camo

Here is a photo of a section of the Digital Camouflage shirt that has to be replicated onto a custom motorcycle. I used three separate sections of the shirt to create the overall pattern to be transferred.

The trick to laying out this design is going to be taking pixels that are rectangular and wrapping them around a curved surface. In the photo above you can see the different curves that had to be dealt with on the rear fender.

To achieve the proper look, you're going to have to fool the eye. The pixels in the digital camo will have to be slightly curved and spaced to give the illusion they are uniform over the entire surface.

Start by spraying the entire surface with the lightest (beige) of the four colors. The colors will be applied in the order of lightest to darkest. Before we go onto the next step the first base coat is going to need ample drying time.

Before we can start designing and transferring the first set of pixels, I'm going to apply a spray mask. There are several company's who now make a spray mask but, I'm going to use Metalflakes. I like this product because you can draw right on it after it is dry. I comes really thick and is hard to get through a spray gun. It can be thinned out by adding water.

Apply three to four coats of the Spray Mask. Let it fully dry between coats. It will turn semi-transparent when dry. You need to build a minimum of four mils thickness. Anything less will be too thin to work with. The only drawback to using this spray mask is that it takes eight hours to fully dry.

I took the photos of the digital camo and enlarged them to the desired size. I then placed it on one of the new Artograph Light Boxes. Place a piece of clear mylar on top of the picture. Using a t-square and a fine point Sharpie, make a grid of the second color (first set of pixels). You will be using this grid over and over again.

Take the picture of the Camo off the light box. Place a piece of Vellum paper on top of the mylar that has the first grid on it. Trace the grid (pixels) with a #2 soft lead pencils. This is what we are going to use to make the first transfer. Take the Vellum (pencil side down) and place it on the spray mask surface.. Trace the grid from the opposite side and it will leave the pattern on the spray mask.

In this picture you can see the pattern made by the pencil transfer. Leave an extra amount of spacing on the curved surfaces (see *). Use a razor blade to cut out the pattern.

As the colors progress in the Camo design, each color will take less paint than the previous one. For the second color, I used a Sata Mini-Jet to apply it.

Remove the remaining spray mask. I like to use a weeding tool because it will not gouge the paint like a razor blade or x-act knife will. You will notice a high edge in this picture. Use a tack rag and knock them off.

Here is what the first set of pixels looks like. Next comes the tricky part. The third color and second set of pixels has to align with the first set.

We will not be able to use the Spray Mask again. Due to its blue tint, you cannot see through they Vellum to make the second set of pixels align to the first set. From here on, I'm going to use Artools Stretch Mask. Stretch Mask is similar to a clear frisket. The deferences are that Stretch Mask is made for automotive paints. Like the name says, you can stretch it,which make it easier to get the pixels to make the curves. You can also take it off the surface and reapply it.

Apply the Stretch Mask directly to the mylar that has the tracing of the second set of pixels. Using the Light Box and the fine line Sharpie, trace the grid pattern. Apply a dot pattern on the first set of pixels so you can align the second set to them.

Because of the curves and placement of the first set of pixels, you will have to do this set in sections. Use a squeegee to firmly apply the Stretch Mask. Take a sharp razor blade and cut open the pattern. Make sure you slightly overlap your cut where the pixels meet. This is called making a trap.

You will notice in this picture the spacing in the curved area starting to close up. You can use the final color to help fill this area. If you do so, the pixels will need to be slightly distorted to trick the eye and make the sides and top of the surface to look uniform.

Back to the Light Box one more time.. Place a new piece of mylar over the picture and make a grid for the third set of pixels. When I did this project I had three grids for each color to avoid having the digital camo looking repetitive.

Remove the Stretch Mask from the Mylar. In this picture you can see that I have two mylar grids overlaying each other. This is so I can add a dotted line for the previous grid to help align the third set of pixels.

Airbrush in the fourth and final color. Remove the Stretch Mask. Wipe down with a wax/grease remover to remove any loose particles. Go over with a tack rag and you're ready to clear coat.

I want to make one final recommendation for designing the Digital Camo layout. On real hard curves like this rear fender, align the pixels with the bottom edge. As the fender curves, rotate the pixels every few inches. You can splice the Stretch Mask and reapply it to follow the curve.

Airbrush : Iwata HP-BH, Custom Micron B
Spray Guns: Iwata LPH400 and Iwata LPH300
Paint Media: PPG, X-Otic and Matrix Systems
Surface Media: Everything I can get paint to stick to.
Masking : Metalflake Spray Mask, Artool Strtch Mask, R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes
Projector: Artograph
Lighting : Natural and Florescent. Artool Pro Light Box, Spray-Line and Spray King Paint Booths

I had a customer come in wanting a Desert Camouflage design on his custom motorcycle. I thought "No Problem!" I was thinking about the camo most of us are used to seeing. He drops off the bike for me to start getting ready for paint and tells me he'll be back in a few days with a camo shirt he wants me to duplicate. Now, I'm already well into the job when he shows up with the shirt. I was stunned, "Digital Camo!" I've never even seen this before. I took me a few days to even figure out how I was going to go about doing this design. Nothing I had done in the past would work to achieve this design. The paint job had to match his shirt because he was going to wear it when he rides the bike. If it didn't match, you would be able to see the difference. I had experiment with procedures that I hadn't done in the past. Here is what I came up with.

In this picture you can see how you can trick the eye. We know how many curves are in this fender and that the pixels are traveling in several different angles, but to the eye everything seems to be uniform.

Steven Craig is the owner and head painter of SKC CUSTOMZ in Lake Havasu City, AZ. In the past Steven has won the House of Kolor Prestigeous Painter Award and was a 1st Place winner of Dupont's Hot Hues Awards. He most recently was awarded the Matrix System's FX Grand Prize Award. Steve paints a wide range
of jobs from guitars to large off shore boats. Visit his web site at