Livery design 101 - Real or fantasy it doesn't matter

[Ember]

I’ll say straight up that I have not done a lot of race liveries on slot cars. But in the time I worked as a sign writer I designed several race and corporate liveries for real cars. So it made sense to me to tackle the little cars in much the same way.

The process starts with photos of the car. If you are lucky enough to be working on one of the all-white model Scalextric and some others release it is a good idea to take these photos before you disassemble and strip the car. If you are not so lucky it might be best to disassemble and strip the car first so that you have a blank canvas on which to work.


They don't have to be brilliant photos, phone snaps will do, but make sure your photos are as square on as possible. These will form the canvas upon which you build your design. You will want to take a photo of each side that you plan to put decals on.

With photos in hand open your favourite graphics program, create a new blank project and import the car photos.

It's possibly worth noting here that I use Illustrator for my design work, but the same steps will work in vector or raster based programs that allow use of layers (or pages in CorelDraw). I would recommend not using MSWord, Publisher or Powerpoint, for the process, although it would probably work. There are several free opensource graphics programs out there which are very good.

Run a measuring device over your model and scale the photos up to full size of the car. By doing this now, when you get the logos right on the layout you will know that they are the right size to print and put on the real car.

This is how I lay mine out.

Sort of like the car is an unfolded box. It works for me, but something else might be better for you.

Once you've got this far it's a good idea to lock and protect the layer that the photos are on. It will save you from accidentally moving or resizing the photos. It's also a really good idea to SAVE THE FILE NOW.

[HomeRacingWorld]

Now this is a very informative post.

:text-goodpost:

[SRQSloter]

Good stuff Ember. I'm going to have to try that on my next one. :handgestures-thumbup:

[Ember]

From here it is simply a matter of adding colour shapes, stripes or sponsor logos until you are happy with your design.

As I’m not comfortable with the application of large decals, I use paint for the base colour work on a car. I use the first layer to work out block colours that will be paint on the final car. Then build up the rest of the livery with sponsor logos, race numbers, etc. on subsequent layers.

Let's try a simple solid white car first. The inspiration for this one was my favourite radio station.


My experience designing corporate cars means that I tend to use a single sponsor on most of my fantasy liveries, but even race liveries usually have one main sponsor that receives pride of place on the car. Make your main sponsor’s graphics as big as possible. Depending on the car you’re working with the premium position might be on the bonnet rather than the doors. Or it might be both positions. If there is both a logo graphic and a logo type, don’t be afraid to break the two apart and use them separately on the car.


In this instance I've used the logo graphic big and bold first. I like working over the windows a little. It makes the design feel a part of the car. After the drum was added I put the logo type in place, making sure it was as big as possible, but positioned in such a way as to avoid awkward features of the car as much as possible. Secondary sponsors can be added if required. I find it best to add new things on new layers, it just makes it easy to go backward if I don't like something. Add numbers, race plates and whatever you desire.

And remember to save often!

When I'm happy with the way the layout looks, I then create my decal sheet for printing. This is simply done by opening a new file at the size of your paper (A5 or A4 for me) and copying your logos across from the design file to the printing file. As you've done your designing at actual size you know these logos are the perfect size to fit the car. Be careful at this stage not to resize or distort the logos.

Then it's just a matter of arranging them on the page and duplicating them a few times so that you have spares. :) When you're happy save your decal file. This can now be printed on your home printer or sent to someone else to print them for you.



Because this design was for a white car I printed these decals myself on my inkjet printer. I used white decal paper in this instance because I wanted a white background for the drum over the window. Follow the recommendations of the paper manufacturer regarding printer settings. I print on the highest resolution possible, but need to be careful with the printer settings to make sure the printer doesn't lay down too much ink.

The decals will need to dry and be sealed, again follow the manufacturers recommendations.

Use your initial design as a guide for applying the decals on your car.



When you've finished you can enjoy running a car that you know is unique.

[Ember]

The same process turned my favourite wine label into a rally livery.

The inspiration.


It made sense to use the diagonal division of the label on the car, but I switched it from the top of the car to the bottom.

The colour shapes were added to the file on the first layer above the photo layer. On the final car the colour block would be achieved with paint. From there the rest of the design was built as before.


Because I needed both white and gold printed for this layout I sent it to another slotter to have it printed on an ALPs printer. From memory this particular file was printed by Phil Kalbfell of Tassie Resins.

The final car shows that I didn't stick religiously to the original design. Sometimes there are features on the car which don't show up very well on the photo, so it pays to be flexible or even keep referring to the car shell as you're designing.




The owner of the winery has expressed interest in using this livery as the basis for his corporate car.

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That's what I was hoping for. But look back at the last image on the first post. It doesn't seem to have made it.

By the way, if the winery owner doesn't buy it, he's nuts.

[SRQSloter]

That is cool. Thanks for the tips. I mostly use paint but have been messing with paint.net. Kinda like it and starting to get the hang of it.

Thanks Again!!

[Ember]

[TsgtRet]

[Ember]

Trial and error is fine it works for you. I just find it quicker and more reliable to work this way. It also saves a bit on printer ink. :)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

That image is fine now. I suspect one of the guys on HRW fixed whatever fussy thing it was.

I am looking at a Cannon printer that goes for $100 on sale right now. I'll figure out about the paper after I do some research. I assume you are going to tell us about stuff like that in the next installment.

[Ember]

I'm going to have to buy myself a new printer soon. I'm still using my old Canon i9100 6 colour printer for printing decals and photos, but of course Microsoft doesn't expect you to keep legacy equipment with Windows upgrades. So, I have to keep one computer running WinXP to allow me to use it.

I've got a film scanner that I can no longer use because I can't get drivers for it. Pain in the posterior when you spend a small fortune on decent equipment but you're expected to throw it out after 5 years. Same problem with my DSLR camera. I can no longer use live shooting with it because it's 10 years old. (grumble grumble)

[TsgtRet]

I use my old Dell XP laptop to do my decals on because it has an old Broderbund photo program on it that I feel comfortable with that isn't compatible with Windows 7 or 8.1.
What size decal sheets do you use, Lynne? I use the Testors paper that's 8.5 x 5.5 inches so I tape it to a standard sheet of paper to run it through our Epson WF-2540. I print on the "standard photo paper" setting with the quality set on "high". I use 3 light coats of Krylon clear to seal them.

[Ember]

The decal paper that I have is A4, but I tend to cut it down to A5 so as not to waste too much. Still, because I'm still a bit of a decal novice I'm inclined to print enough copies in one sheet to do 3 cars. :)

[waaytoomuchintothis]

You might want to look into Linux, Lynne. Everything always works, and keeps working- and no viruses or any of that other craziness. My oldest printer is 12 years old. Still going at it cranking out manuscript pages all the time. I have idea how many new versions of Linux I have gone through over the years- all free, all impervious to bad guys and no mysterious silly crap from Windows.