Topic: Working on some tank designs with photoshop

[WarwickE36]

I have found:

baggies of coke, pot, and substances I did not recognize
decanters with piss in them
used condoms
footprints on windows with questionable stains on seats
puke in backpacks
and other things I have blocked deep down into my subconscious

[DustyRags]

You should have a blog. ThingsIFoundInLimos.com or something. I'd read that.

Or at least a twitter account: October 26th: footprints on the ceiling and orange substand smeared on headrest. October 30th: half a gram of cocaine and two bottles of Jim Beam (empty). November 3rd: one sock.

[mono]

I like this just needs more than just the honda, and Im not coming up with what that should be. 

@ Dave I dont do graffiti I just ripped off the only single letters I could find online in a short time period,  I will be sending the tank to a local airbrush artist who will take my concept and tweak it... Like I said in my other thread, I cant wait to see how people react to the graffiti paint job, I know it isnt for everyone and I dont really care.  To me the OE honda paint jobs are boring.  They are classic and semi-elegant but this bike is neither of those things so an OE paint job wont work.  I want the bike to look like it was tagged but thought keeping HONDA on it somehow would be cool.   The process of trying things out is how you get things right, if you dont try you end up with cookie cutter played out ideas that are boring.

throw the Honda wing logo into the tag design?

[750K]

Well it's your bike to do with as you please, I think the whole graffiti lettering Honda logo is a horrible idea and I like seeing graffiti. I make my living as an artist, I've been tattooing for close to 13 years as well as pinstriping and hand lettering signs and gold leafing anything and everything for the past 3 to 4 years. Graffiti dates it self quickly, you don't realize this when it's on a wall due to it being buffed or painted over by other writers fairly quickly. You put it on canvas or tattoo it or whatever and it screams 1990 or when ever that particular style was cool, it looks stupid on a small scale. It's meant to be on a wall and big, bold. So the average person can read it when stuck in traffic or driving by.

If you want that look, find an airbrusher or signpainter that is familiar with graffiti or similar abstract styles and let them design something for you. Don't throw some computer generated graff font on there, it looks like #$%* imho. Do it right and it will be interesting, do it wrong and it will be so weak.

[WarwickE36]

If you want that look, find an airbrusher or signpainter that is familiar with graffiti or similar abstract styles and let them design something for you. Don't throw some computer generated graff font on there, it looks like #$%* imho. Do it right and it will be interesting, do it wrong and it will be so weak.

If people would actually read through a thread instead of skipping ahead they would know that is my intention.

also looking at your avatar... if that is your bike..I fail to see much difference with the graphic on the windscreen, to each his own

[lucky]

I like this just needs more than just the honda, and Im not coming up with what that should be. 

@ Dave I dont do graffiti I just ripped off the only single letters I could find online in a short time period,  I will be sending the tank to a local airbrush artist who will take my concept and tweak it... Like I said in my other thread, I cant wait to see how people react to the graffiti paint job, I know it isnt for everyone and I dont really care.  To me the OE honda paint jobs are boring.  They are classic and semi-elegant but this bike is neither of those things so an OE paint job wont work.  I want the bike to look like it was tagged but thought keeping HONDA on it somehow would be cool.   The process of trying things out is how you get things right, if you dont try you end up with cookie cutter played out ideas that are boring.

How about the numbers 750?

[lucky]

Graffiti is exactly what I was going for with the first design.  I like graffiti and have always wanted to incorporate it into a bike.

That looks pretty good lucky.  I am going to play around with that a bit.  I also did a version with the honda graffiti where I replaced the O with the tattoo.  Looked pretty neat.

That is what people used to do before cell phones. They would talk on the phone and fill in the O's and A's while they were killing time listening to the phone. Very common.
doodling.

[lucky]

Here we go!

Click on the photo for a larger version.

[DustyRags]

+1

[750K]

If you want that look, find an airbrusher or signpainter that is familiar with graffiti or similar abstract styles and let them design something for you. Don't throw some computer generated graff font on there, it looks like #$%* imho. Do it right and it will be interesting, do it wrong and it will be so weak.

If people would actually read through a thread instead of skipping ahead they would know that is my intention.

also looking at your avatar... if that is your bike..I fail to see much difference with the graphic on the windscreen, to each his own

Oh I read through the thread and I get that you're passing things off to an airbrusher. What I said, which you obviously missed was to find an airbrusher or signpainter that was (now here's the part you need to pay attention to) "familiar" with that style. As in knows how to construct graffiti lettering, as in is a graffiti writer. Nothing is worse than a good artist putting together graff letters that has never picked up a can of paint, it looks alot like what you threw together in photoshop. It's usually pretty funny looking and not "Dope!" or "Fresh!" but just wack...

But like I said, it is your bike to do with as you please.

+2 on Lucky's graphic, haha. That's Fresh with a capital F Boyeee!!!

[RickB]

Doing 'graffiti style' mockups in photoshop is difficult unless you've got a tablet and the skills to use it. Using a font is always going to look static and boring given the style you're going for. They only way you're going to make this standout and not look amateur and 'wannabe' is to find an artist and give them a brief of what you want.

My brief would be something like 'big lettering, the word Honda and vibrant colors. Think 80's hip-hop and bombing trains in Brooklyn'. I'd also sign up to Pinterest (it's free) and put together a resource of styles you like that you can send to an artist for inspiration.

http://pinterest.com/search/?q=graffiti+trains

Then I'd find an artist you like and ask if they're paint your tank. I'd be surprised if they would knock you back or charge much money. It's a unique project and something I think a graf artist would like to do. You may not get the 'exact' tank you were thinking of, but you might get a better one!

Just my two cents.

Rick.

[WarwickE36]

Thats an interesting idea rick, I'll check out Pinterest.  Although I make fun of my sister in law for spending so much time on that site! 

I will have to see the work of the airbrush artist recommended to me.  My friend owns a custom bike shop and when I said what my idea was his eyes lit up and he shouted out the name of the guy I am going to go see.  He said he would be perfect for the job and is really talented, so who knows maybe he will fit the bill.

and lucky the floppy ear pic is awesome and may even become my avatar.

[chinaski]

Dafont(dot)com is a nice resource for fonts. They have a few pages of graffiti style fonts; All downloadable opentype and truetype fonts that work well in photoshop for mac/windows/linux. Hope this helps.

[lucky]

Wouldn't you like to have a nice paint job?

Let me show you some examples.
CLICK on the photo for a large version.

[Magilla]

The graffiti style is cool but you may want to think about putting Graffiti on the entire tank.  The street art movement is big right now and it might look cool if you covered the tank and side covers with it.  You can still use the logo you designed, just incoperate into the landscape.

just a thought.

[WarwickE36]

@ Lucky, Nice is such a bland term, it defines the paint jobs you provided perfectly.  The quality is there but there is no wow factor... it doesn't get me excited about their bikes.  Nice is the term I use to describe a fat girl to a guy before a potential first date.  I want a bombshell.

I totally agree magilla, I want there to be more than just the emblem for sure.

I played around with some of the fonts recommended on dafont.com and they were pretty neat.  Not at my own computer now so I can't post them.

[lucky]

Here is what I do not like about the Graffiti.

When you look at a motorcycle there is a lot going on with it visually.
It has linear things, wires, tires, seat ,engine parts etc. Many different kinds textures and things.
The only place your eye can really take a rest is on the gas tank and side covers if it has them.

To decorate the gas tank with a very complicated graffiti design breaks that one space up even further into more chaos. Matter of fact when I think of graffiti I think of chaos.

Lately a lot of graffiti has become so complex as to be completely unreadable and almost a abstract design. Abstract is ok but one foot in reality is nice just to give your mind a momentary rest.

Graffiti is all about the style. The style identifies the artist or  group.

I wonder if in some places you would come out to your bike and it would be all bashed in because someone thought you were the wrong gang? There have been innocent young people shot because they were wearing a color another person did not like.
I say person because a "person" always does the shooting.
If that bike was in San Francisco overnight it would get a free graffiti paint job or worse. That is if it was still there.

[DustyRags]

I'm gonna disagree with you there, Lucky. I don't think he'd get shot at for having the wrong graffiti- that's just now how tags work. Tags are location based, so the only way this could be an issue was if he had a gang affiliation on it and then took it into the wrong territory- there is meaning to tags, and just because it's graffiti doesn't mean it's a tag.

As for the chaos- I agree that it breaks up the lines of the bike, but don't agree that it's a bad thing.

Look at this guy- the paint splashing is so bold that it really makes the frame pop:



These next two guys both have very bold, chaotic graphics on the body panels (the places the eye "rests" on), and it brings attention back to the frame- a sort of negative space effect.

[WarwickE36]

If the gangs of Maine trash my bike I will admit I was dumb to put graffiti on my bike.

@ Dusty, the bottom bike has the exact color scheme and amount of art I want.  It looks awesome.

[DustyRags]

I seriously did that one as well. If you want that much space to paint, though, you may want to toss a small fairing on it, like maybe something from a Buell Blast.

[WarwickE36]

I may make something for the rear seat area instead of leaving it all open tubes to give myself a little more "canvas"  I suppose I could do a bellypan but haven't mocked one to see how it would look.  Im thinking it would look funny on a bike like this, considering these are round compared to the angular modern stuff.

[DustyRags]

You could do flat side covers- just some flat plastic or metal plates. Or maybe some expanded steel mesh or perf plate! That would still give you the canvas, but maintain the see-through look. Or hit the fenders.

[lucky]

I'm gonna disagree with you there, Lucky. I don't think he'd get shot at for having the wrong graffiti- that's just now how tags work. Tags are location based, so the only way this could be an issue was if he had a gang affiliation on it and then took it into the wrong territory- there is meaning to tags, and just because it's graffiti doesn't mean it's a tag.

As for the chaos- I agree that it breaks up the lines of the bike, but don't agree that it's a bad thing.

Look at this guy- the paint splashing is so bold that it really makes the frame pop:



These next two guys both have very bold, chaotic graphics on the body panels (the places the eye "rests" on), and it brings attention back to the frame- a sort of negative space effect.

Thanks for telling me about the tags.
On both bikes you show I understand, and for me the frame on both bikes is where my eye gets some rest.
The solid silver on the top bike frame and the solid black frame on the bottom bike.
But those bikes have a lot of surface area unlike the CB750 that has no body panels.

All that surface area is a big difference don't you think?
Like when DREAM 750 showed the SUZUKI car with graphics. a lot of surface area.

The only real surface area on the CB750 IS the gas tank.

That top photo of the guy with motorcycle... you have to take into account that mural in the background too. See what I mean. That mural is the chaos and the bike is much calmer .

I like the middle photo bike more than the other two.
It has a dragon theme and it all fits together and makes sense.
IT is not what I think of as graffiti. I see it more as a dragon theme design.
Not words.

On the top photo, (the first photo) I think the bike would have looked better without the orange. Just the blue and then the green textured part.
When you have a design that is 50%/50% like that your mind keeps flipping back and forth and wants to settle on one or the other. But when you have a design with say 80% one color and the other 20% another color it seems to work better because one color is dominant  and there is no fight going on between the two colors.

[DustyRags]

Lucky, I agree with pretty much everything you said- those aren't, for the most part, graffiti bikes but they do give me an idea of what things could look like. And I agree that the tough part is going to be the body panels (or lack thereof) but I think it can be made to work. Maybe do the fenders as well, and maybe even the seat in a bright color that matches part of the paint or something. Hell, maybe even paint the engine! There are all sorts of places this could go. The tough part is going to be to get enough of it on there to make it work, but I suspect that much like the original color, it can be done.

And on that note- it's just paint. It can be sanded off and redone. I seriously love the innovation of it- just trying to find bikes done in a graffiti style is almost impossible, so it's certainly a fresh idea. Warwick strikes me as the sort of crazy bastard who would be all down to do this, and then tear it right back down if it doesn't work. Better him than me!

[lucky]

You know you are right Dusty Rags there is always an artist who knows the "rules"... breaks the rules, and makes it all work anyway.

Seen it happen many times.
I had a art teacher that said ,"That is the art part."

That is one of the things you do in art school. Look at designs and try to find out why most people do not like the design. Then verbalize what it is that is making it not work, and try to fix it. You do that many many times.

You just have to look at it and ask yourself....What is it about something that you do not like and what part works well. Then change that part of the design.