Freehand truck art

[Big Frog]

Hi guys, I am new to this cool forum. I have a client that wants a bit of cartoon art on his truck besides some custom lettering. I paint many juvenile fairground rides with cartoons, all free hand (no masking). Do I paint this guy's truck freehand or am I best to mask and outline? Any opinions? I have airbrushed plenty of trucks with realism, but never cartoons before.

[DragonAir]

Hey there. I would keep your pressure low and forget the masking and just start spraying.

[Big Frog]

Many thanks for that

To be honest I probably wouldn't have masked, although I may have been tempted to paint the cartoons by brush with sign paints and then airbrush wet on wet. I will add some pics of my previous stuff if you can wait a minute for me to work out the attachment techy stuff...

[Big Frog]

Here are a few pics of my previous stuff if I have done it right :

[Big Frog]

And a bit more... (the fairground stuff demonstrates my previous involvement with cartoons)

[ElNacho]

Hey BigFrog great work!! and nice designs too

[Big Frog]

Thanks mate

[pinups]

Nicely done. Personally I would think that would depend on the style that you wish to use. I would probably use a masked approach to avoid any overspray. With your free hand skills though you might want to approach the idea of painting in the cartoons and then if your using lettering brushes to brush in the outline while doing your lettering effects. This might not be the way that some people would tackle the job but I don't see you having any problems with the job. Just be sure to post the photos and maybe a work in progress photo shoot would be nice also.

[Big Frog]

I'm still a bit undecided on this one so I will welcome any further opinions. A movie pic would have been so much simpler for me

The rig is for a demolition company and the client has requested Wile E Coyote on the rear with a TNT plunger. It has also been suggested that I incorparate the Looney Tunes red rings ("that's all folks") behind the character. Again, not ideal for freehand work. The base colour of the truck is yellow, BTW.

I should be starting the job today all being well. I will be working on the lettering first which is a pretty straight forward process with my sign paints and working wet on wet with the airbrush.

Pics to follow shortly...

[AirTodd]

Nice looking work.I like the Hulk.

[slaterza]

Just wanted to say welcome to the forum and nice work keep posting.

[Big Frog]

The truck is almost done,

In the end I opted to airbrush wet-on-wet on a 'sign-painted' base. This was in order to ensure the back graphic matched the sides which were brush-based to keep things simpler.

Pics coming shortly.