Painting on a car?

[zwanzig]

So, my father just commissioned me to design and apply a decal to his car. It's a Plain Jane, so, the idea he wanted was like a woodplane, with like Jane Jetson sitting on it. And I am pretty sure he wants me to paint this straight onto the hood. 

I'm pretty sure this is something I could do, from the designing and application standpoint. I'm a painter, a cartoonist, and I've done murals before but that was with oil paints. 

However, I am not a professional car painter and I have no idea what I would use to paint this thing. Probably not oils? I'm not even sure if this is possible to do with paintbrush and straight onto the metal of the car? 

If there is someone who knows cars and knows decorating cars can tell me something about this? I am of the mind to refuse because that's not something I'm trained in and I'm not comfortable just taking what I want to this beautiful old car and making a mess. So, is my father crazy for asking me to do this?

[arewethereyet]

We have some car guys here but I don't know if any are versed in the painting of.

[zwanzig]

We have some car guys here but I don't know if any are versed in the painting of.

Any of them would likely have 10x more knowledge than I do. I am not a car guy. At all.

[arewethereyet]

We have some car guys here but I don't know if any are versed in the painting of.

Any of them would likely have 10x more knowledge than I do. I am not a car guy. At all.

I think it's pretty cool that your dad wants you to design a custom design for his car.

If all else fails, I have learned how to quilt and am learning how to groom my dogs with YouTube videos.  You can learn just about anything on the web now.

[brewer]

If you're doing this I suggest you practice on a scrape hood/fender from the junk yard first.

And what awty said, there's lots of stuff on google.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_i0g0Tn-M

[zwanzig]

I think it's pretty cool that your dad wants you to design a custom design for his car.

If all else fails, I have learned how to quilt and am learning how to groom my dogs with YouTube videos.  You can learn just about anything on the web now.

I adore my father but I do not trust his judgement. Not because I'm not a great artist and I'm flattered that he wants me to do this. But because he has shown poor judgement in the past and attempts to cut corners with a lot of things. Also, I feel his unflinching faith in me is misplaced.

This past November I got bitten by the urge to paint this huge painting of a destroyed circus with a dead elephant laying in a field. I used oil paints on sketchpad paper and the thing is 24" x 36".

---

Here are some detail pictures:

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I'm not a trained artist. I'm a fool with some paint I found in the basement and a couple hundred sketchpads of various sizes lying around. I'm figuring this stuff out as I go. It took me 9 days of fevered creative labor to make this piece. It was a Christmas present for my father.

And as I was trying to find out what glue would best stick the raised figures to dry oil paint(the ringleader and elephant are raised and stuck onto the piece) I found out that oil paint is corrosive to paper. You have to treat it first and put layers of gesso on it. This piece will dry and crack as the temperature shifts and may eventually fall apart. I've done what I can to put preservative on top of it but there's not a whole lot I can do to the paper to save it. 

I told my father this when I gave him the gift, apologizing for my ignorance as I handed it off to him. So, I'm baffled over his offer now. "You know nothing about painting cars? Better learn!"

I don't even know where to start.

---

If you're doing this I suggest you practice on a scrape hood/fender from the junk yard first.

And what awty said, there's lots of stuff on google.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_i0g0Tn-M

Hmmm! Okay! Yes, I think this is something he had in mind. I didn't know/think this was possible but lookit that guy; he's got a paintbrush and everything. Thank you, brewer!

Okay, so, I need to look up "hand painted". That's a start!

[arewethereyet]

I think it's pretty cool that your dad wants you to design a custom design for his car.

If all else fails, I have learned how to quilt and am learning how to groom my dogs with YouTube videos.  You can learn just about anything on the web now.

I adore my father but I do not trust his judgement. Not because I'm not a great artist and I'm flattered that he wants me to do this. But because he has shown poor judgement in the past and attempts to cut corners with a lot of things. Also, I feel his unflinching faith in me is misplaced.

This past November I got bitten by the urge to paint this huge painting of a destroyed circus with a dead elephant laying in a field. I used oil paints on sketchpad paper and the thing is 24" x 36".

---

Here are some detail pictures:

---

I'm not a trained artist. I'm a fool with some paint I found in the basement and a couple hundred sketchpads of various sizes lying around. I'm figuring this stuff out as I go. It took me 9 days of fevered creative labor to make this piece. It was a Christmas present for my father.

And as I was trying to find out what glue would best stick the raised figures to dry oil paint(the ringleader and elephant are raised and stuck onto the piece) I found out that oil paint is corrosive to paper. You have to treat it first and put layers of gesso on it. This piece will dry and crack as the temperature shifts and may eventually fall apart. I've done what I can to put preservative on top of it but there's not a whole lot I can do to the paper to save it. 

I told my father this when I gave him the gift, apologizing for my ignorance as I handed it off to him. So, I'm baffled over his offer now. "You know nothing about painting cars? Better learn!"

I don't even know where to start.

---

If you're doing this I suggest you practice on a scrape hood/fender from the junk yard first.

And what awty said, there's lots of stuff on google.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_i0g0Tn-M

Hmmm! Okay! Yes, I think this is something he had in mind. I didn't know/think this was possible but lookit that guy; he's got a paintbrush and everything. Thank you, brewer!

Okay, so, I need to look up "hand painted". That's a start!

That picture is pretty amazing.  I can barely draw a circle with a compass.

[zwanzig]

That picture is pretty amazing.  I can barely draw a circle with a compass.

Thank you, arewe. ^^

[Fireball]

Do you have digital painting software? You can design something on the computer and have it printed on vinyl and applied to the hood. You can use urethane paint and an airbrush or two to apply your design directly to the hood if you don't have software. Look up "vehicle wraps" in you area to see what's available in vinyl. The beauty of the vinyl (if that is actually what it is) would be that you would have the whole design done and approved before the artwork went on the vehicle. I had a '68 Buick Skylark hot rod that I was going to paint with "true flames", but after inheriting another money pit ('70 Chevy 3/4T truck that we use to tow our travel trailer) I sold it before I got that far. I've painted complete vehicles and portions thereof in the past, but that airbrush work would have been a first for me.

~Fireball

[The Architect Of Fate]

I think it's pretty cool that your dad wants you to design a custom design for his car.

If all else fails, I have learned how to quilt and am learning how to groom my dogs with YouTube videos.  You can learn just about anything on the web now.

I adore my father but I do not trust his judgement. Not because I'm not a great artist and I'm flattered that he wants me to do this. But because he has shown poor judgement in the past and attempts to cut corners with a lot of things. Also, I feel his unflinching faith in me is misplaced.

This past November I got bitten by the urge to paint this huge painting of a destroyed circus with a dead elephant laying in a field. I used oil paints on sketchpad paper and the thing is 24" x 36".

---

Here are some detail pictures:

---

I'm not a trained artist. I'm a fool with some paint I found in the basement and a couple hundred sketchpads of various sizes lying around. I'm figuring this stuff out as I go. It took me 9 days of fevered creative labor to make this piece. It was a Christmas present for my father.

And as I was trying to find out what glue would best stick the raised figures to dry oil paint(the ringleader and elephant are raised and stuck onto the piece) I found out that oil paint is corrosive to paper. You have to treat it first and put layers of gesso on it. This piece will dry and crack as the temperature shifts and may eventually fall apart. I've done what I can to put preservative on top of it but there's not a whole lot I can do to the paper to save it. 

I told my father this when I gave him the gift, apologizing for my ignorance as I handed it off to him. So, I'm baffled over his offer now. "You know nothing about painting cars? Better learn!"

I don't even know where to start.

---

If you're doing this I suggest you practice on a scrape hood/fender from the junk yard first.

And what awty said, there's lots of stuff on google.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZY_i0g0Tn-M

Hmmm! Okay! Yes, I think this is something he had in mind. I didn't know/think this was possible but lookit that guy; he's got a paintbrush and everything. Thank you, brewer!

Okay, so, I need to look up "hand painted". That's a start!

Love it