Tim Ferguson's KJC Chopper
The Classic How-Tos: Fire Dragon | Snakes, Skulls and Tears | Topless Party | Mr. Wizard

TIM FERGUSON'S KJC CHOPPER

BACKGROUND: For the design on this Bike I will use freehand airbrush as well as a lot of computer-aided masking.  Kendall Johnson has supplied me with a great sheet metal canvas that starts out with Sunrise Pearl as requested by the customer. William Cox over at 10th Street Auto Body has handled the basecoat for me in his booth.  Ronny "Rasta" Morrison did a killer job molding up this baby as well as handling all the sanding duties.  Thanks guys. Looks great!!

I chose this bike for a how-to due to the combination of techniques I will be using. I do all my design work for the tribal shapes in Corel Draw and then use my Roland Camm1 plotter as my knife.  Using the computer allows me to be more precise without risking over-cuts and knife mishaps working on base coat.

Here is a screen shot in Corel.  Using my digital camera I took a picture of the tank while it is marked with a cloth tape measure.  This allows me to rescale the picture in a vector program to get the proper size.

Notice in this screen shot the graphic is to the left.  This is just one half of the image as it will be mirrored by the software to get a perfectly symmetrical image.

THIS is the work horse;  A Roland CAMM1 24 inch plotter. It will cut the designs out on a low tack mask soon to be transferred to the  basecoat. Man, do I love this machine!

The vinyl masks are removed from the backing with transfer tape, weeded out and laid out on the tank.

After laying out the inside illustration with Stabilo, I wipe most of it off so it won't interfere with the airbrush work. I start off with a reddish orange to define the skull and bones stuff. I will go back in from time to time with a loose hand mask made from my daughter's cereal box.  After I get all the red done I will go back with a darker reddish brown to accent for depth.
Here you can barely see the pencil guide for the artwork that I have started developing.
Now that the dark orange is all done, I am coming back over the work with a brown to accent and deepen the image.

I am using a loose hand mask to define the edges.
Here you see that I have most of the darker color finished on the center section of the tank. Now it is time to peel back the vinyl pieces and bevel them with a loose hand mask.

I peel back the pieces in order of their relationship to the background, starting with the pieces furthest in the back ground and moving forward as I work.

Here is the top of the tank just about done. 

After I finish up all the details arount the piece, I will go back over the work with yellows to add some highlighting back into the work.

Here is another screen shot in Corel.  You can see where the vinyl will go as shown in white.

Knowing the limitations of the vinyl will help you design these types of layouts without having too many problems transfering from idea, to computer, to plotter to putting it down on the metall.

This shot gives you an idea of the scale I am working with.

The HP-BC is using a modified Micron needle to obtain this crisp detail. You can also see areas where I used some loose hand masking for detail and shading.
Here I have finished the darker orange on the side of the tank and now I will be heading back into the painting with the brownish red.

The detail begins to come to life. Kendall said to me the other day, " I wouldn't want to be in your head at night".

I'll take that a s a compliment.  HAHAHA

Got the word last night that the frame needs to get back to NC as soon as possible for the build up.  

THIS BIKE WILL MAKE IT TO BIKETOBERFEST.

Isn't that what coffee is all about?  Kendall and I both agree that this bike will drive work our way. Biketoberfest is the last hoorah before a lot of riders get bound down for the winter. So now I am starting the frame and am going to marathon on it.

In this photo, the fender top and sides are covered  with the vinyl design done in Corel Draw 9 using the same methods described earlier.

I have also masked out Kendall's Klown Logo so that it will become part of the design.
Once again, after developing the design with the lighter color, the orange red is applied to define the image.

Not too much masking is done at this point. I save most of the loose hand mask  for the darker brownish red.
The whole thing comes to life when the darker tones are added.  The Kendall Johnson logo was reversed out of the artwork at the base of the fender.

It's going to be a long night.

Here is a little teaser for the crew over at Kendall Johnson Customs.
Here the sides of the fender are completed and I must admit, I wish this were my bike.

Everything is coming out as I originally had in mind. I am now working on the frame extensions beneath the swing arm pivot point.
In this screen shot you can see how the graphics are laid out for the oil bag.  Notice the tape scale attached to the oil bag for scale reference.

Today the frame will be done and sent to the clear booth for shipment on Monday. It will be buffed on Sunday then packaged for shipping.
The frame has been buffed and is about ready to package.

William Cox did a great job with the clear coat and buffing.

Here are a few picture of the frame right before shipping.
Back shot.  Notice how much lighter the paint looks in the sunlight.  

I really like this color.
Time to crate it up and get it over to the guys at Kendall Johnson Customs.
Right side of tank finished.
Left side of tank started.