(I searched and did not see a thread with a similar title.) I am considering getting a small area on my car striped. I know there are many, many people in the striping business and even at most of my local shows, there are at least 2 set-up and doing business. I don't know anything about striping and I think most of the samples I see look pretty good. How do you evaluate someone's striping work and how would you pick a striper? Obviously I could just ask locals for recommendations but I would like to learn a little about the art before I pay someone and select a design. Do most of them like to pick their own design/colors based on the look of the car they are doing or are they mostly open to suggestions about colors and or designs? I don't see many single color designs, are they considered too simple? (Car is black). Is design density considered a factor (i.e. how close the lines are together)? Difficulty of painting on a curved surface vs. a flat one? Etc.? Thanks.
i'm far from a pin-stripe expert , that's why i pay someone who is to do it . i can barely write my own name but i'll give you my 2 cents anyway. check out their work in person and see what you like and don't like . most of them have a book of pictures of their work too. check out other cars at shows for ideas . find someone who you think you can trust as for colors and design..every time i have had a car done i had my own ideas , but after discussing with them what i wanted they usually came up with a better idea . watch them while they are working..if they do something you don't like it is no big deal fro them to wipe it off right away
I'm a striper, so I can give you a few pointers. When I look at someone's striping, including my own, to judge the quality, here are a few things to look for: 1. Overall design and how it matches the lines of the item or car being striped. Does it flow? Is it generally pleasing to the eye? Step back and blur your eyes a bit. The over all shape should be pleasing. When looking at a striper's work, that's the first thing I notice. 2. Thickness of lines. Some designs call for the line to dagger a bit. Especially when going for an early 60s look, but the lines shouldn't be thin on the left half and thick on the right. Consistency is important. 3. Is that striper willing to work with your ideas and improve upon them? Too many stripers have the attitude of "Who's the artist here? You or me?" Granted, I may think of things that the client hadn't thought of, but ultimately it's his or her car. Any striper you choose should listen to what you want and talk to you about ideas before they even open the One Shot. 4. Look at the striper's work. How are the corners where two lines meet up? Are there gaps or overhangs? Do the lines and corners on the left of the design look like the ones on the right? Overlapping corners or corners that don't meet up well for whatever reason, are signs the striper doesn't have that much control over his brush. I'm not the greatest in the world, but I don't suck much either. I have a lot to learn and I hope I keep learning more and more until I take the big dirt nap, but I do know what to look for and strive for. Hope this helps.
Unless they're working on top of flat paint. Flat paint SUCKS for striping on. Mistakes are a pain in the rump to remove from flat paint, especially if it's not laid down well.
My thoughts, Quality of design, quality of line. You can only get this by seeing previous work. One suggestion when striping a black car, tone the colors down. For instance, imitation gold one shot enamel on black will really look yellow.
Find someone who's work you like, discuss your budget with them , tell them what colors you DON'T like, and let them take care of it. A professional will ask you questions, to get a feel for what you want. And they will probably try to steer you away from poor choices.
Good point, hotrod. Purple, red, deep green and royal blue look awesome on a black car. If I'm asked to do white on a black car, I'll make it antique white, just to warm it up a bit. I striped the flames on this Merc hood for Austin Speed Shop. The stripes look pretty bright, but there's a ton of orange, yellow and purple mixed in to antique it considerably. Pure white would have looked like a neon sign on this hood...
the Unk knows of what he speaks. don't argue with an artist. they know what works best. stay far away from people who 'will stripe it for a 12 pack'.
I'm no striper, but one thing I've seen that seems to make some work look better than others (in addition to what was mentioned above) is the way lines get thicker and thinner within the same stroke of the brush. I personally like to see a smooth taper in a stroke, which adds to the design. Sometimes the strokes can be thick in the middle and thin on the ends, or vice-versa. It's just gotta look intentional and the same on both sides if the design is symmetrical. I've also seen many cars ruined (IMO) by too much striping. So don't overdo it.
All good advice if ya ask me. Do your homework and figure out what you like first. Then start looking at artist's work. Now for a shameless plug. Check out One Arm Bandit. He did a guitar for my son (see my albums) and he's probably close to you. Top notch work and easy to deal with. He'll do the tank and fender for my Triumph when it's ready, even if I have to ship them to him.
While you guys are on the topic, How do artist usually price there work? By the design? The size of the car? Amount of art? I found it hard to shop for a striper with an actual $$ budget in mind, seems like I was comparing apples to oranges... Wasn't sure if one guy's prices were "high" while another's was a good value for what I'd be getting...
Most guys will charge by the piece and I've seen prices vary greatly. As an example, if I do a design on your hood that's maybe a foot tall by about 18" wide (a medium to large design), depending on the amount of time it takes to do, I'd charge you around 80 bucks. A small lick on the top of each fender would run you about 50. Of course, like any part of capitalism, the more the striper is in demand, the more he can charge. Sometimes it's a matter of 'you get what you pay for', but not always. Just because a guy has a booth at a big car show, does not mean he's that great. He just had the spare money to get the vendor space. Go to pinheadlounge.com. You'll see a lot there to choose from. Oh, and by the way, One Arm Bandit is a freaking GENIOUS! Easily one of the best stripers to ever hold a brush. Super props to him. He's one of my idols.
The 2 that I have had work done by were both excellent. Anthony White, and Charlie One Arm Bandit. Recommend them both. Plumber 1
That did answer another question I had that I forgot to ask: about pricing. I had just assumed that most stripers would charge an hourly rate, since the larger and more complicated a design was, the more time it would take. It's hard for me to rate one guy/gal's work over another since, because I can't do it, it all looks hard and therefore impressive to me. I guess it's important to look at the fine details since observing from a few feet away I have not really noticed what I would call "mistakes" in anybody's work. I was also wondering if different designs were classifiable type or category or if all striping was essentially unique and therefore resisted categorization. Thanks again for the inputs.
there are 'styles' but save for a few, they are difficult to classify. you have your 'dagger style' which is the broad term for what is classically considered 'traditional ' then you have your 'scroll style' which is swoopy and loopy with all kinds of swirlys and such. within the broad categories you have more unique styles and each artist has a definite something that makes their style theirs.
Look at striped cars you like and go from there. Is there a particular style you like? Is it a design, fat lines, thin lines, or have some sort of image made from the stripes (devil or whatever). If you see what you like on cars from shows you go to, then perhaps you've found your guy/gal. There was a post here a while back asking for peoples favorite pinstripes. Might be a place to start. Once you have names, you can visit their sites etc etc. Be picky......it's your car. C
I see it as the same way you pick out a tattoo artist, by reputation, if they're available and what they generally charge per hour. Figure on what you'd LIKE to spend, double it and you should be in the ball park for the cash you'll be laying out. Bob
Don't over think it and ask the striper a million questions. Stripers do not get paid for consulting...Yet. My customers are my best salesmen. If I'm doing a car show (and I've done hundreds since 1980) they usually tell the next customer..."He's the artist He knows what to do." Last weekend one guy wanted to talk about putting two designs on the side scoops of his Vette. He picked my braain for about for 20 minutes while I was striping and had 4 cars waiting. He thought about for two hours and came back to talk about it some more. I just told him, "Did you see the last 5 car owners tell me what to do? No, he said. "Well there ya go." I did it. BUT, the best thing I ever came up with when the customer wants me to do it his way or copy somthing out of a magazine is...Here's how I work when it comes to pricing, I have 2 Prices....One my way and One Your Way! I get to do my gig my way everytime! Bottom line, if you like their work, just let the striper do his thing. Besides. nobody told Van Gogh how to paint that $80,000,000 dollar painting did they? Mikey www.MikeysPinstriping.com "I Do Bad Things to Good Customers"
True, but he wasn't usually working for commission on someone else's property, either. He generally did it for his own concerns. If I'm striping on someone's $60,000 hot rod, I'm going to be open to his suggestions, then add my own input to that and meet in the middle. But that's just me. I've also paid to have my own cars pinstriped by others and would at least let them know what I was thinking and let them know what I most certainly DIDN'T want. I think listening to the customer is just good business, but to each their own
Seems like you choose your customers. Perhaps its different for me, a different type of artist, but if the striper has many styles and is not willing to hear my wants and do not wants... he/she is not the right one to stripe my car. Its like a tattoo on your car. Look for an artist's work you like. Give him/her your ideas. He/she will translate that into the stripes. Good luck. KreaturesCC has given some good advice.
Hey Paul, After hearing all the replies from Hambers give me a call for a couple of local stripers that were at the Jalopyrama and am sure they can fix you up. I just had the '32 coupe done by The One Arm Bandit after the Timonium show, I can send you pixs. contact me jalopyrama@verizon.net Mike
Check out the pinstriping artwork on this website: http://www.pinheadlounge.com/ Tons of cool stuff on there.
Like they've all said, check the line quality of the artist. To me the consistency of lines and the quality of corners/junctions in designs are the big things. I'm a begining striper myself, I work cheap, but I'm trying to get my name out there too. One armed bandit is pretty awesome, also check out Jr. Huff (insane!) Pinheadlounge.com is a good way to see lots of work and mybe find someone in your area
I don't choose them, they choose me. After 31 years in the biz, my clients know me and 99.99% of them say "here's my car, stripe it." I figure, (they know) I'm making $2-300 bucks an hour so I waste no time and just get busy so they can show off. When a customer calls me they've already seen what I do, know how I work and that's pretty much it. $60,000 dollar car? Did three last month worth over $700K. A Bentley Continental GT-$250K, $300K pro-built 32 Highboy, a $175K pro-touring car. One customer, he and his wife, was there when I did the 32. The time consuming part was them deciding colors. As I went to clean the surface and after hearing them argue about it I just mixed up color and did lines. The Pro-touring car owner called and just told me to do my stuff. I do not have patience for time wasters. My mentor back in the 70's said if you ain't got speed and accurancy, you will never make the big bucks, so that's what I learned to do. He could stripe Bandit Trans Ams at 250 each and do 10 before noon, then go back to his air conditioned shop and stripe 10 vans for 500 each. He was amazing and made millions striping. I'll confess, now in my 50's, I'm getting slower, but getting mo money when I do one. At the end of the day when the bills are piling up and you're looking at how pretty that $150.00 dollar job is that you shoulda got $400 for, well that causes stress because you did not charge enough to keep the wolves at bay and that is why many stripers end up quitting or living in the poor house. I've been there and will not compromise. And I tell others, once they make a nam for themselves to never, never give your talent away. And never ever let the client control the situation. You'll earn respect from them in the longrun. I did the Austin Car Show for 16 years and with two assistants lining up customers and controlling the crowd. Some years I would do 40 - 50 cars and some 5 cars. It was fun and proftable but took a toll on me mentsally and physically. The point is, I know stripers who are the worlds best but cannot make a decent living. That's okay for them. But for me the oldest of 12 kids, growing up dirt poor, I wanted to make serious money at it and stuck with it through allthe jards time. When newbies ask what it takes, I say, "I haven't has a job since 1979. (I shoulda had one many times but too indpendent to give in) If you want to succeed in business you gotta hustle, survive and go man go!" Mikey www.MikeysPinstriping.com
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