Teaser Trailer for an upcoming thread

[Stand By]

Hopefully this will be of interest to some of you out there and it hasn't been done before (?) - and it's been some work so far, but I'm now on the home straight and getting very close to finishing, which is when I'll post the full thread on "How To Paint on your Leather Jacket 101".

It'll cover everything from beginning to end - from first thoughts on inspiration, what to paint and where to look for further inspiration, through to planning work and covering things like vintage fonts, 1940s pin-ups, names to consider etc.
Then the preliminary design work and the artist materials needed to create a good layout plan.
Then the paints and the choices of mediums to exectute the plan, a discussion of acrylic paint versus oil paint, their additive mediums and all other artist supplies needed.
Then a picture-heavy illustration of putting the theory into practice via my latest work on my Aero ANJ-3, plus photos of other works I've done on various hides.
The whole thread will be quite picture-heavy to render as much visual help as possible to anyone who feels the urge to have a go at personalising their jacket.
Hopefully it'll be up in its conclusion in the next few weeks ...

I was going to call the first photo "Can you tell what it is yet?"



... and add a photo a day, but I thought what the hell, and just post these few as a trailer of sorts.



Anyway, I'll be back later with the finished thread soon.
Ciao.

 

[nick123]

This looks like it will be great. But you can't teach talent, which you have!

 

[Big J]

Hey Stand By!
How ya' doin?

I'm looking forward to this thread. I wanna paint me some G-1's!

 

[rocketeer]

Never seen an original painted G1, a few modern jackets yes but never an original. That is not to say they were not painted, just rarely compared to USAAF A2s.

 

[Stand By]

This looks like it will be great. But you can't teach talent, which you have!

All you need is some desire, a steady hand, a decent eye for detail/symmetry and some patience and perseverance.
You never know if you have talent!
Hell, I did art at school and was … okay at it. People said I was good at it, but I always considered myself a bit of a fraud as I was really best at copying stuff from my 2000AD comic and I considered myself a gifted copier . Building model aircraft/spaceships/figures was always what I felt I was best at and I'd been doing that since I was 6. My figure drawing was okay but that was it art-wise. Nothing special.

Then I moved to Canada 11 years after I left school to work here and the following year I wanted to meet some people more than anything - so I took an art class in my local neighbourhood - as I said, more to meet people than anything else. And I went - and there was just one other person in the class! I thought "Damn! Well, this is no good. I'll never meet anyone in here!"
The teacher sat me down and asked me to sketch a Roman torso from a photograph (to determine my sense of proportion) … and I had a crack at it - and stone me, I couldn't believe what appeared on the sketch pad!!! It was like the art fairies came and erased my crap and did something good instead while I went to pour a coffee! It was like I'd never stopped practicing all those years - but I hadn't even held a pencil over a sketch pad in 12 years !!! And suddenly I had 1:2 teacher/student attention and we three became firm friends and it all just went from there … who knew?! Not me, that's for sure.
So if it's in you, you may not even know …. ;-) and I have a suggestion in the thread about that too.

 

[Stand By]

Never seen an original painted G1, a few modern jackets yes but never an original. That is not to say they were not painted, just rarely compared to USAAF A2s.

Well, my thread is geared towards A2s and my ANJ-3 (which was inspired by a painted-on original) - but the theory is all there for anyone to paint just a name on the back of a motorcycle jacket if they want to …

 

[Stand By]

Hey Stand By!
How ya' doin?

I'm looking forward to this thread. I wanna paint me some G-1's!

I'm doing just fine, thank you, Big J! Just busy.
And I say that a G-1 back panel (and in goatskin) makes a great canvas - why not? As long as it looks appropriate to the jacket … and your F-4 design would work for that.

 

[navetsea]

very nice and smooth line, that star is perfectly done.

 

[Stand By]

very nice and smooth line, that star is perfectly done.

Thanks! It's the "Star and Bar" unique to 1943 - the only year that the ANJ-3 was made, so it had to be that way for this jacket.

 

[nick123]

All you need is some desire, a steady hand, a decent eye for detail/symmetry and some patience and perseverance.
You never know if you have talent!
Hell, I did art at school and was … okay at it. People said I was good at it, but I always considered myself a bit of a fraud as I was really best at copying stuff from my 2000AD comic and I considered myself a gifted copier . Building model aircraft/spaceships/figures was always what I felt I was best at and I'd been doing that since I was 6. My figure drawing was okay but that was it art-wise. Nothing special.

Then I moved to Canada 11 years after I left school to work here and the following year I wanted to meet some people more than anything - so I took an art class in my local neighbourhood - as I said, more to meet people than anything else. And I went - and there was just one other person in the class! I thought "Damn! Well, this is no good. I'll never meet anyone in here!"
The teacher sat me down and asked me to sketch a Greek vase … and I had a crack at it - and stone me, I couldn't believe what appeared on the sketch pad!!! It was like the art fairies came and erased my crap and did something good while I went to pour a coffee! It was like I'd never stopped practicing all those years - but I hadn't even held a pencil over a sketch pad in 12 years !!! And suddenly I had 1:2 teacher/student attention and we three became firm friends and it all just went from there … who knew?! Not me, that's for sure.
So if it's in you, you may not even know …. ;-) and I have a suggestion in the thread about that too.

I'd have to give up my voracious coffee habit to gain a steady hand. I think the damage is done. Permanent tremble...I can draw a good zig zag but nothing more.

 

[Stand By]

I'd have to give up my voracious coffee habit to gain a steady hand. I think the damage is done. Permanent tremble...I can draw a good zig zag but nothing more.

And I'd say that's quite alright. "A man has to know his limitations" as Det. ("Dirty") Harry Callaghan famously once said. I never drink more than 3 pints of beer for that same reason!

 

[navetsea]

really, I drink coffee 7-8 cups per day... no effect on hand, breathing has more effect when doing small thing in my case, and lack of sleep also another thing... few times my hand start to draw random even scribbling random words when I actually plan to shade because I half asleep when drawing.

 

[Stand By]

really, I drink coffee 7-8 cups per day... no effect on hand, breathing has more effect when doing small thing in my case, and lack of sleep also another thing... few times my hand start to draw random even scribbling random words when I actually plan to shade because I half asleep when drawing.

Hey, sometimes sober and awake is worse!
I recall my more prolific model building days and I'd have a good Friday night in at the model bench and turn on the hifi and get the headphones on - pour a Guinness or something similarly tasty and it'd go down like velvet - and the music's so, so good and I'm totally "in the zone" and the model is coming along and more beer gets opened and the music plays on and I'm singing away and the kit is making great strides and another beer gets opened and, after a great night, suddenly it's 2 AM and man, I should really think about going to sleep! So I'd call it a night and go to bed very happy.
I'd wake up in the morning and suddenly remember the great night at the bench and all the beer drunk and think "Oh. My. GOD! What did I do last night?! Oh no. I'll bet the kit's an utter disaster!"
I'd go in and have a look - and it'd be brilliant! And the kit's almost done! <Phew!> Wow!
So I'd think I'll just have one more evening in and get it finished … so there I'd be drinking milk 'cos I don't want any beer - and I'd spill the paint cleaner - all over the bench - just missing the kit - and onto the floor. Damn. Clumsy me. Clean that up. Back to the kit.
Snap goes the antennae array I'd done so well last night. Clumsy again. Damn! Fix that. What's going on?
Next I'd drop the scalpel and Drrrrrr! It'd just miss my bare foot and it's stuck blade-first into the hardwood floor. Jesus Christ! I'm bloody dangerous tonight! Oh, I'm not "on" tonight.
And then I'd slice my finger with it. Oh, I'm going to ruin the kit at this rate. And need more band-aids!
So knowing my limitations and that my modelling mojo is just off that night, I'd opt to watch a movie - and a clean one. I'd be too scared to touch myself!

 

[Dumpster Diver]

This is going to be a welcome Thread!!! I am ready to learn!!!

 

[SpeedRcrX]

+100

 

[Stand By]

The offending antennae of which I spoke in 1/72 ... it's amazing how I could work around the fiddly bits pleasantly drunk - but struggle sober the next day!
It's just goes to show how it sometimes goes with anything artistic - and if you're not feeling the flow, there's no sense in forcing it - you're better leaving something be and to leave it for a better day. Maybe I should make mention of that in the thread too ...!

 

[navetsea]

amazing kit, great job in detailing those, I used to enjoy kit building as well, although it has been years since the last time I bought anything, I came to realize keeping them clean or cleaning them is as challenging as assembling one.

 

[nick123]

That's called getting "Schmitt-faced". lol

 

[bn1966]

Nice one Stand By!!!! What a great & generous idea.

 

[Monitor]

Aye, you have my full attention, Stand By. Waiting impatiently!

Also same here, practically existing on coffee with no effects on the steadiness of my hand. Mind's gone, though, but that's actually a good thing when ones business is art. Right?