After
washing and drying Scatha I did a quick detail to remove any remaining
spots or dirt. Then I laid out the basic design using a dry erase
marker. This roughly followed my initial color sketch, but changed
significantly in order to make it work from any angle and to accent the
body lines of the car.
2)
Under Painting
The
first coat of paint does not stick well to the smooth BMW factory
paint. Essentially this is the primer coat. The next layer of under
painting is more precise and starts to firm up the specifics of the
composition.
3)
Clearcoating
Unfortunately
the smooth surface of the BMW factory paint, the relatively thin
underpainting would be scratched off by the felt nibs of the paint
markers I use for the linework. So the underpainting must be
clearcoated for durability first.
4)
Base Lines
The
under painting clearcoat makes the paint markers slide when drawing the
base lines, hampering their ability to flow paint properly. This,
combined with the necessity of being very precise with the lines, makes
step 4 a very time consuming process. This is also the step during
which I lay out the triangles that I use to break up large areas and
create transitions. Any mistakes are patched with black paint, then
white, then clearcoat to seal it.
5)
Final Paint
This
is the step in which I finalize all paint colors. This includes
painting transitions between sections after those sections' colors have
been finalized and painted. Note the first picture showing different
color dots as markers for final paint color selection on the roof
section.
6)
Final Lines
After
final paint I put in the final lines. These must, of course, be totally
precise and end up as the final definition of the most significant
shapes and sources of movement.
7)
Clearcoating
To
protect the acrylic paint from water and UV light I brush on many
layers of Liquitex Gloss Medium. This must be done in non-consecutive
patches for the first layer to avoid poor texture as
the medium gels very quickly when soaking into the paint. During
following layers effort must be made to overlap brush strokes to
achieve a reasonable surface finish. nothing painted by brush will
ever be smooth like a factory paint job, but that is not the goal of
this project.
8)
Special Textures
After
the clearcoat cures I used a Liquitex Flat Medium on the front
splitter, rearview mirrors and lowest portion of the rear bumper. I
also mixed pearl metallic powder into more gloss medium and brushed
this combination onto the ocean on the driver's side. When the light
hits it just right it sparkles like the sea.
