The Sharpie Camaro SS

The Sharpie Mustang was finished and delivered just in time to receive the next sharpie car- this 2012 Camaro SS. The customer has a lot of great ideas and we spent a great deal of time talking our way through them all. Initially I was going to be doing SS style stripes on the front and back, but I felt like 1 wide stripe would be just a little bit different from that as well as give enough surface area to get some nice artwork in. This one is going to be different then the other Sharpie Cars in a couple ways... one of which being that I wont be posting the step-by-steps on the blog until the job is completely done. Not that I mind sharing, but after having done a number of these I've found that the reaction from the customer upon delivery isn't as exciting because they've already seen so many pics of it. I like to keep them as involved as possible, but we're going to try something a little bit different on this one. I've got lots of info and pics to work from so I'll surprise until the end. I'll be back in a few days!

The Sharpie Mustang Part 13 FINISHED!!!

After the clear coat was finished, the next step was to wet sand & buff. After that was done the next step was to clean the car very nicely for some photos. Friday was d-day as well as photograph day. The photographers name is Bethany Eteeyan- she is an awesome artist when it comes to just about about anything. She does incredible drawings and is always ready to learn something new. As it turns out, she's also really great at taking photos. So we rolled the Mustang over to an empty lot where she took lots and lots of pictures. I'd post them all if I could... but time... there is so little of. Hopefully Bethany will have her site all the way up and running so I can share some more of her work with the world.

So the Mustang is finished! Now I'm on to the other Sharpie Car...

The Sharpie Mustang Part 10

Another very nice day of inking achieved. Today I was able to pick up from where I left off yesterday and continue the rest of the way to the edge of the fender where the 2 tone will break off. A whooooooole lot of ink has been layed on the front end of this car. Now that I've got that section finished I can begin finishing the front edge of the hood. I saved this area for last so I can do it uniformly. And once that section is done I can move onto the clear coating and finishing stages. This car is going to look soooooooooo coool when it's done!

The Sharpie Mustang Part 9.5

I decided to take it a little easier today to preserve my sanity... which means working 4-5 hours instead of 12-14. I did make a decent amount of progress today tho- I made it across the tallest part of the cowl hood. Since I'm not tall this proved to be the difficult area. Much reaching and stretching was involved. But with that section out of the way I can resume my working pace in easier to reach areas, which at this point, will finish out the front end. This car definitely has some of the coolest cleanest lines and designs I've ever put down- It's definitely going to look super sharp when it's done!

The Sharpie Mustang Part 8- The Return!

Well here's a change of gears. The owner of the Sharpie Mustang I did last year made some pretty sweet additions to his already nice ride- changed out the bumpers, added a sleeker spoiler, and added some super sharp wheels. These finishing touches actually made the artwork portion of the car look unfinished. So we agreed that the artwork needed to be at the same level as the rest of the car, and ideally have it done before the start of car show season. The Ocean City Cruise In is a pretty big deal in Maryland, so the goal is to have it ready for that show. Trouble is I am no longer in Maryland so this job would require many ducks to be in a row. My boss generously flew me to Maryland so that I could do this and another Sharpie car as a representative of the shop. Yesterday the Mustang was dropped off for it's additional artwork and I began by washing it thoroughly, prepping it, washing it again, and laying out the fine line tape where the artwork would end. We decided that a 2-toned type scheme would fit best without being anymore over the top then it already is. I spent the remainder of yesterday gathering materials and making a plan. I got some lines down but was a bit lagged from the flight. Today was the first solid sharpie day- I decided to start form the back and work towards the front so I could get back in the groove of the art. While I'm drawing I also need to be conscious of the artwork I've already done on the roof so that the ideas and themes feel uniform. I managed to get all the way through the back section... was a long day, but it was a blast! I really like what I've got layed down and tomorrow I'll get started on the front end.

Custom 69 Camaro Rendering

UPDATE 12/8/12:  This piece was SOLD!! But you can still buy a print on the store page of the website:   Pinstripe Chris Store

When we moved to California I started working at a hot rod/restoration shop that is currently home for this 69 Camaro. I also started working on the car itself... I'm actually still working on the car. It landed at our shop for body and paint after having had some pretty significant customizations done at a different shop. The car was originally supposed to be painted black, but a possible spot in the BASF booth at SEMA this year meant that it could not be painted black or white. So the idea was to paint it a nice deep metallic blue that has a pearl in it that would brighten on the body lines of the car. A couple renderings of this car have already been done via CGI (one in black and one in blue), but that just wasn't doing it for me. So I offered to do a blue one using traditional media- airbrush ink, acrylics, and pencils. I whipped up a couple sketches and went with the angle I thought most effective- then I went to town with tape and paint. Once the car was done I added the gradient blue back panel to help bring out the picture. Then I went to FedEx and had a reverse color copy made so that I could put it under the paper and give the impression of lightly reflective floor. The paper is pretty transparent, so all it took was lining up the wheels to get the effect. The end result is a nice sharp blue rendering of this 69 Camaro. This piece definitely gave me lots of good practice and as always, was a blast to do!