OKAY, THIS TIME I WENT ALL OUT AND DID A SIGN ADVERTISING ONE OF MY FAVE BRANDS, INVADER. I HAD BEEN PLANNING TO DO THIS SIGN SINCE LAST SUMMER, BUT FINALLY GOT AROUND TO STARTING IT LAST MONTH AND SLOWLY WORKING ON IT UNTIL FINISHING IT THIS PAST FRIDAY. IT TOOK A MONTH OF MY SPARE TIME, BUT I FINALLY DID THIS VERY DETAILED
EXAMPLE OF THE INVADER LOGO.

MY THOUGHTS WERE IF I WERE TO ULTIMATELY GO THRU WITH THE MAKING OF THIS SIGN, IT WASN'T GOING TO BE A 2 FOOTER, MAYBE A 3 FOOTER. AFTER MUCH TOSSING OF THE IDEA I FIGURED THAT A 4 FOOTER WOULD BE THE EASIEST FOR THE DETAIL PAINTING AND BOLDEST FOR THE END RESULT. THE ARTWORK IS SOMEWHAT SIMILAR TO OLD INVADER SIGNS, BUT MADE UP MOSTLY OUT OF MY OWN CREATIVE MIND!

SO I BOUGHT A 4' X 8' SHEET OF MEDIUM DENSITY BOARD AND CUT IT IN HALF 48" SQUARE. I PROCEEDED TO USE MY HOMEMADE CIRCLE STENCIL TO DRAW OUT A 48"- CIRCLE INSIDE THE SQUARE AND THEN CUT IT OUT SLOWLY WITH A FINE TOOTH BLADE IN MY JIGSAW ON A CLEAN CUT SETTING.

I DECIDED THAT SOME OF THE ORIGINAL INVADER SIGNS HAD A SILVER OUTSIDE BORDER EDGE AND WOULD GO WITH THAT. I ALSO "BULLNOSED"
THE OUTSIDE TOP EDGE WITH MY ROUTER. NOW ONTO THE PAINTING...

FIRST STEP WAS PRIMING FOLLOWED BY A NOT AS THICK AS THE ORIGINAL SILVER EDGE BORDER:



CLOSE-UP OF SILVER BORDER PAINTED ON BULLNOSED EDGE:



MY NEXT STEP WAS TO CAREFULLY EDGE OUT THE YELLOW FIELD UP AGAINST THE SILVER BORDER WITH A SMALL BRUSH AND FILL IN THE ENTIRE FIELD WITH A SLIGHTLY AMBER YELLOW:

NEXT WAS TO ADD A NICE VIBRANT THICK RED BORDER ON THE INSIDE OF THE YELLOW BACKGROUND LEAVING SOME YELLOW BETWEEN THE RED AND SILVER:



PRINTING MY OWN TRANSPARENCY FROM MY ARTWORK AND THEN USING MY OVERHEAD PROJECTOR, I TRACED OUT THE INVADER KNIGHT OF HIS HORSE FOR THE TOP HALF OF THE SIGN:

OVER THE NEXT FOUR SITTINGS (DAYS) I WOULD PAINT FIRST THE WHITE, THEN THE RED, FOLLOWED MY TRIMMING OUT THE BLACK DETAIL AND FINISHING UP WITH THE ENTIRE BLACK FIELD:

AFTER A FEW DAYS OF LOW HUMITY-LIKE DRYING, I REPOSITIONED THE SIGN BACK IN FRONT OF THE OVERHEAD PROJECTOR AND TRACED OUT THE INVADER MOTOR OIL LOGO:



I STARTED WITH THE WHITE AGAIN OUT OF THE 3 COLORS THAT MAKE UP THE "INVADER" NAME:



...AND WHILE THE WHITE PAINT WAS STILL TACKY BUT OUT OF MY LEANING RANGE, I PAINTED THE WORDS MOTOR OIL BLACK AND LET DRY OVERNIGHT:



NEXT UP WAS THE VIBRANT RONAN "FIRE RED" ON THE EDGE OF THE "INVADER" NAME AND THE RED DOT BELOW "MOTOR OIL:"

THE FINAL STEP WAS TO FILL IN THE BLACK ON THE "INVADER" NAME WHICH REALLY MADE THE LOGO "POP" BIG TIME:





SEE WHAT I MEAN ABOUT THE "POPPING?":

AND HERE IT IS ALL FINISHED BY NOON ON FRIDAY. IT'S AS TALL AS MY FIREPLACE MANTLE IN THE BACKGROUND COMING OFF THE TOP LEFT HAND EDGE:



AND FOR YOU GUYS WHO LIKE THE PIN-UP GIRLS, A SHOT OF THE SIGN WITH ELLA-SIN WHO MODELED FRIDAY AFTERNOON:



HOPE YOU ENJOYED MY CREATION AND THANKS FOR LOOKING IN!

~DOC @ THE AMERICAN GARAGE!




[This message has been edited by THE AMERICAN GARAGE (edited 05-27-2008).]

WOW !!! Beautiful sign Doc you did your usual excellent job on it. really like the colors they do pop Jack

What sign??
Just kidding... That is awesome!!

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Frank

DOC, you are one talented guy!!! Very nice...

Looks good Doc.

Did you ever make more of the "American Garage 2 gallon oil cans"? How hard would it be to change it to "Maxwell's garage" ? I bet you could sell a bunch of them if you could personalize them.

Very nice Doc. Thanks for sharing.
Mike

Nice job Doc, turned out very nice.

DOC, You are very talented.

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Scott Shipers

Doc- Thats a beautiful job. I think you should do more with restorations.

Hi Doc- great work- thanks for showing - thanks Don

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Wanted 5 quart cans

Great looking sign. You have way more patience than I do. I would have stopped midway through and took the model to the movies and dinner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Looks great Doc!! I also agree with Roger LOL About the patience part of course

Dude......

That's great detail work on the model's bikini...