update for now.
Today I tried something new I tried trimming down one of my brushes of which is one of my older non-used brushes that I have. I decided to try this as I saw something recently on brush tip sizes on the Internet. The video talked about brushed hair and brush shaping. The gentleman suggested taking about 1/16 of an inch off the top of the brush and about 1/8 of an inch off the bottom of the brush. Supposedly this gives the brush more control with tight curves. I’ll post more information about this later for now here’s a pic.
Not only that I haven’t practiced many lines. I have done only around two hundred and fifty lines so far. I’ll give a more exact number later.
