Finished another tank today

I just got done putting the final touches on a tank for a 700 Honda Shadow today. I wanted to keep it simple and didn't want to order the labels for it, so I just threw a little pinstiping on it. I guess it looks alright. I hope he likes it. What d'ya think? PD

 

striping looks great, wanna come do my tank

 

Looks great, I'd love to have you come stripe my tank for me

 

If you could bring me your tanks, I'd be more than happy to put some custom work on them. I like doing it. It's relaxing as riding for me. PD

 

That's some nice work Painter

 

nice!! im thinking about pin striping when i paint my bike

 

Looks great.

 

Oh Sure - and where were you 8 years ago when I was living up the road in Thunder Bay???? :wink: I even had friends in St Cloud and used to go visit.... Good offer though - you do some nice work! 8)

 

damm, thats nice

 

He'll like it,looks like you'll have some sidecovers to do now!
Nice.
Glenn

 

Well, the side covers are a different story. One is missing, so he'll have to find another one (they are kinda rare for that model) so that will be up to him if he wants to replace it or not. The other side cover is in good shape and didn't need paint, so I left it as is. Infact, he doesn't even know I painted the parts for him, so hopefully, he'll be pleasingly surprized! The tank and front fender were faded tothe point where there was no clear coat left on them (sat in the suns UV rays too long) I just figured I'd get some paint on them soit didn't start to rust.
The bike needs a battery and the carbs cleaned, so I have a way to go yet on it. PD

 

Looks good, PD. You did a real nice job.

 

That is a great job! Would love to get that done to mine in the fall! Riding season is on in TX.

 

Thank you for all the feedback!!
Yes, I do this freehand. Some days are better than others!! It's gotten better over the years believe me. When I first started, the lines weren't so smooth and it was virtually impossible to do fancy curves and circles like I do now. I took alot of practice to get as good as I am now. Every job seems to be better. Now I am finally comfortable to sit down and do a pinstriping job with confidence and most customers seem to like my work. Sometimes I get a little wild with the colors, so I just needed some feedback on just doing a single color (pretty rare for me) and see what you all thought of it. I always liked using more multiple colors.

Here's what I usually end up doing:

 

Well - I might be understated, but I think "WOW" just about sums it up

 

PainterD they all look great. Where do you get the design? You said you do it freehand but do you put any grease lines down or anything or do you just completely wing it?

 

Labelleb,
When I'm doing the top of a tank, I mark the center with a line (grease pencil) and just go to town with curved lines, connected in interesting patterns. Sometimes it looks good and some time not. It depends on on how my artistic juices are flowing. Some days are better than others. The main thing with doing the these kind of patterns is keeping the pattern symetrical (both sides even) and as close to the same as possible.
Doing the sides of the tank aren't as picky, as you don't see both sides at the same time anyways. I try to keep them as close as possible however. Sometimes the patterns get kinda complicated and I need to make little measurement marks so I get both sides as close to the same as I can.
The art of pinstriping is not so much the pattern, it's brush control that takes talent. The patterns just come to me after I start laying the scallops down and connecting lines.
The nice thing about it is I can just wipe the lines off and start over (you need to remove it right away before it start to set) Which happens most of the time. I figure if I don't like the pattern, I don't expect the customer to like it either. Thank you all for the compliments!!! PD

 

Wow, thats incredible! Lots of respect, I know how hard it is to stripe. I've done a few tanks and customer cars that wanted hand painted stripes instead of stickers, but nothing close to that. I can pull a good line but when it comes to curves and stuff forget about it. I Wouldn't even attempt that right now. I've only been doing it for a few years now and not even on a consistant basis, but hopefully I will be that good some day. Do you use One shot, and what kind of brushes are you using to do that? I'm sure you have quite the collection.

 

BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Painter, I live in WI and when I am ready to get my bike painted I would love to talk to you about it. Not only are your designs gorgeous they are unique, no one else will have one just like it.

 

as an Air Force trained graphics artist (although we did way more stuff with kroy lettering, diazo films and then computer stuff later on, there is NO WAY i could have ever done that well...

my ncoic really liked to airbrush and when he got out he did some painting for BigDog Choppers but i dont think ever did any pinstriping...

OUTSTANDING work...