is it too late to become a pinstriper?

Change is Opportunity !

I was going to say that if you dont have the shakes yet it should all be good. Then I started thinking about the stripers I know. Heck they all have the shakes but then again they self medicate with a stiff drink before striping...

Hum, wonder if that is to calm the hand or give them enough courage to stripe a bad ass car. Im sure the pressure would be on to make it as perfect as possible.

 

The best part is because you are an older gentleman, you will instantly have respect from everybody. They will think your a pro from way back.


Thanks, JReece

My Clothing Line HiRevZ Clothing Co.
http://www.facebook.com/hirevz

 

Living the life of a pro, full time pinstriper will sometimes do that to a fella. There are more sane roads to follow in life then Pinstriper.

 

Harsh Reality!!

Well, my brushes 00 000 1 and paint arrived yesterday.
Spent some time today on a piece of glass.
Much more difficult than I recalled, though it was 30 years ago.

Trying to find right consistency for paint/thinner mix. Hand wobbles
and chatters on glass when moving. Also trying to find a technique
of holding the brush.

I would really like to locate someone on the east coast, rhode island/ma area
that would be willing to teach me some basics. I know some seem to learn on there own. I would really like to be taught by a craftsman.

Does this sound doabel? Do veterans welcome students?

 

As long as you're top side you can do anything you want.

 

I thought you said you were 50? You know by now that nothing just happens because you want to it to...by now at least. You can't just say harsh reality and be done, practice a bunch and grow. The shittiest looking stripe is still better looking than the one undone.

Empty a few cans of one shot and a few 6 packs and a few cases of beer over the next few months and see what you have. What else is there to do in the winter when money is tight, watch choppers? Bah. You can do it.

 

If you are/were good at something before you'll be good at something else. Given a learning curve and available time and some talent!

 

pinstriping is more than drawing a couple lines, takes real artistic talent.I say if you have that, nothing should stop you.Good luck.

 

Put some Baby Powder on the fingers that touch the surface.
And read my How to hold a Brush PDF,
near the bottom of the page:
http://www.flyingeyeballs.net/Links.html

 

YOU KNOW WHEN IT IS TO LATE. WHEN YOU STOP BREATHING!!!. Knuck From Indiana.

 

Just remember the 3Ps, Patience, Perseverance and Profanity. Works for me!

 

it's never to late..nor too early. i started when i was 9 years old with a pen and paper during class and finally got a brush and paint and here i am today

 

Its OK if your hands shake ! Soon as the brush hairs touch the surface it balances you and the shaking is gone

 

Never too late nor too early. Go for it.

 

If you use the proper technique,
your brush hand is supported, so it doesn't shake.

 

That Harley engine artwork is killer.

 

The last pic is the work of Bob Bond.

 

you are only old if you start to act that way. Go for it.

 

give it a shot, better to have tried your hand at it, rather than later wish you had

 

I play around with it and I started at age 53. My work sucks basically, I'd be a lot better with more practice. Buy some decent brushes and some 1-shot paint and have a go at it.

Bob

 

"Do a simple test, hold your hand out and see if you can hold it steady without shaking."

I'm 63, and that is what I'm struggling with. Years of art classes, majored in commercial art in junior college. I can learn the technique, and could mimic others' work, if I could control the shakes.
Diabetes, early drug abuse,multiple concussions, lots of things affect your hands. I'm still trying to stripe anyway.
Even if it's not spectacular,you will get a lot of self satisfaction out of being able to pull lines.

 

I always wanted to build furniture for a living. In school I took every wood shop class offered. After 20 years as a self employed home builder, at age 50 I started building furniture for a living 12 years later my furniture is sold across the lower 48 states and I am expanding my product line this year at age 63. So it is never to late to go for your dream.
Just remember to keep your overhead low and work on your own money not the banks. Start doing the work on evenings and weekends and expand from there.

good luck Jim H

 

i had a shop teacher back in tech shakey as all hell, once he touched the metal.... straight as an arrow from there on.....could not believe it paint, air brush and pinstripe like all hell

 

Another thought. There is very little correlation between striping and lettering other than the mixing of the paint. Using a quill is not like striping. And more important, lettering requires a knowledge of many styles and fonts and how to make the quill produce those styles. I still see old sign painters make mistakes in the fonts like the Roman. Knowing which leg is thick or thin requires a knowledge of fonts. Most of these things were learned as apprentices in the old days.
Just because a person can stripe, they usually are lousy at lettering and fall back on slash alphabets and scripts.
You are fifty and this is my latest and I'm 72.

 

I dont think age is really the issue when it comes to you questioning whether or not to become a pinstriper.
Pinstriping is an art form that requires not just the ability to make beautiful lines but more importantly the ability to make beautiful lines form simple to complex designs.
I lost count of how many I have tutored in the basics of pinstriping who could stripe the hell out of a straight line but when it came to using their wrist or getting creative, they soon discovered it was beyond them.
My question to you first of all would be are you artistic at all and have you been drawing, sketching or doing anything remotely artistic during these last 30 years?
From reading your initial post im concerned with the fact that you fail to mention anything other than a deep interest in art but yet you specifically refer to "making it" as a pinstriper.
All the other guys have offered you great encouragement here, which is nice and proof of the wonderful bunch of guys they are but to be honest im worried about your expectations and quite frankly dont believe in leading people on.
I have been involved in car related art since I could hold a pencil. I too took an interest in pinstriping in the late sixties early seventies and did some decent work but couldnt deal with tedious nature of it and felt my design skills just wasnt on a level I felt comfortable soliciting money for. So I elected to scratch it off my list of possible professions. I still do it from time to time but primarily just for fun, not profit.
It definitely requires a considerable amout of patience, practice and above all talent just to be a half-assed decent striper.
Im sorry to give you such a different perspective on this but feel strongly about doing so. Please believe me when I say im in no way trying to discourage you from pursuing it but only suggesting you should approach it more as a hobby or for fun as opposed to something to put food on the table.

 

First thing to remember about pinstriping is the fact that only people who are worried about age are the aging ones...I have a friend who at 54 has asked me to start guiding him with some pinstriping skills. He'd been at it for 5 weeks of Tuesday evening lessons when we took this photo..

The next thing to remember is to find someone who you can observe and paint along side for a while so as to get a bit of technique, paletting of paint ( probably the most important lesson in heading the right way in my opinion) and the proper ways to handle the brush especially when cornering etc. Lots of folks tend to try and steer like a pencil and the brush will kick out in the corners when this happens. Curling the brush and getting a grasp on the thought of tensioning the bristles to follow a corner can take some time, more so if you have not been given any help . Go to Youtube and watch as many pinstriping videos as you can and there are many,many very good instructional videos out there to help as well... The drive to continue even when you think it's not going well is also a very tough thing to overcome. Keep all of your artwork from early on, sign and date it for down the road when you've become famous and your kids will be able to sell it for their retirement fund...
Just kidding, have fun!
Never too early to start either, this is my twin daughters painting at teh Syracuse Nationals when they were 10..

And my niece at our annual panel swap in Ontario.


This is an event that you are more than welcome to attend if you don't mind crossing the border for a great weekend in September.

 

Never too late ... I want to learn to do it too