If she is willing to work with you for little to no cost, see what she can do. Doesn't hurt, just be clear with your intentions to review what she produces, and not necessarily want to use it.
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Ryoken's 89 Crew Cab Tubebed build... aka Mutt....
- Thread starter ryoken
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^^^yep, sounds good to me.
Stomis
Professional Amateur
Hop on Facebook and check out steve snegon art. He's an old friend and can do exactly what you want. Tell him I sent you.
ekajkrats
1/2 ton status
I would also speak directly with Scott. My brother owns a printing shop (used to be just screen printing but now they do it all in house, embroidery vinyl, you name it) and he along with 1 or two others in his shop are artists full time doing the artwork for all their jobs, similar to the kind of thing you are talking about, so I bet Scott has artists he uses as well.
My only comment would be to involve someone who's familiar working with a print shop. My wife's company deals with them a lot, and has mentioned that its kind of a separate skill and experience over someone who's a regular "artist". I'm not saying one is harder than the other... you just don't want to pay someone to create your vision, and then find that getting it printed with the correct resolution, dip, etc is going to be a problem.
very good info guys...... 
thanks Vin, he looks talented...
obviously this isn't pressing.. wouldn't mind doing it next summer some time, but no huge rush.. I figure if I can get going on the artwork end, I'll be one step ahead.. hopefully Scott will chime in with some words of wisdom....
I just want it to do the rig justice, be right in my cranium... that's more important than the money.... why does that always seem to be the case for me!!??!!!!
thanks Vin, he looks talented...
obviously this isn't pressing.. wouldn't mind doing it next summer some time, but no huge rush.. I figure if I can get going on the artwork end, I'll be one step ahead.. hopefully Scott will chime in with some words of wisdom....
I just want it to do the rig justice, be right in my cranium... that's more important than the money.... why does that always seem to be the case for me!!??!!!!
A majority of the design work we do is pretty basic and boring to most "designers". We are all just self-taught here. I consider what we do more layout design than full on art generation. Our stuff is going to be pulled in from various font choices and clip art sources. We put that all together to create our layouts. We just aren't able to create custom artwork from scratch.
It's going to be hard to take something from paper to the computer to be produced digitally. You are basically stuck with what you see is what you get. For it to be scanned in it almost has to be drawn with markers so the color is solid enough. Now there may be people out there that have a good process for taking hand drawn artwork and creating a digital files, it's just not something we do.
Your best bet would be to have a graphic artist create the artwork on the computer from scratch. Most good ones are going to charge something like $75/hr. Or find someone to airbrush and hand letter it. I know there's a guy around here that still hand letters semi trucks. There are people that still only want painted graphics not digital.
I can do a "mash-up" type design for you. For example if you find a duck image you like that maybe just needs cropped out of a background. Then we add lettering around it in a font you like. I typically just need good reference material to be able to create something. You know a picture of some lettering and you say I really like a font like this. And then maybe a picture of some coloring or highlighting technique in another lettering example and I can put the 2 together. I'm really not good at creating from scratch unless I have some great stroke of inspiration.
Artists can be a pain to deal with. They don't like deadlines and sometimes you really have to bug the hell out of them to get your work done. That's why we tend not to hire graphic designers. We hire people with some basic computer knowledge that show signs of creativity and teach them to design signs (which is not taught in any graphic design school I've been exposed to). Around here "graphic artist" is almost a curse word. That's not to say there aren't good graphic artists out there, just few and far between.
It's going to be hard to take something from paper to the computer to be produced digitally. You are basically stuck with what you see is what you get. For it to be scanned in it almost has to be drawn with markers so the color is solid enough. Now there may be people out there that have a good process for taking hand drawn artwork and creating a digital files, it's just not something we do.
Your best bet would be to have a graphic artist create the artwork on the computer from scratch. Most good ones are going to charge something like $75/hr. Or find someone to airbrush and hand letter it. I know there's a guy around here that still hand letters semi trucks. There are people that still only want painted graphics not digital.
I can do a "mash-up" type design for you. For example if you find a duck image you like that maybe just needs cropped out of a background. Then we add lettering around it in a font you like. I typically just need good reference material to be able to create something. You know a picture of some lettering and you say I really like a font like this. And then maybe a picture of some coloring or highlighting technique in another lettering example and I can put the 2 together. I'm really not good at creating from scratch unless I have some great stroke of inspiration.
Artists can be a pain to deal with. They don't like deadlines and sometimes you really have to bug the hell out of them to get your work done. That's why we tend not to hire graphic designers. We hire people with some basic computer knowledge that show signs of creativity and teach them to design signs (which is not taught in any graphic design school I've been exposed to). Around here "graphic artist" is almost a curse word. That's not to say there aren't good graphic artists out there, just few and far between.
ok, that's an awesome response.. thanks for taking the time to type that out Scott...
you're confirming a lot of what I thought.... wasn't really sure how handdrawn would work for printer people.... really don't want it handpainted... not totally opposed to it.. and I actually have a boat name painter bud that I really should call about this.... I just really wanted the ability to call my printer and tell em to churn out a couple more from file... squeegee on whatever, done...
it's almost like this needs to be a bit of a combo of both.. I definitely think the duck needs to be drawn... even if that's on the computer... I think if it's gonna be "bursting out" from the middle, it may need a bit more body happening.. maybe like a one arm superman kinda pose.... but it HAS to be the deathproof duck that's on my hood... that also needs to have the ripped sheetmetal border around it... than the lettering on top and bottom, following the curve... but I need to see if it would look better with the letters totally outside the ripped round logo, or maybe have em like 1/2 in 1/2 out or something... what kind of shadowing, font etc would look good...
I'm sure if a graphic artist/layout guy had all the pieces, it wouldn't be too hard draggin and dropping, etc everything in place in photoshop... I've dabbled, it's just not my field, so I'm a bit (ton) lost....
let me ask this....... what's the best file type for you guys to do large vinyl decals? it just seems that all the wraps, etc I see are pretty much perfect jpg's, on vinyl????
you're confirming a lot of what I thought.... wasn't really sure how handdrawn would work for printer people.... really don't want it handpainted... not totally opposed to it.. and I actually have a boat name painter bud that I really should call about this.... I just really wanted the ability to call my printer and tell em to churn out a couple more from file... squeegee on whatever, done...
it's almost like this needs to be a bit of a combo of both.. I definitely think the duck needs to be drawn... even if that's on the computer... I think if it's gonna be "bursting out" from the middle, it may need a bit more body happening.. maybe like a one arm superman kinda pose.... but it HAS to be the deathproof duck that's on my hood... that also needs to have the ripped sheetmetal border around it... than the lettering on top and bottom, following the curve... but I need to see if it would look better with the letters totally outside the ripped round logo, or maybe have em like 1/2 in 1/2 out or something... what kind of shadowing, font etc would look good...
I'm sure if a graphic artist/layout guy had all the pieces, it wouldn't be too hard draggin and dropping, etc everything in place in photoshop... I've dabbled, it's just not my field, so I'm a bit (ton) lost....
let me ask this....... what's the best file type for you guys to do large vinyl decals? it just seems that all the wraps, etc I see are pretty much perfect jpg's, on vinyl????
Vector files are the best for scaling up to large sizes and not being too large on the file size. Adobe Illustrator is a popular program that produces vector art files like AI and EPS. However it will be harder to create the duck art work in vector. What your after would usually be done in Adobe Photoshop creating a raster file like JPG's are. When text is involved 300dpi usually works best for resolution. If the artwork is going to be end up being a very large size I will design at 100dpi, full scale. We still end up creating a vector file that outlines the artwork for the plotter that cuts the vinyl at the design.
Sometimes I may even do a combination of vector and raster art. For example creating the duck and ripped metal in Photoshop and then using our sign design software to create the lettering around it. That way the lettering is a vector file that will have nice crisp lines.
You could probably have the artwork created just using a picture of your hood ornament at the right angle. Just make sure to use a high resolution camera. Then all the background around the duck could be cropped away.
Sometimes I may even do a combination of vector and raster art. For example creating the duck and ripped metal in Photoshop and then using our sign design software to create the lettering around it. That way the lettering is a vector file that will have nice crisp lines.
You could probably have the artwork created just using a picture of your hood ornament at the right angle. Just make sure to use a high resolution camera. Then all the background around the duck could be cropped away.
ok, thanks..... so really the key will be figuring out how to do the duck/sheetmetal work in a raster file.. I'll have to take some shots of the duck...... thanks Scott........
and just so we can see a bit o' progress..... got the other 2 3/8 sammich pieces roughed out.... just gotta make the middle 3/16 one.. easy peezy.. than weld it all together...
and just so we can see a bit o' progress..... got the other 2 3/8 sammich pieces roughed out.... just gotta make the middle 3/16 one.. easy peezy.. than weld it all together...
this is exactly the kinda look I'd like for the border around the duck.... THAT looks like torn sheetmetal...
That can work. The edges of the tear are the cut lines. Then the duck could be super imposed so as to look like it's coming out of the tear.
To take the picture of the duck you have to kind of envision the angle you want it on the truck and take the picture from that angle.
To take the picture of the duck you have to kind of envision the angle you want it on the truck and take the picture from that angle.
bit of a LAB™ update.....
might have a line on a free Bridgeport.....
hopefully it's single phase, but at that price, I don't mind getting a converter for it... 
might have a line on a free Bridgeport.....
hopefully it's single phase, but at that price, I don't mind getting a converter for it...
thanks..... yeah, I have a customer who's a high end machinist, CNC, all that... I actually skated vert with him as a teen... than met him as a boat customer 25 yr's later.. he actually remembered me.. anyway, I think he has an acquaintance who kinda can't store it or similar... be a fun toy to have fo sure!
Milling machines are nice to have around. I have a small one in my garage.
it'd really be pretty extravagant to have around for me.. I don't really have room for it, but I'll MAKE room for it.... just for the cool potentiality of the projects I could do... I figure I can give up the wall space that I use to store my fab table and just have that roll around the middle of the shop if need be....
Stomis
Professional Amateur
Jealous!
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oh, and funny "fan" story.....
I'm often surprised at who compliments the rig... old ladies, kids, yada, homeless, etc.....
today took the cake.. came home for my 1/2 hr lunch.. they're paving my road.. so I park in the middle of the field across the street from my house.. eat sammich.. go to leave, and am accosted by a fully tatt'd, PURPLE Mohawked, paver dude, "DOOD, THAT THING IS SICK!!!!"
tanks bruDDa!!
I'm often surprised at who compliments the rig... old ladies, kids, yada, homeless, etc.....
today took the cake.. came home for my 1/2 hr lunch.. they're paving my road.. so I park in the middle of the field across the street from my house.. eat sammich.. go to leave, and am accosted by a fully tatt'd, PURPLE Mohawked, paver dude, "DOOD, THAT THING IS SICK!!!!"
tanks bruDDa!!
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