Dale Earnhardt theme helmet...WIP

[LucBoivin]

Here is something I just started today. Working with AA paints and Micron SB airbrushes.

Luc

[blinddog 99]

Very nice Luc. Do you have an intercoat over your basecoat? Just curious. The work is very good!

[LucBoivin]

Hi Blinddog,

Yep, have a coat of transparent base over my white sealer base.

Thanks.

Luc

[Marz]

Luc thats looking good so far....are you putting another portrait on the other side? What are doing with the background? I remember you had a test piece with a red candy which looked good. Can't wait to see the finished deal.

later

WILL

[sharonsstudio]

As usual luc you do such great work...wish I had half your talent..

[LucBoivin]

Luc thats looking good so far....are you putting another portrait on the other side? What are doing with the background? I remember you had a test piece with a red candy which looked good. Can't wait to see the finished deal.

later

WILL

Hi Mark, Thanks for the comments!

No, on the other side I will have his big # 8 (white). All around at the edge of the helmet, I will have a checkered ribon that get wider at the rear with a NASCAR logo over it. In the fron I will have the DEI logo. I dont plan on adding anything else, except that I will paint when finished with details with Candy Brite Red.

Luc

[LucBoivin]

Quick update!

So dar, I have 4 hours of work on the portrait. Man this is so much more difficult than working on a flat surface!!!

Luc

[Cowboy]

Great work as allways Luc , I,m glad You made that comment about being different from a flat surface for you also. Cuz You make everything look so easy . & 4 hours. Wow. Keep Us posted. Cowboy

[LucBoivin]

Thank you guys!

Luc

[moose]

just gets better and better

[airarts]

I saw this somewhere else! I love the detail for the auto and helmets that you do. How did you achieve the specular highlights in the helmet? Awsome detail Luc, we are lucky to have you here!

[LucBoivin]

I saw this somewhere else! I love the detail for the auto and helmets that you do. How did you achieve the specular highlights in the helmet? Awsome detail Luc, we are lucky to have you here!

Thank you but I have not worked on an auto yet and this is only my second helmet.

Because I haev put an intercoat clear over my base white, I'm able to remove a bit of the black paint to bring back the white base color for the bright highlights. Works well.

I think we are ALL lucky to be doing this beautiful and fun art. Just happy to be able to share some progress pics. When I started 2 years ago, I found them to be very very helpfull

Thanks

Luc

[LucBoivin]

More pics of tonights work.

Luc

[Whit]

That is Lookin So Good Luc,,,
not a whole lot you can add to that,,,
That is just Lookin So,, So Good !!!:partyalone:

[LucBoivin]

More pics of today's work. After spraying my red, I created a chekered pattern using some 1/8'' masking tape x 2 wide and because of the curves I wanted to create, I could not use a wider tape. This resulted in a lot of cutting...but that,s OK, gave me practice of cutting over painted surface without going down to the paint. When the cutting was finished, I applied a fog of over reduced white whit more intensity closer to the portrait.

Now, I have to do the same thing on the other side!

Luc

[LucBoivin]

That is Lookin So Good Luc,,,
not a whole lot you can add to that,,,
That is just Lookin So,, So Good !!!:partyalone:

Thank you Whit! Learning alot of this piece! Sequence of work is so so important and now realise that all my practice work is helping me big time.

Luc

[Whit]

Well,,, goes to show,,, I thought it was Lookin Good,,,
then you add the field to it and made it POP !!!
Now the red makes the before shot kinda pale in
comparison,,, well,, there is no comparison !!!
I'd best keep my mouth shut till you get done I guess,,,
That is Lookin Better n Better:partyalone:
Good Show Luc !!!

[Dream Weaver]

Hi Luc
Your helmet piece is awesome . If ever you have some time and I can come up for air , would love to visite and get some portrait pointers from you. We all have strong points Luc, yours are definately, faces.

[airarts]

That is so cool. Thanks for the "How Tos" too! Are you seeing green and red squares everywhere from the after image?!?!

[blinddog 99]

Nice work Luc! Great effect on this, thanks for the posts!

[sharonsstudio]

YOu must still have alot of snow or it's still cold to put that much time into a helmet.. just teasing god I love your work> I look forward to seeing what you do everyday I sign on.. My husband even asks if you [osted something new. he doesn't even do any art..

[LucBoivin]

Hi Luc
Your helmet piece is awesome . If ever you have some time and I can come up for air , would love to visite and get some portrait pointers from you. We all have strong points Luc, yours are definately, faces.

Well, I would be very happy to get together with you and exchange on some ideas, that would be just great!!!

Thanks!

Luc

[LucBoivin]

That is so cool. Thanks for the "How Tos" too! Are you seeing green and red squares everywhere from the after image?!?!

LOL...I was at one point!!! So not to get to bored doing this, I was doing this while watching a NASCAR race on TV of all things!!!

Thanks

Luc

[LucBoivin]

YOu must still have alot of snow or it's still cold to put that much time into a helmet.. just teasing god I love your work> I look forward to seeing what you do everyday I sign on.. My husband even asks if you [osted something new. he doesn't even do any art..

Actualy Sharon, the snow is almost all gone!! :clapping2:
I try to squeeze in every minute of every day into some airbrush work. I rarely go 2 days in a row without painting. Sometimes after a long day at work, I would rather sit down put my feet up and watch a good movie, but once I drag myself to my small room where I paint, I forget that I'm tired. Simply love painting and working out some ideas and working on some new skills.

Thanks, and say hi to your husband!

Luc

[LucBoivin]

When I work out my ideas, I normaly work on paper but because working on a curved surface like a helmet, this is not so obvious because you have to take into account the 3 dimensional aspect of the surface you are working on. What I will do is take some side, top, rear and front pictures of the helmet with some reference tape lines like a wire mesh frame. I then print my images on paper where I can work my ideas from sketch parer. But the best way I found is simply by sketching on a spare helmet with some white Stabilo pencils. If I dont like my idea, I simply wipe it clean with a damp rag. On some occasion, I'll also use photoshop to experiment with some effects like drop shadows, colors, highlights, etc. but I'm learning the propram as I go and I get impatient sometimes because I find that it slows down my creative juices!!!

For example tonight, I worked on some details that suraound the main portraits on either side of the helmet and I had a few ideas going in my head. On a spare helmet I sketched roughly what I plan on doing then I take some pictures and save them on my PC. I can erase and do some more options.

I know some people work over some tape directly on the helmet. I tried this but I did not like it because of all the creases and layers of tape I was getting.

Luc

[zackarybancroft]

Luc, that's a awesome helmet!! You did a great job on the likenesses!

[XZOTIC INK]

HOLY SHIT,,,THAT IS TRULY AMAZIN,,A+++++++ , DO MORE STEP BY STEP!! :chillout:

[jkp73]

looks cool

[LucBoivin]

More of this Easter weekend work....

Working with Candy colors for the front and back central area over some pearlized white. Still have to work on the white band on the red side plus adding some numbers.

Luc

[Saint]

Beautiful Luc, just beautiful work.

Very impressive. I love seeing your work.

Thank you!

Denise

[HyperHippy]

Very Nice job Luc. Looks Great!!

...Jim....

[LucBoivin]

Here are some update pics from this weekend.

Thanks to my new vinyl cutter, I was able to work on the details stuff such as the signatures, logos and the numbers. Used to do all this stuff by hand. Now I can get precision work at a fraction of the time!

Still have to add the # 3.

Luc

[240harley]

As a 3 and 8 fan I'm impressed. In my eyes you can't put a price on that!

[redanner]

Cool! Nice Job

[peter loran]

great work luc...the step by step is sweet.thank you for posting.