[Beej Curtis]

😮 Crikey! I just scrolled to the bottom of my account under ‘Forums’ and the first discussion post goes back to 18yrs 6 months – That is Very Weird having just posted these images of my daughter, Eleanor – She is now 18yrs and 7 mnths old!!

Now That is amazing!

[Beej Curtis]

It must be something at their new Digital Uploader side? :/ Very frustrating as I have even taken the PDF files out and just tried to upload 2 x PNG files (altho PDF AND PNG shld be fine?) and its still not working..

I have written to their support team but they are incredibly slow at getting back. Very frustrating as desperate to get these uploaded. Oh well.. will report back once I know what is going on.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, I am sure the PDF from illustrator is the way to go, once I find out why I can’t upload them?

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Steve Morgan:

You could try this chap as an alternative to 3D print, his work is very very good and he’s not that far away from London. https://www.sculpturestudios.co.uk/.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I have seen Aden’s work on youtube before, he is just a real master and tbh, I was considering dropping him a line as he’s not a million miles away from the workshop in Harlow :thumbsup: Because I think that the idea of 3D print for a 4m high chandelier is basically a no-go now!

It’s all about getting info I guess as I knew nothing about 3D printing this time last week! :rollseyes:

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Robert Lambie:

Hi Beej

good to see you posting on the boards again mate, always great to see what your up to!

I know its not the same thing, but a possible option?

UKSB member Henry Barker does 3D routering and creates 3d displays, he did this one last month in polystyrene.
he does lots of stuff like this and has a monster-sized router. :smiles:

there is also UKSB member Fran Hollywood who does 3D polystyrene, like henry, he does some amazing work.

Hi Rob,

Great to hear from you mate :smiles:

This looks incredible! Can you tell me where he is exactly and some website info etc? I have sent the pics onto the guys who own the company because I think there may be a chance we could do something here..

Thanks mate :thumbsup:

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Colin Crabb:

quote :

hy on earth at even 1100mm high, doesn’t this come out of a machine perfectly flat?

When printing the lower the micron ‘step’ between layers the smoother finish. Small desk top machines can be as low as 25microns, there is also some post print smoothing on some higher enmd machines.

But can you imagine the time it would take to print 4metres high in 25micron layers…….

Hi Colin,

I think it’s a matter of ‘learning’ a bit more about how 3D Printing works! Of course, it’s all very new to me, but the scope and potential I see for creating things from my 3D files is huge and very exciting.

Like I said, I reckon (I assume anyways?) that things which are more ‘organic’-looking would work much better and would be much easier to sand any nibs and imperfections (like the props in the photos I posted above) But my design HAS to be FLAT facets and that I think is the issue.

Originally, we were going to try to make this from cut sections of mirror Dibond! :shocked: and so the design I did was VERY simple compared to this, like a ‘basic’ crystal shape tbh. But that’s not really what the client wants, they insisted on something more like the pic I posted of my design up top (original message) so imagine cutting and piecing 0ver 1100 facet pieces of material!!!

We ended up at looking into 3D Printing because we needed to find a way to make something that needed to be replicated 8 x times at around 1m high but the 4m chandelier prop is looking like it’s not do-able – well, not for their budget anway!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Colin Crabb:

quote :

hy on earth at even 1100mm high, doesn’t this come out of a machine perfectly flat?

When printing the lower the micron ‘step’ between layers the smoother finish. Small desk top machines can be as low as 25microns, there is also some post print smoothing on some higher enmd machines.

But can you imagine the time it would take to print 4metres high in 25micron layers…….

I am assuming that for a 4m high product, it would be in sections anyways?
It is looking very much to me that something at 1100mm high is do-able – in costs and of course quality of finish – but anything over that . . I need to go see them I guess, take a look at something first hand…

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Chris Wool:

having just got a 3d printer and learning fast, the size took me back a bit, from what i have seen so far is the machines capable of that size are very rough and ready in the finish and would require considerable work before painting.

pipex px in Plymouth have a very large cnc machine and make lots of big plastic things
for making several of the smaller ones the latest silicone molding techniques could be used
alan harper composites saltash a leader in that sort of thing
composite integration saltash may be of help.

Hi Chris,

Thanks for your suggestions, really appreciated.

On your comments re the large format 3D Print quality & finishing.. it’s weird that isn’t it, because I have to agree with you that I have heard this too – that the product coming out of the machine is a bit ‘scraggy’!? . I think (as someone who some of you know has painted motorcycles and airbrushed them in a paint-shop/spray-booth environment), I’m familiar with finishing and prep for paint. But I have NO idea how these come out of the machine? That is something I would like to find more out about . .

And it confuses me? Because I would love to hear more from you on what type of size you do etc? How come the smaller machines (my children’s school have a desktop 3D printer and of course there be large-ish ones, not this Massivit 1800 for example) where folks print VERY detailed 3D models from .stl files, even get mini versions of yourself!

So what gives with the worse quality on a larger size?

The biggest problem for us (well me, as Im creating the file! 😉 ) is that this Very First job of delving into 3D Printing as an option to add to our workflow for props, and I have to produce something that has VERY flat facets and lots of them! In the model in Blender, it reads over 1100, so it CAN be printed as some files would be much more complex, but on this model as it’s a crystal-looking object, that FLAT facet is part of the design and of course, a more ‘organic’-looking model, head etc.. wouldn’t have such flat facets..

I think that is where the issue will come in on this as Phil mentioned, the finishing for the Alsa Chrome Paint has to be pretty dead flat! So lots of priming and sanding I would think? That is why I am confused tbh? Why on earth at even 1100mm high, doesn’t this come out of a machine perfectly flat? 3D print is used in all types of industries and you dont see a drone body for example with little nibs and scraggs??

Anyways . . any info very much appreciated :smiles:

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Phil P Davies:

That is a humongous size to 3D print, I assume money is no object. Would be interesting to find if there is anyone doing those sort of sizes…. And what the eye watering cost is likely to be!

Hi Phil,

3D print for props is something that I too am only just discovering and its a very interesting world! The biggest machine I have discovered in my homework is the Massivit 1800 3D system, so looking for anyone who uses this in UK. I was blown away at some of the props that have been created from .stl files. Ive done 3d in the past and I am immersing myself back into it and having the most fun learning!

Check some of these giant 3D printed props…

---

Attachments:

[Beej Curtis]

quote Alex Crosbie:

Robocarv.co.uk do this kind of thing but it’s not printed, tends to be carved out of blocks of material.

Never used them but their work looks epic!

Thanks Alex, looked over their site, really interesting, not only for this difficult project but certainly for future things We have got planned :smiles: :thumbsup:

Appreciate the feedback..

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Iain George:

Oh well sorry, I worked for them about 5 years ago so that was the only reason I knew about them.

Thanks for the input :thumbsup: was quite shocked to see they no longer do it?

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Iain George:

The is a firm called Echo House in Surbiton that have a walk-in 3D printer.

Hi Mate,

Thanks for your reply.

I actually called them today and emailed them last night – seems they no longer do 3D print? The lady I spoke to said, ‘Yeah, we should really take that off our website.’

I thought they would be perfect. Still looking . . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote John Lacey:

Why not print the fades on clear and then flood coat the mirror vinyl? Might be more cost effective than an expensive print receptive mirror material?

Thanks John,

Do you mean cover the Foamex first in mirror vinyl and THEN put a clear vinyl over that with print on??
Wouldn’t that be more expensive? Plus there would be quite a few areas I guess where the mirror would be covered, so not sure what you mean mate?

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Lee Reeves:

Depends on your printer. We have printed with our UV cured inks on mirror vinyl with great results but solvent printers will struggle. If you get stuck I might be able to assist.

Hi Lee,

Thanks for your response bud 🙂
We don’t have a printer at all! So I’m looking for help on this anyways. Maybe once I have finished the artwork (next day or so) I could send it over and you could do a scaled-down sample for us perhaps?

Where aboots are thee mate?

Cheers…
Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hmmm.. pics don’t seem to display in order to how posted? Maybe it’s just me as they looked correctly ordered in ‘Preview Post’ Well, you get the idea! 😉

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

The third job we are still working on presently. Miam-themed 80’s night. We have also designed artwork for a sign (image below) which I drew first in Adobe illustrator, them brought into Photoshop to add all the effects and bling! 😉 I then used the vector palm tree to import to VCarve in three sections; Palms, Trunk and a base for it to sit in. This will then be mounted to the semi-circle plinths which are 18mm MDF. All other pieces are 12mm MDF:

This is the artwork for an illuminated sign we are making to go with the palms.

And this is how it will look when all fixed into stand etc. Still need to coat them with water-based clear.

Thanks for looking 🙂
Beej

[Beej Curtis]

The next job was commissioned for the Grandmother of a child who’s 1st Birthday was a couple of weekends ago. She held a garden party and asked for woodland creatures and yet another ‘Photowall’, this time with a woodland image. We did also cut the child’s name and cover this in silver glitter and placed it on the photowall, but I forgot to take a photo of it! All vectors drawn in Adobe illustrator and cut from VCarve to Mach3..

[Beej Curtis]

Hi guys, thnks for that. The only bits we have used have been 6mm endmill and the straight flute for MDF (which cuts great) but all the others – complete with burns etc as you both noticed – were like that when we got them. Will start tweaking more from VCarve about feeds n speeds etc but the tool we choose is currently set to 12000 and seems like a good speed? We did choose one from the Tool Menu named Pirahna and dint notice it was set 15000 and we it started cutting it scared the life out of us! Hehe…but it did still cut really well. Havent played with slowing down/speeding up in Mach 3 yet either, not sure if you can do that as it actually is running tho?

Appreciate your feedback so thanks guys, its good fun learning all the new stuff after all these yrs, but really feeling it in the neck and back today after two weeks solid of cutting and painting! Gonna have a special shelf in the workshop for ibuprofen and paracetomols!! [emoji5]

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks Rob [emoji1303] Hopefully someone may know what the other bits are for? When we bought the package, it just came with all these bits so its still a bit of a learning curve. Excited about getting more into the actual carving, engraving and more 2.5 D relief stuff…but that can wait at the mo as busy simply cutting profiles at mo.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote David Hammond:

CoverStyl’ or 3M’s DiNoc from William smiths, will fit the bill nicely.

Hi David,
Just looked at the 3m product and not sure which way would be cheaper or easier? Because we have SO much to get ready by next week, if We went the wrap route, we may need someone else near Harlow to sub it out to. Any ideas anyone?

Also, do they do a glossy black? Bit difficult to see in website charts?

Thanks bud

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Kevin Mahoney:

Will black dibond be any use with the join at the bottom?

Hi Kevin, not too sure? Is it available in black gloss? I think it is as I remember using A3 pieces from Amari plastics for students to airbrush on, but I cant remember the costs? The pieces will need to be 6’x3′ and I am not 100% sure if we can cut it on CNC as its all still very new to us!

Any advice very welcome

Cheers
Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Duncan Wilkie:

Welcome back. Sounds like you sure need some sign friends therapy. Glad you’re on the comeback.

Hi Duncan,

Yeah, times have been incredibly dark and very tough…but my creativity is going be a huge plus+ in getting me ‘back in the saddle’ and I haven’t been as excited since I first launched Organic Image all those yrs back! 🙂

So onwards and upwards now. Very much looking fwd to it all…

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Phill Fenton:

Welcome back Beej. I rmember you from well back and always admired the stunning airbrush work you did. Glad to hear you are on the mend and looking forward to seeing some more of your work once again :thumbsup:

Hi Phill,
Thanks, and it’s been so long since I have picked up the Airbrushes, but that is all gonna change now! 😉

Look fwd to catching up more on here very soon with all new projects

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Hugh Potter:

Welcome back Beej!! Been a looong time indeed! I’m sure I remember you from way back in the mid to late noughties?

Hi Hugh, thanks for the welcome back. Was looking today and I registered back in 2003!! Wow, how time flies! Looking fwd to chatting more soon..

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks for your help Rob 🙂

All good now on the iMac so will log into the App too.
Look fwd to chatting and sharing more on here soon..

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi All :smiles:

Could someone please assist me with contacting Rob? Maybe thru a PM on here.

My email has changed and I dont remember my login info! Doh! I am only able to post this as my ipad has kept me logged-in from eeyons back.

I need to change my email address too as the one attatched to my account here is now void. At the mo, Im not able to login thru the App nor on my Mac and would really appreciate some help.

Thanks

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Phill Fenton:

Hi Beej – Glad to hear you’re back :thumbup2:

I have a regular who is also an airbrush artist and he often gets me to cut template masks for him to use in his work.

Looking forward to seeing more of your posts 😀

Hi Phill, thanks for that mate.

Its funny, because after all these years I now am plotter-less! My first one was a Houston DMP-66 (I know Paul Priestly remembers them!) banging and chugging away into the wee hours. I sold in when I first moved to Bournemouth along with the software and old box-styled Mac SE (20MB hard drive – ooh yeah!) so i could buy my first Mac IIci. Crikey, that was as much back then as a new iMac retina is now!!

Speaking of which, I have advice for ANYONE using a Mac at all. Set Up Time Machine!! 😮 After working for a year on my new website and luckily I had a 2TB drive where I had just backed-up (manually) my work, Photoshop Art, Files n Website build etc – the iMac died on me yesterday morning 🙁 It took ALL DAY and I seriously thought that was it. Disk Utuility in Safe Mode said it had repaired the HD but it still was only showing the White Screen of Doom!! I was almost crying into me tea!!

I left it alone for a few hours, went out to have a much-needed hair cut, came back, looked at it’s 27" sitting on the desk (ooh err!) gave it a loving stoke and PLEADED for it to work. Booted it up, walked away, came back – White Screen! But left it alone. Came back in 10 mins later – all good!!! Bizarre! 😮 :lol1:

So, my advice to you as a Mac owner is this; Open Time Machine, get a 1 or 2TB drive, back it up to there (mine’s been going all night and it still has 6hrs left to go!!) and then, if it goes belly-up again at least I can install a new SSD HD and then, restore from Time Machine. I had never even used it before… stupid really as I already had the drive! Doh! You live n learn. I guess, having had a Mac since the 80’s I really should have known better! 😳

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote John Singh:

hey beej

long time!

always love you’re stuff

I’ve got Aussie Glenn from airicons staying with me in February
he’ll be doing a couple of weekend airbrush courses in London

Hi John,

Never heard of airicons? Just checked em out, cool. My eldest sone teaches art and has a studio in London. I am planning on getting back into teaching next year, probably by summertime, as the operation I had last Oct to un-trap nerves in arm/wrist (after years of sign-writing and airbrushing giving me RSI) is still not healing properly so sometimes, airbrushing very detailed work (which is what I am best known for I guess..) can be quite difficult. Consultant earlier this year said it can easily take up to 2 years! Oh how we suffer for our art eh! 😉

I live in Poole now, was in London for a few years but its great to back in the Bournemouth area as spent many years here in the past. Im very close to the sea and I am looking into holding classes on the clifftop (in a building, obviously! ;)) for maybe 2 day classes and a BBQ on the cliff at the end of last day. Once I am sure of all this I will talk more about it . .

Also, getting back into writing for P&KG mag soon so looking fwd to that too!

Thanks for the kind words about my work.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Martin Cole:

Hi Beej,

Good to see you back. Again another big fan of yours.
Its been a few years since we met at signuk.

Loving the purple flames etc on your website.

Glad you have things sorted and you are back on track.

All the best Martin

Hiya Martin,

Thanks for the kind words bud. SignUK, yeah, that was the year some little b***ard stole my hand painted and vinyled West Coast Customs sign! My little stand there, airbrushing the back wall while surrounded and Dwarfed by masses of printing technology! Felt a bit out of place that year but had some excellent feedback! It’s great to finally be back on trck mate :thumbup2:

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote James Sahota:

oi oi Beej…..

You get about!

Glad we could help you out with product sourcing mate!

Remember when things don’t go right just turn left…..its as easy as that!

:thumbup2: lol, that sounds like good advice James. Thanks for all your help, really appreciated.
I havent gotten about much though in the past few years, all that is going to change now . . 😉

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Robert Lambie:

Great to see you back on the boards Beej, as Craig says, always great seeing your work posted mate. amazing stuff!
Look forward to seeing more from you again.

Thank You Rob, it feels great to be back mate 🙂
Looking forward to sharing my work again here and seeing everyone else’s too.

Love the new site btw, very slick.

Sincerely,

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Craig Brown:

Good to see you posting Beej….are you still very active on the airbrush front as had lost track of you over the years…always loved seeing your work posted up :thumbup2:

Hi Craig,

Thanks for that mate. I have been away for some years, suffered with illness and depression but thankfully, conquered the Black Dog now 🙂 I have a new website which I launched very recently. I have been working very hard for the past year on it and will be adding more airbrush work to the site soon. There is a portfolio of my best work to date (in my opinion ;)) and also, lots of new more digital-based designs which we are now offering on T-Shirts and Hoodies, so really excited about that!

I am also working with a company who make Skull props for Game of Thrones, Dr Who (couple of episodes back) and they did all the skulls for Indiana Jones last movie. I am going to paint some very detailed, organic-styled designs on some skulls and have them for sale as collectables so starting on that project very soon.

Would love some feedback from you (and anyone who is happy to take a look) at the new site http://www.organicimage.com

Of course, it’s a work in progress so designing new art all the time and really looking forward to being able to share my creative projects here with you all. Like I said, Dec 2003 was when I first logged-in here, wow – I just can’t believe so much time has gone by.

Thanks all 🙂 it feels so good to be back out of the dark and into a world of colour again 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

PS: I can’t seem to edit my posts (Rob?) but I realised the link for the Letterhead Fonts is going to the scrips page so just hit http://www.letterheadfonts.com/

They have some BEAUTIFUL new stuff coming out, very Butler-style which is incredible too, absolutely amazing stuff.

To think you had to start with a pencil to get this type of letter art once upon a time but it still is just a black font I guess unless you know what to do with it!

Have fun Jeff and let us know how you get along.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Jeff,

Steve Vandemon specialises in faux sign work on very old gas station signage and his advice was this, if you build the edges with xtra paint to get a ridge and then sand back, you can get more natural chips and relaistic looking fades.

Hope that helps. If you pay us a visit in the New Year we can go over it in detail. I reckon hand lettered in One Shot or any other sign paint or even, if you go for the Auto-Borne route which we all now LOVE 😉 you could paint it much much easier, you already have the materials AND once you have arrived at the finished faux look correctly you can take an exterior clear varnish and simply re-letter it over the signs overlapping slightly by a few mil at the edges to lock it down.

A good varnish or even try the Top Coat by Medea as this will build nicely and you could cut paper or card templates to mask the lettering and simply spray the Top Coat over as it is Solvent-resistant when dry and moves a little due it’s acrylic properties.

Test panels first mate, that is the way to go and also, check some of the cool fonts available for Raceway style type on http://www.letterheadfonts.com/styles/script.shtml http://artandsignstudio.com/fonts.html and http://www.signdna.com/v2/index.php

PS: Another good idea is to cut sign masks with the fonts and simply paint the lettering if you’re not too happy signwriting. Just call me or email if you need some help bud.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks Steve.

The reason i sounded like I took your reply real seriously was this. The image i copied for a night club Halloween promo poster (I guess I could post it again here as it illustrates the story better but have to dash off in a mo) and thought it looked it great. So much so, that back in around 1985 I got a load of portfolio pics together, sent them off to a few London illustration agencies and waited . . .

Problem for me was the agency I picked actually represented the artists who had originally painted the book sleeve! 😮 I received a stern warning re plagiarism and that as I was just starting out, the artist had let it slide so hands slapped and I learned from it.

Thing was, until you mentioned it, I had completely forgotten! Haha 🙂

We’ve all done it at some time so sorry if my response seemed a little ‘serious’ but that was why. I now license my own art and currently, i am looking at a deal for new stencils of my Organic-style images and I know myself, unless I have given my art as downloads (which I do on my site for members) I don’t like it either these days if i see my stuff copied without permission, especially badly!

Live n learn I guess bud . . thanks for the positive comments on my work Steve.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Steve,

I did post a reply to this but it seems to have gorne? Anyways, I removed the Ghoul art you mentioned as I had forgotten about that! It was painted in the early 80’s from the book you talk of and I did that b4 I knew what copyright meant! Hehe

I have added some new sections too now to the Gallery so please click here:

http://www.organicimage.com/acatalog/Gallery.html

to check them out. More signs, Sega Park logo’s and murals and some newer, more ‘Organic’ stuff.

Thanks for looking 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Check this link to see some of my OLD work from the 80’s:

http://www.organicimage.com/acatalog/Old_Artwork_.html

I studied as a signwriter in the late 70’s and early 80’s in Doncaster and went to work for Co-Signs under Bill, a great signwriter, he was brilliant. From there i went on to start my own business writing posters for R&J’s nihtclubs and that morphed into 1st Leisure and then Sega work . . lots and lots of sign work and lettering along with my airbrush work, always done both. It’s just that I have gotten known in the last 4-5 yrs for the airbrush work due to all the re-emergence of the bike and chopper interest. But my passion will always be lettering and I am going to produce some pieces soon as demo’s so would lOVE to show you here bud 🙂

I lettered my first coach for the Cubs when i was still at school . . think I was 14 at the time and 2 of my uncles were sign writers and coach letterers in Donny too so I have always been around signs and brush lettering which is why I love pinstriping so much.

My focus will be toward those things from now on and I’m really excited about it 🙂

Naples is SW Florida John 😉 I was just as confused when I was offered the job mate! Katrina ripped a pretty hole in her too so another reason to not be so bothered about moving there.

Talk more soon . . major issues with my website today . .PC died and took software/store and ALL back-ups with it . . almost done now (being salvaging it for several hrs today) but you should be able to view the gallery there OK.

Thanks for the interest and talk soon . . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks guys 🙂

I was supposed to be heading out to Naples, FL. but it all fell apart which was kinda lucky cos if I had gone, by now, my family would have no home and I’d have no job!!

It wasn’t as secure as it had first seemed . . but what is these days eh!?

Focusing on rekindling my love for lettering and airbrushing mixed together but for the next few years my wife and I have agreed . . Salisbury is where it’s at! Who wants to get flipping sweaty and boiling hot all day all year anyways in Florida? Hehe

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Mike Grant:

Congratulations from me as well! Your life will now change forever :lol1:

Just had news today that a member of our VW club that we call Scary Claire (she is a goth) is also up the duff. The last person on earth that I thought would get pregnant. That baby will come out clad in black leathers I think :lol1: :lol1:

LOL! Well Mike, seeing as I have 5 kids now, I guess it will! 😮 😮

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Marcella 🙂

There is one in there very similar as I already looked last night but it’s not quite right.

Thanks for the link tho..

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Michael,

Well you’d be looking at about £1400 to do that on both sides of a tank so on a car, you would easily be looking at around £3-4k for the artwork alone and then you have the clear/polish fee. It all depends just how ‘detailed’ the client wants it and how ‘cartoon-like’ it should be as your time will be less that way.

Hope that helps 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Yes Peter you’re right but I checked all that bud. I know what you’re saying Mike as it’s driving me mad too . . but, it seems I have had a breakthrough. I was told by Kjell from Signcut that the Keyspan USB cable worked so now I have that I think it is the actual ‘adapter’ that came with the serial cable. The adapter makes the DB25 pin end into a DB9 Female and I think this is where the problem lies. I have found the cable here:

http://www.cablecity.co.uk/product_info … ucts_id=89

So I’m going to order this on Monday and I’ll let you know how I get on. I also got an email from Per Johansson / Whisqu Graphic AB who said:

‘I would make a qualified guess to say that the adapter between the 25-pin contact to the 9-pin is the problem. Probably it makes a gender-change instead of a straight-through one.

If you have access to a cable-tester you can check if the txd and rxd connectors matches this:
http://www.sc-x2.com/index.php?option=c … &Itemid=32

Also note, that when using signcut, you should not use a printer-driver attached to the virtual comport, instead choose the Roland PNC-1000 in signcut, and as device, choose the COM7 directly instead.’

I’ll report back when I have done these last tests but ater that, it’s running off the tower PC I guess, but I HATE letting technology get the better of me! I’m sure it’s ‘user error’!

And besides, I’m not letting the cable get away with some gender-changing issue on MY laptop! Ooh err missus 😉

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Chris,

You can use something like Comm Art (excellent and formulated for airbrushing), water-based Gouache, watercolours, Acrylics . . anythin you can thin down slightly will do. Also, FW Inks are also good.

If you need help sourcing these let me know. We can get Comm Art 4 you.

Cheers bud

PS: And remember, Auto Air is also water-based and relatively cheap too. It’s all about thinning to the right consistency, learning that is the most imortant thing.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Sure thing, l8trs man . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks Chris 🙂

I first piked up an airbrush back in around ’77, it was a Badger. I wanted to desperately be a custom car painter then at 14 yrs old and it’s taken me til now to get there! A lot of this is due to the fact that Photoshop, Vectors, Plotters and digital killed airbrushes in the late 80’s and well into the 90’s ut, it’s coming back strong and that makes me really chuffed to bits!

I have always used an airbrush in my work since I started working freelance back in the early 80’s. I’m gonna dig out some old posters/signs I did back then to show you soon, I’ll get Rob to ost them elsewhere. It’s all about practice, after a few months it seems like second nature getting those dagger strokes and that trigger control, it’s all in that trigger finger!

Talk soon . . ang get some kip man! 😉 I’m trying to watch Chip paint this car on Overhaulin!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Pic of the Tribal painting I was working on at the Sign UK show.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Chris Parsons:

Beej,

Is it worth getting the MICRON airbrush as well in future? When I saw you working on the smaller details on the tribal patterns…were you using this?

I know it is designed for smaller detailed work…is it work it, or should I stick the the ECLIPSE to see how I get on first.

Cheers…CHRIS

Chris ALL the Tribal painting on the back wall was done with the Eclipse and black Auto Air mate 🙂 The Micron is really mega-fine work, say teeny skulls on a tank/lid etc or really tight portrait work etc.

You’ll be fine with the Eclipse for now, think as the Micron as the advanced driving test! Learn to drive with the Eclipse and then buy a Porsche! You won’t see any difference until you’ve mastered the strokes with an Eclipse first.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

PS: You simply cannot go wrong with the Eclipse, it is a real workshorse. Iwata are bringing out a new airbrush over here very soon called the Kustom and I nearly creamed when I saw it this week!

It is basically a beefed-up Eclipse with the MAC control valve (something I have been longing for on the Eclipse) and a much larger cup for more material allowing more work to be done. This feature was co-decveloped by Killer Paint’s Mike Lavallee as if you’ve ever painted True Fire flames you’ll know, the Eclipse is king but you have to keep adding more colour. The pre-set handle comes as standard – again, another missed feature and something you had to purchase seperately b4 with the older Eclipse and to top it off, a taller trigger for better ergernomics and detail control/flow.

I’ll keep you all posted on this baby as we’ll be deffinately having a play when it gets over here.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote Chris Parsons:

Thanks for the tips Beej…I managed to catch up with you at the show.

I was looking to book up a few lessons with you but you were fully booked up at the time. However, I noticed your site is updated with some new dates…I’ll see which one would be best for me and get one booked asap.

I have inherited a brand new Iwata Eclipse-CS Airbrush and going through the basics…dagger strokes, fades, etc.

I have done alot of vehicle spraying but wanting to get into airbrushing…I look forward to sorting some lessons out with you.

Cheers…CHRIS

Great stuff mate, I’ll look forward to painting with you soon then bud 🙂

Thanks Pete, I spoke to Rob t’other day bout posting some new classes and I got the impression he was cool with it. If not – sorry man! 😳

Cheers . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Chris,

Auto Air paint works really well on vinyl and the beauty of it is it’s water-based. I was at Sign UK this year doing demmo’s of this and airbruishig other stuff. We’d had great support from Butch ‘SuperFrog’ Anton in the USA, he invented Frog Juice.

Frog Juice is excellent over the AA on vinyl and allows the paint to stretch/move slightly over months not like some other acrylic rattle cans which look great at frst but after 6 months can chip. We use Auto Air all the time in lots of our airbrush work and it really is excellent stuff. The best thing about AA is that you can get it in all types of real trick colours from metalflakes to chameleons, irridescents and sparklescents and the no-solvent content makes them great to spray all day long!

beej

[Beej Curtis]

Just wanted to say thanks to all those who came over to say hello personally 🙂 The stand was so busy for me that I couldn’t even get around to see the rest of the exhibition! That was a real pain as there were so many things I wanted to have a look at and people I wanted to talk to, at least it stopped me spending money though I guess!

On Thursday some little sheet stole one of my my hand-painted vinyl signs, the West Coast Customs one, that really spoilt the show for me – not because of the sign, I can always another in minutes – but because after that I couldn’t turn my back on the audience to carry on airbrushing the wall I was working on. Being at the show on my own and having a couple of valuables on the stand, I was a bit paranoid – lesson learned there I guess! 😕

Great to meet all you guys in person at last, VW Mike, Peter, Chris, Steve M, Steve B (at the Sign Studio), Martin (great to see you there bud :)) Tony, Dewi and Cal, John and Stuart . . . and ALL the others! (sorry if I forgot names) and wish I’d had more time to talk to Jill! I know you went off to Scotland with lots of others, I was so envious of that as I really wanted to go to that meet myself, looking forward to see pics from there . . . already booking my spot for next year and this time, will be taking someone else to watch the stand! My friend and sign bud Paul Priestly was going to that Northern meet too, I think he frequents this board and the Letterheads, didn’t see you tho Rob? Where were you?

Cheers everyone, I really had a blast and it was great fun just chatting and painting all week. Talk more soon . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Sorry Rob, didn’t realise that a pic of my logo was not allowed? So here’s ME instead! 😉 lol!

PS: Any more news on the copy of the sign magazine mate, after all, it has been only a year mate . . . 🙄

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

PS: Rob, how come evry time I visit the page my avatar is missing?

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Don’t worry Rob, already spoken to t’other Rob & Peter M.

PS: Will I EVER get my copy of the SIGN UK mag with the Order of the Dragon article in it? 😕

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Very nice work bud, loving the fire work on that too! That will really pop bigtime when it’s cleared I bet.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks everyone for your kind comments 🙂 I’ll look forward to meeting some of you at the Sign UK show in May.

There was 2 days work on this job, I hate doing lids as they are a real pain to take apart and re-build but I really wanted to do this one!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

PS: It has a Dongle for the Serial cable but I have no manual for the CAMM1, is it possible to download driver/info from anywhere about the plotter?

Cheers

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thank you Jem 🙂

[Beej Curtis]

Fantastic work, it makes you hate digital even more. 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks everyone, 🙂

The cost for this job was just under £3k but, the bike was delivered in rough metal stage and had to be moulded/welded/grinded/sanded/finished and sanded some more! All that for 1 week b4 any paint could touch it.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

http://www.organicimage.com

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Cool beans ! 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Love those cars, great job Kevin, looks cool. Imagine flames down the side and a skull on the hood! 😉

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

🙂 Thanks Carrie, that’s a great word! I’ll put it on my website! 😉

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Finished and sent to the customer who was really chuffed! 🙂 (Me too!)

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Good job Rich, like the colour of the van too. That just pops right off the side – BANG! 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Man Stevo, you blow me away with each design I see you do!! I LOVE the color scheme on that. (I thought he shoots hoops though? ;))

BTW, have you and Jill read a book by Julia Cameron called The Artists Way? If not (and anyone else here reading) you should but it TODAY! It is full of magic 🙂

Great work mate, very inspirational and you’re right, the style and the ability really IS shining thru in each piece you show, see how easier it is when you are content.

🙂

Looking forward to the next one. . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Paul,

Seen you’re in Bournemouth.. I just moved from Bournemouth to Salisbury and work in the paintshop in Boscombe most weeks. Spend the rest of my time at my home studio painting bikes/choppers etc and designing signs/decals.

Talk soon..

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi BeePee, welcome to the board from Salisbury UK.

🙂
Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hiya Alison,

Glad to see more people getting into t-shirts and mugs printing, are you doing sublimation or other types?

You can’t go wrong once you’ve bought your first plotter, you’ll be cutting out all types of things in vinyl before you know it! Signs everywhere from your office door to the kitchen fridge! 🙂

Welcome . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Mike,

Welcome mate. I know what you’re saying about the weather, I was down the pier end with my friend from Southway Posters and insist on helping now with the erection of his sign boards – he got blown right off his ladders a year or so ago and broke his arm, from about a height of 20 feet! Good old English weather!

The board is great fun and as others say, addictive 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Guy,

Sorry about the delay in replying but I’ve been real busy and now I’nm trying to catch up! 🙂 Been here myself for a year and its a great board. The sign industry wouldn’t have the big boys without the small ones, that’s where they come from!

Look forward to asking you a few technical questions.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Mart,

Welcome from Salisbury (and Bournemouth)! I just moved out of Dorset after 14 years of being there and now I’m surrounded by fields! Great!

You’ll find the boards very informative and helpful, everyone here seems to be a good guy. 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Andy and welcome to the board. You will find a wealth of infornmation on the internet about signage design and there are also some good magazines out there, a couple have been mentioned on this site! 🙂

I’ve got some links to books etc so I’ll dig them out and come back and post the links. . .

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Sophie, I’ll have to look into the mag, haven’t heard that one either?

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Agree with everyone else, and its happened to me too. I ‘ve even had an agent take my finished airbrush artwork, sell it to the client and not pay me OR give me back the originals! Bummer!

I won’t do ANYTHING now without 50% deposit (we’re talking mostly finished artwork here.) it’s just not worth it. In the old days you used to get the design houses asking illustrators for their ‘ideas’ b4 commissioning a job. All they do then is give the ideas to someone else to do.

When I get approached by a custome to paint a chopper/bike they are usually coming because they have already seen my work and this usually applies to lots of sign companies too. Why should you lift a finger for free? It’s your job, it’ what you get paind for man! I always say, ‘I can do fully detailed visuals showing you how the job will look completed and if you give me the 50% advance I’ll book the job in and start on the visuals right away.’

I have been burnt too many times in the past, dealing with moiney and customers is THE single most difficult part of learning to run your own business, but once you start getting that deposit time after time from customers it makes it easier the next time and you should always know your abilies have a worth.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Top job mate, real nice. Did you spray the edges with a darker red or black? Or are mine eyes goin mental? Nice look to it and colour scheme is great for the subject, raised letters work great mate. Bet the customer was over the moon, specially as the finished job is even better than the visuals and they were very good!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hey Marcella! WOW! That is excellent, why be worried? Great clean design, good choice of type and well done for not freezing your fingers off on application! Hope you didn’t have too bad a hangover today! 🙂 I think you teach a few folks a thing or too about layout, good font choice on the lower panels too and best of all, it suits the van AND it fits the comopany’s name/style.

You met the breif girl!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Great Brian, that’s just perfect. 🙂 you should be able to see it on the new section of the site ‘SignArt’ on subartclub.com some time tomorrow.

I’ll post here when it’s ready to go, very excited about how it’s all coming.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Cheers Brian,

I was after a photo if poss?

Ta

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote johnchilds:

Unless it’s raining or really cold I prefer open face helmets and my current weapon of choice is a Roof Roadster with a visor so dark it will result in a hefty fine if I ever get stopped with it.

Thanks for the comments John :).. re the Roof, I’m working on a deal at the mo with a helmet supplier to sell new lids complete with paint jobs. Some of it painted some decals. The price will include the new helmet and all graphics.

Cheers

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote signworxs:

Excellent dude. Is that for someone up this neck or the woods by any chance.

paul

Hi Paul, sure, it’s for Chris at Cusworth Bikes. I saw him at the PCB show in Donny and hadn’t seen him since the early 80’s when we built a stage set in Romeo’s and Juliets for his bike show. Them wer t’days, aye! I’ve got a pic of the stage set somewhere, I’ll post it in a mo, that’ll be a laff. Artwork on this board from 1981!! 🙂 back when the nearest I got to digital was my overhead projector!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote dynamite signs:

thank for the reply mate ,tell me can you charge that out to the customer?

It all depends who’s buying it! 😉 This is more of a showpiece rather than a pay for commission but to be honest, once I get some of this decal stuff nailed it will be much easier to put the 2 abilities together, digital and airbrush. That’s where I’m planning to go.

The average going rate for a lid is from £200 up to about £450 (if you’re lucky and the customer loves your work!) but as you can see, it’s difficult to get the money for the amount of work as the actual stripping/building back up takes time too.

The good money on paint jobs for me is the choppers, full paint jobs. I’m currently working on a big Zodiac framed chopper from grinding welds, filling etc thru to finished paint and clearcoat. I see the future for me marrying the digital with the creative/airbrushed/signwritten and I’m also planning to sell my artwork to others for them to print too.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

quote michaelmont11:

awesome work mate, i have done a lot of airbrush work and training in las vegas etc, and thats up there with the best of them.

Hey thanks man, really appreciate that 🙂 I love the portrait you put on the board, nice to see another airbrush artist around.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks fellas 🙂 Rich, it’s taken around 5 full days from conceptual visuals to finished job but I’ve been doing it on and off for several weeks because I’ve been so busy and I’ve recently moved house business. Setting up the paintshop again has been a nightmare! Difficult to put actual hours but I reckon around the 3-4 day mark.

I’ve mentioned to Rob about posting a full step by step on this as it covers airbrushing, pinstriping, lettering, Illustrator, Photoshop and Versacamm decals thrown in for good measure!

Thanks again for the comments 🙂

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Bill,

I’m just down the road in Salisbury. Welcome, it’s a fantastic board and you won’t be sorry you came along. I learn something new each time I visit!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Welcome Colin and good luck with the new post. 🙂

A lot of interesting things have been said and I just wanted to add that back in the late 80’s early 90’s I was buying the mags too but always favoured the US ones. I now only subscribe to Airbrush Action, Auto Art and Auto Graphics as I’ve gotten more into my roots of airbrushing and pinstriping and these mags cover the old skool really well.

I guess what I’m saying is creativity seems to be missing in a lot of publications, except some that have been mentioned like Computer Arts for example. Sign companies seem to be all based on big RIPS, best printer and most solvent ink these days. If you pick up a magazine and flick through it’s boring, no creativity, no spark, no pics that make you go, ‘Wow, how did you do that!’ I’ve seen more of that in the past 6 months on this board than in most mags. It needs more old skool stuff – or at least new technology with an old skool slant.

If you can do half as good as job as Rob has done bringing all this talent and a wealth of info together then you’re on your way to an interesting magazine. I’d buy it because I think their will always be a future for well designed and creative signs and I’m just interested to see what’s happening out there. Maybe you could do ‘What’s Going On Over the Pond’ section and feature some of the US-styled stuff, that way you will have US-styled features in a UK mag and everyone will be happy! 🙂

You will be seeing a massive influence from the US in the UK over the next few years because the Hot Rod style is coming back into fashion and is hoooge in the States right now. Covering more artistic stuff like airbrushing, pinstriping and even auto art/graphics would be better than seeing just all the ‘typical’ signage stuff I feel.

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

LOL :lol1: Nice one!

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Colin 🙂

Appreciate the response. I guess that’s why it’s so darn hard to find anyone who does this! I have looked abroad with some success but of course, their Min order quantities are too large for ickle ol’ me 😉

[Beej Curtis]

Hiya Rob Great be back posting and creating again 🙂

Thnks for the advice, really appreciated. I know it’s a ‘fiddly’ thing to try to do, from any sign maker or graphics house.. just hoped there may be a way (especially A1 and A2)

All good here, creating some great new stuff with my new Creative Partner in crime – Eleanor (My 18yr old daughter! 🙂 ) I will post some images in here to show you what we have been up to. She is an incredible artist, just finished College and did super well.

Hope you and yours are all good my friend

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Thank you Leslie, very much appreciated 🙂

[Beej Curtis]

Thanks Jeff, appreciated bud 🙂

[Beej Curtis]

Hiya Karen 🙂

Thank you for your positive comments, appreciated. Hope you get something out of them 👍

Speak soon
Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Richard,

Thank you So much for those kind words, they are very much appreciated. 🙂
I wanted to create something from this very special project that was in-depth and very detailed because after many years of using illustrator and Photoshop I know that folks would find some of it very useful, especially as the end digital results were used in conjunction with the airbrush art of the portrait, the masks and all the techniques etc..

Again, thank you for your support and please do let me know how you get on with the episodes, I would be delighted to hear that. This project took several months from start to finished edited and produced episodes so its really wonderful to get feedback like this.

Sincerely,
Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Hiya Martin 🙂 Thank you for your kind response, appreciated. And yeah, how long ago was that Sign UK show?? Crikey, years!

Great to hear from you, hope you and yours are safe & well bud

Beej

[Beej Curtis]

Cheers bud 🙂 Just gonna try now to zip them all together and see if I can upload. Will report back. 👍

[Beej Curtis]

BTW, have you used PDF files with vectors within them (like I am saving these) to successfully use on the plotter? As this seems the Exact thing that I need to do now, so this will be great!

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Hugh,

Ive just saved-out my illustrator vector files as PDF. I then re-opened these in illustrator and they seem to fully editable, vector outlines 👍🙂 After all the years of using illustrator, I had no idea you could save the outlined Vector files within a PDF document?

Right, so all I need to try now is see if the uploader will accept the PDF file so I will let you know.

Thanks Hugh, this is truly helpful mate 👍

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Hugh,

You know, Im not sure? I will enquire and see if that is possible.

Thanks bud 🙂 👍

[Beej Curtis]

The original files are ai and were exported as vectors. I just opened these original Vectors and exported as SVG – I re-opened these and they looked fine as paths – it’s just that I want to be 100% positive before I offer them out to anyone 🙂

Cheers

[Beej Curtis]

Hi Jamie, thanks for your reply 🙂

The image files to PRINT are PNG’s, that is fine as the uploader supports those. I just needed to know if the SVG files would cut fine on a plotter, it seems you are saying that, so hopefully, that answers my question 👍 (can you just confirm that for me please?) It’s ONLY the .SVG files I am concerned about.

Cheers