Thursday, November 12, 2009

Repainting the Beach Cruiser. Part III - The Final Touches

Origonally I had the idea to put a flaming pheonix down the side of the bike, but after finishing the chain cover I decided to go with a more aquatic theme. I kept the idea of the flames, but decided to weave a fish sekleton in and out of the flames instead.
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I started out with the flames working from dark blue to light blue to white with a little green added in.




Next I roughed out the skeleton, blending yellow and white to make a creamy color.

Once the color was done I did the outline work with a bold black paint pen.

Then I went back in with fine and extra fine black paint pens to create variations inline depth and add detail.

For the finishing touch I went in with a xtra fine white paint pen to add the highlights. With the painting complete, I strung the bike back up in the shed. I made sure to wipe everything down with a lint free rag to remove the dust. Then I sprayed the bike with a clear coat. I used Rustolium Glossy clear coat. * Be sure to test your clear coat* This was my firs time using the Rustolium Clear coat and it made a weird crackeling effect on the paint pens. It actually looks really cool, but it wasn't expected and could have been worse. After using multiple coats of clear coat and letting it dry I lightly wet sanded it all with a 600 grit sandpaper to make sure it was nice and smooth. Then I removed all the tape and rea assembled everything, using the photos I took during the disassembly as refrence.

Here's the finished bike:

Hope this was helpful for any aspiring bike painters and fun for all interested in the process.

Keep on keeping on,
-jab


2 comments:

  1. This was so helpful. Thank you. I was inspired for the first time to paint my girlfriends cruiser. i bought it at a garage sale for 40 bucks. question though: when you wet sand do you use a wooden block or do you do it by hand with the paper?

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  2. I did it by hand with the paper, a bike frame is such an odd shape, i figured this would be easier.

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