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Late Custom Chopper Artist Honored with Airbrushed Memorial Tank |
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Written by Rich Evans
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Sunday, 01 June 2008 |
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Page 2 of 2
Now that the tank has been sculpted nice and smooth, it goes into the paint booth for three coats of black basecoat, followed by a couple coats of red pearl to help the metal flake punch out.
After the red pearl base was laid down, I came in with a nice wet coat of inner clear transparent basecoat. In order for the flake to lay down flat, it has to be sprayed immediately following a wet coat of clear. The wetness of the clear and the flake gun itself are what makes a proper flake job.
Rich tip: A big mistake that the beginner painter makes when first trying out metal flake is to mix the flake in with the clear and spray it through a paint gun, making the flake stand on its edge rather than lay down flat. This makes for a very rough and unattractive finish, so invest in a flake gun and follow the proper steps.
Another important thing to remember when applying the wet clear coat preceeding the flake coat is to make it wet, but not too wet. Continue with the equipment cleaning stage immediately following the flake gun, just as you would normally. So prep both guns before beginning and have them both ready to grab at the same time.
Lastly, after you have sprayed your flake and have put down your flake gun, let the inner clear set just enough so you can very carefully push down any flakes that may have not landed perfectly flat. I’m assuming that you know to always wear Microflex gloves when painting.
To prepare the tank for Terry and Bob to render the artwork on the tank, I applied three coats of inner clear and the last coats of clear and let everything cure. I then carefully color sanded with 800-grit to flatten it out.
Freehand airbrushing
Terry began by masking of the outline of Johnny’s face on the left side of the tank and then based it white. He then came back in with his flesh tone colors and freehanded the portrait of Johnny Chop.
Kiwi Terry uses a technique called sequential masking to paint his portraits from darkest to lightest. He tries to lay a down a very faint image of the darkest points of the face and then loosely comes in with the rest of his colors, shadows, and highlights. Everything is created using mostly freehand techniques which gives it a very realistic look. He then rendered some very simple silhouettes of Johnny working on one of his bikes on the other side.
Next up to bat was Bob Iverson with his metal flake and rose designs for the top of the tank. Bob had the design for the roses on a sheet of paper and then used carbon paper to transfer the design onto the tank. He also used a stabilo to draw guidelines for the lettering on the side of the tank.
He then used a brush to apply the gold to the roses and lettering on the sides of the tank, coming in next with a lettering brush to apply the black outlines and details of the roses and thorns.
Now that all the artwork was done, I could bring the tank back into the booth and clear it. With a little color sanding and polish, our tank was ready just in time for Johnny's memorial.
Adding the finishing touch to the project is a stand made out of Johnny Chop’s handlebars.
I decided to write about Johnny Chop because it's been two years since Johnny's passing and I wanted to pay a little respect to a true artisan and an all-around good guy. We never reopened the bike building department at Huntington Beach Bodyworks. I have yet to find anyone that could fit in as well as Johnny did. But there could be some kid out there in a garage building and sharpening his skills in the same way Johnny did and maybe he'll walk through the front door someday.
Until then, check out www.huntingtonbodyworks.com and the Huntington Beach Bodyworks DVDs for a more in-depth, step-by-step instructions of the Johnny Chop Memorial Tank.
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