It seems like the thing to do nowadays if you are a professional artist is to design and have stencils made that carry your name. And it looks like everyone has jumped on the bandwagon. When I designed the "Gearmess" file in 2004, nobody was marketing files for use with plotters to incorporate into custom painting. I didn't design Gearmess with the intention of ever marketing it. The first time I ever had the task of putting gears on a large paint job was by a customer request. I knew there was a small hand held stencil with gears on it available on the market. This project was too large for half dollar sized gears that could be applied by using the stencil that was available. I had to draw and hand cut each gear individually. Once this job was completed, the inevitable happened. More customers wanted the gears incorporated into their paint job.
I was in no-way going to have to keep hand cutting the cluster of gears. I decided to utilize my plotter and create a design that I could resize to fit each project. I spent days designing each gear tooth-by-tooth.
What I eventually produced was a mass of different types and sizes of gears. One of the best features of Gearmess is that you are not limited to a set design. I created this so each gear can be resized, rotated and movable. Each gear can also be ungrouped and torn apart so the components could be used to make new gears. To learn more about the Gearmess Stencil files see the "How To" sections of Airbrushtech.net.
1. Gearmess can be used with almost any signmaking or design program. For this demonstration I'm going to be working with Corel Draw. Start by opening the cd-rom and clicking on the file format that works with the program you would be using. In this case it would be "GEARMESS.CDR" and click open. You could use the file as it is at this point or resize the entire layout to fit what-ever project.
2. In the case that a person would want to modify or get creative with the cluster of gears here is where you would begin. Start by selecting the "View" function on the Tool Bar. When the drop-down menu appears, select "Wireframe. Wireframe mode will make the gears visible in their vector format.
3. Use the "Zoom Tool" to bring the desired gear into full screen (see #1 in diagram). Using the Select Tool, drag a box around the gear that is going to be modified. This will select the entire components of that single gear (see #2 in diagram).
Written By Steven Craig
Computer Assistance
"How To Use GEARMESS with Corel Draw"
5. Once the gear is in position, Using the "Select Tool" (which is also the Pointer for the Mouse), double click the left mouse button. This will convert the Select Tool into a "Rotate Tool".
6. Position the Mouse Pointer Tool over any of the rotation points. Use the left mouse button, click down and hold. Now the gear can be rotated in any direction.
7. When the gear is put back into the design, align the teeth of the gear so there is equal spacing. Make sure the teeth do not overlap or are too close together.
8. Re-Designing a gear. Draw a box around the entire gear with the Select Tool. Go to the "Arrange" menu. When the drop-down box appears, select "Ungroup". This will take the gear and break it down into individual components.
Arrows indicate that the Rotation Tool has been selected.
9. I changed the color of the individual components in this picture so you can see how they break apart.
10. Each component can be moved by clicking and holding down the left mouse button. With the button held down, use the mouse to move the the individual gear parts.
11. Each component can be resized and moved just by using the Select Tool. At this point, new designs can be added from whatever program you are using to create your own unique gears.
12. When a new gear is completed, draw a bow with the Select Tool around the entire gear. This will select all the individual components at the same time. Open the drop-down box from the "Arrange" menu and select "Group". This will create a solid, one piece gear.
13. When saving a new layout of "Gearmess" make sure you do not overwrite to original file if it is saved on your computer. Select "File" on the Menu Bar. In the drop-down box select "Save As". Name the new file and save as "CorelDraw (CDR) file. Corel files can be saved in many different formats to accommodate most sign cutting programs.
Here is a photo of Gearmess being used to do the back of a boat. I've sized them small enough to do graphics on helmet and enlarged them to three foot high gears. The gears stencils can be cut on a plotter in either positive or negtive form. As far as I know, so far Gearmess is the only predesigned stencil that has no limits to the imagination of the person using it.
ARTIST PROFILE
STEVEN CRAIG
DATA
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
Airbrush
:
Iwata HP-BH, Custom Micron B
Spray Guns:
Iwata LPH400 and Iwata LPH300
Paint Media:
PPG, Xotic Colours, Dupont and Matrix Systems
Surface Media:
Everything I can get paint to stick to.
Masking
:
R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes
Projector:
Artograph
Lighting
: Natural and Florescent. Spray-Line and Spray King Paint Booths
