I won a little half helmet at the ‘07 New Haven scooter rally, and immediately decided to paint it. I always wanted an olive drab helmet like this to wear with aviator goggles. I took some photos, so here’s a basic how-to on painting something like this, from primer to pinstripes.

Here we have the original helmet, after scuffing with a sanding block. If you want to do a really good job, work up the grit to around 1000. I’m just creating a fine-toothed surface texture for the primer to bite into. You don’t want to see big scratches, but you don’t want a glossy shine either.

Welp, I didn’t photograph this, but I masked off the plastic brim and all the rivets with masking tape. I’d say this is one of the most important steps, and the more time you spend doing quality masking, the better the outcome. I put little squares of tape over the rivets, then scribed them with an X-acto knife.

Get a good high-solid primer. Don’t destroy an airbrush or gun with primer; just get a spraycan from Home Depot. I’ve used Rust-oleum here. It’s thick stuff, and will self-level and fill in the fine scratches you made earlier. Give it a few coats, sanding with high-grit paper in between. You’re looking for a nice, smooth finish after priming, so shine lights on the workpiece to make sure you’re getting it. This is another critical stage, so take your time.

Now for the fun part- topcoat. Make sure you mix up enough color for a few coats, and store in a glass jar. Spray the properly reduced airbrush paint over your primer, in LIGHT coats. Just a few light coats will do. Remember, you’re just tinting the primer to the desired color, not adding body or protection or anything. Just coloring. When you’ve adequately colored the surface, Let it cure for a couple of days. You wouldn’t want the paint to outgas after you’ve clearcoated it.

I wanted a flat finish, so I purchased a flat clear kit from KustomShop. It’s called “Hot Rod Flatz”, and is made specifically for a nice, matte finish. Alternatively, you can buy flattener additives, or just use talcum powder. You get what you pay for, of course. Anyway, any urethane paint is horrid stuff with carcinogenic isocyanates, so I set up my workspace outside.*

Follow your paint system’s mixing, prep and application instructions. For a rattle-can, non-scary alternative, go with Krylon UV Clear. Either way, work with ventilation and wear a respirator. This is serious stuff.

After clearing, I broke out the dagger and laid a nice little stripe on the helmet. This isn’t the place for an all-out pinstriping explanation, but this is. If you go the KustomShop route, pick up some One Shot paints and pinstriping brushes while you’re there. They’ve got airbrush paint too, and pretty much everything else you need for a project like this.

I hope you enjoyed this! I will edit the post to add a better photo of the completed helmet soon. You can adapt this method to paint almost any smooth surface. Remember, you need just a weak layer of color sandwiched between a strong primer and a strong topcoat.

*No indoor booth yet, but when I’ve built one, expect a tutorial on that.

One of my first posts was a list of New Year’s Resolutions for 2007. I thought it’d be nice to revisit that list, and see how I did. The short answer: not so good. But, there were some partial successes, and lots of progress in areas unanticipated. So without further ado:
My Abysmal Performance in 2007

Update Sign Shop page.

Off to a lousy start. I had a few sign jobs this year, but never touched the site.

Experiment with Airbrush on vinyl, HDU carving, and gilding.

I’ve actually taken airbrushing farther than this, and I’m getting pretty good. Haven’t carved yet, but I have gilded a lily or 2.

Start a series of realistic portrait drawings.

Hah. I doubt this will ever happen.

Learn to screenprint.

Nada. I never really expected to, so I won’t count it against me.

Create a 2-color comic book.

Man. I started this, and promptly moved it into limbo.

Learn to ink.

Interestingly enough, I’ve done a little inking. Plus pinstriping, which I never anticipated doing.

Update portfolio page with fine art, flash stuff, newer design, etc.

Partially updated.

Get a nice apartment with enough room to work.

Sort of happened. Space issue is looking up for 2008.

Paint the Vespa. Go to at least one rally this summer.

No paint. Went to 2 rallies, hooray!

Exercise, eat right, blah blah blah…

You must be joking.

Take a great trip this summer.

And…no. BUT I’ll be taking my week this April, probably in Hawaii. Stay tuned for a spiffy new 2008 list!

The only cartoon ever nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, this 1939 Hugh Harman-directed MGM feature is aptly entitled, Peace on Earth. Enjoy!
Peace on Earth

(I’m having trouble embedding videos right now, so please follow the link.)

Normally I wouldn’t comment on something so boring, but gee-whiz. It’s on the Netflix “Watch Instantly” list, so you kind of have to see it. It’s like a movie you watch in high school when you have a substitute, and you find it mildly interesting, but you’d never admit that to your classmates. Oh, and it’s Helvetica’s 50th birthday.
Everything you’ve ever thought about Helvetica is expressed, often quite well. The viewer is left with a new clarity about what happened in the 60s: the pendulum inevitably swung from an antiquated hand-made aesthetic to a crisp, Swiss look grounded by the liberal use of Helvetica black. What transpired next is a bit more fuzzy: the pendulum got stuck. A new generation of designers rallied against the ubiquitous font, but it was the era of “postmodernism.” Mirroring the era’s fine art, designers went off in all directions, a trend that continues today. Meanwhile, corporate design stuck with the bland Helvetica look, and the two sides are eternally deadlocked today.
In the film, Helvetica is frequently (and aptly) compared to air. In certain contexts, air could conceivably be interesting (makeup of the atmosphere, organism interaction, etc.) But peoples’ impressions of it really cannot be. This is the film’s problem: Helvetica’s hidden complexity is interesting (to a typophile), but it’s glossed over so the movie can be publicly accessible. Only the public doesn’t care about fonts.
Should type be expressive? Can Helvetica be expressive? And is compelling, Helvetica-based design interesting by virtue of its style, which is itself bound to pass? Interesting questions all. Sometimes required viewing is dry, and boring material is sometimes required.
Helvetica: the official movie site

Click here for Kiddy Record Drawings!!!

From the collector, “This collection comes from a 1950’s series in which each side of the label had a little graphic on it. Most of the time the original image is less than one inch across, and these were printed on the cheap at the time, so they took some work to clean up. I think they’ve managed to retain their charm, and I really admire the craft of the original artist, who was able to convey so many moods and events in such a tiny workspace.”

I’ve been neglecting this blog recently, as wonderful and exciting things continue to appear at their normal pace. I’ll try to chip away at the pile, starting with this blog- Animation Backgrounds.

You have to check it out. Harvested mostly from classic Disney films, these hand-painted backgrounds are both oddly familiar and startlingly new. A must-bookmark blog for any animation enthusiast.

Look at this guy Dante’s AMAZING costume! And while you’re at it, check out this thing called steampunk. Who knew?

If the pen tool is Illustrator 101, then the Gradient Mesh tool is the advanced, 400-level course. Gradient Mesh is the preferred method for photorealistic illustration today- it’s the airbrush for the new millenium. If you haven’t seen any of the many mind-boggling examples of what the mesh tool can acheive, you really need to check them out.
But the tool shouldn’t be intimidating to those with bezier curve experience. For one thing, it doesn’t have a steep learning curve like the pen tool. It’s like Othello: a minute to learn, and a lifetime to master. The basics really are basic, and it demands more patience than skill to produce solid mesh work. But that’s not to say there aren’t tricks out there.
There aren’t too many tutorials out there, but I have found one worth sharing. It comes with a completed .ai file and a helpful step-by-step that includes some great pointers. Among them:

• Cmd+Y to toggle outline/preview modes. If you didn’t already use it, you will now.
• Use a template layer. Then you can mesh in outline mode- while viewing the template in preview mode!
• Now that you’ve got the outline-over-template groove going, use the eyedropper to add color. Eyedropper from a photo? In Illustrator? Yes, double click on the eyedropper in the toolbar & uncheck “Appearance.” Piece of cake.
• Work with layers. This is the author’s preference, but I trust her! It keeps things organized, and you can easily blend the edges together later on.
• Keep it simple! As with the pen tool, conserve points.
• If you forgot the last tip, Opt+Del deletes a mesh point.
• Add points for lights & darks, not midtones. The mesh takes care of those.
That’s it! Read the tutorial and start meshing around!

Elm City Scooter Club’s 2nd annual rally was way beyond my expectations. Great people, music, food, prizes, rides, and (of course) scooters. For once, Stella looked to me like a boxy, modern beast among the dozens of classic Vespas & Lammies. Not a problem though- it’s motivated me to invest in scoot #2. Anyway, what a great time. I’ll be there for the whole thing next year, for sure.

Hundreds of pictures at Scoot.net

If you’re like me, color schemes give you trouble. Despite years of training in color theory, I find it difficult to break away from monochromatic or analogous designs- it’s just too scary to jump to the other side of the color wheel. So I’m always on the lookout for tools that generate color palettes. I’m going to share a few of my favorite with you here.

Generate a Palette from a Photo

First off the lot, we have the Palette Generator from Big Huge Labs. Easiest to use, the Palette Generator asks you to upload a jpg, then quickly spits out hex codes and even (for some reason) a style sheet. Quick and accurate, this tool is always a help. Need an autumn scheme? Input a foliage picture. How about a layout built around a photo you took? No problem.

Generate a Palette from a Vector Illo

Now, supposing we have an illustrator doc, we can extract some swatches from that bad boy. We just need to employ this technique from BittBox. Unfortunately, color groups are limited to CS3, but you can always create swatches manually in earlier versions.

Generate a Palette from Scratch

OK, all these crazy output techniques, but what if we just want to move some sliders around and see what harmonizes with what? You’re in luck, thanks to the Color Wizard from Colors on the Web. It’s a great way to learn about color theory while confidently choosing harmonious colors. And it’ll teach you words like “tetradic.”

Generate a Palette from the Color Picker

For the really lazy busy designer.
This is a great custom color picker for photoshop (betcha didn’t know you could do that!) It’s the Painter’s Picker from Old Jewel Software. Surprisingly, this is the most feature-packed tool I’ve listed. It gives you over 30 (!) different schemes for any color you select. Installing such a thing is tricky, so follow these directions from Planet Photoshop.

Well, there you have it! Hope you enjoy these tools.