Syllabus
Letterfly Custom Paint Workshops 2024
At Letterfly ArtPark, Plant City , Florida
Is the perfect place to learn all
aspects of this popular motorcycle and hot rod art form that extends into other
cultures. Lectures, demonstrations and hands-on class time with all specialties
make up these daytime and evening
courses.
Sign Making, letterform,
brush handling and composition.
Pinstriping, brush and
preparation techniques for various styles of lines.
Airbrushing introduction to
spray manipulation and devices to accomplish myriad effects.
Wet-Blended Pictorial Painting
introduces various edges ach ievable to make realistic
images.
Airbrush Pin-Up Painting
techniques get surprisingly sensuous results.
Gold Leaf has been around for
centuries. Learn the strategies and experience hands-on manipulation of this
delicate leaf to ach ieve stunning effects
Letterfly Custom Paint Workshops
The Five day
class
The
main workshop has been divided into five logical specialties
with a day
designated to each discipline
“Sign Making” “Pinstriping”
“Airbrushing” “Portraits & Pin-Ups” “Gold Leaf”
January 29 - February 2 (9am-5pm )
The Wednesday Night Series
is a six week workshop with flexible agenda
for those that live within a reasonable commuting distance; class begins at 6
PM and continues until 9 PM – a comprehensive introduction that caters to the
specific needs of the class allowing access to all aspects of the custom paint
genre will take place during the series that will allow students with busy
schedules and specific questions to participate.
Sign Painting, Pinstriping,
Airbrushing, Wet-Blended Pictorials, Portraits & Pin-ups, and Gold Leaf Workshops
Special Needs Accommodated
(6-9pm)
Download Your Student Application Here (PDF)
Classes fill up fast! Reserve Your Spot with only $100 deposit!
Classes fill up fast! Reserve Your Spot with only $100 deposit!
Plus,
due to the popularity and demand, a special one
day products, techniques and entrepreneurial strategies class: Custom Paint 101 & the Biz of Paint
has been added.
Attend
any class of the subject that interests you or to optimize your ability,
understanding, level of skill and jump start your career, stay for all five consecutive days and learn all
aspects of this interesting opportunity for the creative personality.
Classes
take place annually in January and February. RVSP to Kelly 813 752 8063 or paypal at letterfly@aol.com any one
day class is $225. with the best value being all five classes for $850. The Wednesday Night Series of six classes
(with one snow date) is $225. Make plans now to participate, add to your
repertoire and be launched into the fascinating world of custom paint.
About the Artist
Today, Letterfly is one of the top
producers of traditional pinstriping on motorcycles, wet blended pictorial
images and high quality, custom airbrushed murals seen on the outsides of
luxury motor homes. Old School designs, delicate Gold Leaf flourishes, pastoral
wildlife scenery, surreal landscapes, frightening demons and animated
multi-layered graphic schemes, sexy temptresses and lifelike animal depictions
provide the mainstay for these works that are created at both his home in
Florida called ArtPark and at bike events and customer dedicated Harley stores
nationwide.
Starting as
an apprentice in the Sign and Design trade, his appetite for unusual tasks lead
him to many sensational projects. Also known as Dave Knoderer, since 1975 he
has sought sensational challenges in his work. A skilled painter, he has
designed and accomplished large wall graphics and theater sets, themed interior
and exterior murals in amusement parks and restaurants, crafted delicate Gold
Leaf window treatments and the gilding and decoration of Antique Fire Fighting
Apparatus, complete elaborate pictorial and graphic paint jobs on a variety of
rolling vehicles and untold amounts of custom images, flames and designs on a
variety of substrates especially bikes. A true renaissance man, fondness exists
for the Victorian embellishments of an era gone by which clearly shows up in
his themed work. Truly unusual is that this artist is equally adept with
paintbrushes or an airbrush.
Students
benefit not only from the result of decades of creating traditional hand
painted works but also for the ongoing opportunity to ask questions as they
learn to manipulate paint into delicate designs, become familiar with the
recipe and philosophy of combining aspects of color theory, viscosity ideals,
and devices that provide special and unusual effects when used in surprising
unconventional ways.
(30 word Bio)
Forty years professional artist
starting with sign painting, gold leaf gilding and wet blended pictorials,
graduating to luxury motor home murals painted with the airbrush. Today, highly
regarded for motorcycle graphic, pictorial image, old school pinstriping and
all aspects of custom paint.
A: Sign Making,
B: Pinstriping,
C: Airbrushing,
D: Portraits & Pin-ups,
E: Gold Leaf.
E: Gold Leaf.
The syllabus is as follows:
A: (Day 1) Traditional Sign
making: Introduction
Visualizing Good Ideas
Forming the Objective (what
you want to communicate)
Layout and Composition
Formulas
Signs 101 (Let’s get started)
Letterform Function
Brush Handling and Care
Brush Variety and Mastery
Sign Painting Technique
Kinds of Brush Strokes
Mastering Scale
Pattern Making
Materials needed:
For
the novice, the minimum should be; pencils, stabilos, scotch tape, masking
tape, yardstick, gray lettering quill #10, #7, #5, #2, gray lettering flat
3/8”, ½”, bright, liner, etc.
Professionals and hobbyists bring your kit with you. We have paints, tape,
compressed air, solvents, incidentals and materials for projects.
Plan
to invest time at the bench perfecting the exercises taught during class time,
complete a project of your choosing or complete one of the guided projects
during the workshop with an opportunity to work late each day and plenty of
additional time on Saturday.
B: (Day 2) Old School Pinstriping: Historic Pinstripe Origins
Inspecting the Brush
How about a Trim
Paint Viscosity
Material Handling
Loading the Brush
Starting a Line
Exercises
Creating a Way-Kewl Design
with a Grid
Wet Blended Pictorials
Kinds of Brush Strokes
Materials needed:
The
minimum in your kit should be; pencils, stabilos, scotch tape, masking tape,
yardstick, Mack pinstriping series 10 brush #0, or your favorite pinstriping
sword. Professionals and hobbyists bring your kit with you. We have paints,
tape, brushes, solvents, incidentals and materials for projects.
Plan
to invest time at the bench perfecting the exercises taught during class time,
complete a project of your choosing or complete one of the guided projects
during the workshop with an opportunity to work late each day and plenty of
additional time on Saturday.
C: (Day 3) Airbrushing: Airbrush Origins
The Mechanics of the Airbrush
Freehand Airbrushing
The Foundation of Drawing
Conscientious Seeing
Study of other Art
The Money Stroke
Using Devices; frisket,
eraser, stencil, mask, special effects
Transfer paper frisket
cutting
Pictorials and Mural Making
Color Theory
Materials needed:
For
the novice, the minimum in your kit should be; pencils, stabilos, exacto knife,
scotch tape, masking tape, yardstick, any good double-action airbrush: Paasche,
Iwata, Badger etc. Professionals and hobbyists bring your kit with you. We have
paints, tape, compressed air, airbrushes, solvents, incidentals and materials
for projects.
Plan
to invest time at the bench perfecting the exercises taught during class time,
complete a project of your choosing or complete one of the guided projects
during the workshop with an opportunity to work late each day and plenty of
additional time on Saturday.
The Foundation of Drawing
Conscientious Seeing
Study of other Art
Color Theory
Perspective
Values
Edges (both airbrushed and
brush created)
Frisket Strategies
Transfer paper frisket cutting
Color & Light
Composition Accuracy
Delineating Emotion
Facial Detail Techniques
The Magic
Materials needed:
For
the novice, the minimum in your kit should be; pencils, stabilos, reference
pictures for the painting you would like to complete, scotch tape, masking
tape, yardstick, filbert, bright, liner, airbrush etc. Professionals and
hobbyists bring your kit with you. We have paints, tape, compressed air,
solvents, incidentals and materials for projects.
Bring
the pin-up or portrait you are working on, plan to invest time at the bench
perfecting the exercises taught during class time, complete a project of your
choosing or complete one of the guided projects during the workshop with an
opportunity to work late each day and plenty of additional time on Saturday.
E: (Day 5) Gold
Leaf: Gilded Antiquity: the origins of Gold Leaf:
Nothing
looks like gold except for gold
Techniques overview: water gilding, angel gild, glass gold,
surface gilding
Variety of gold and leaf products; 23.75k to gold alloy and
other metals
Loose, Patent, Roll, Dutch
Surface gilding procedures, preparing the surface
Fast or slow? Which size to use
Painting the size & finding the tack
Laying the leaf
Burnish varieties
Finishing techniques, protecting the leaf
Materials needed:
The
minimum in your kit should be; pencils, stabilos, scotch tape, masking tape,
yardstick, gray lettering quill #7, #5, #2, liner, etc. We have leaf, size,
tips, paints, tape, compressed air, solvents, incidentals and materials for
projects.
Plan
to invest time at the bench perfecting the exercises taught during class time,
complete a project of your choosing or complete one of the guided projects
during the workshop with an opportunity to work late each day and plenty of
additional time on Saturday.
Classes
take place annually in January and February. RVSP to Kelly 813 752 8063. Any one
day class is $225 with the best value being all five classes for $850. The Wednesday Night Series of six classes
(with one snow date) is $225. Make plans now to participate, add to your
repertoire and be launched into the fascinating world of custom paint.
The
special one day class; “Custom Paint 101
& the Biz of Paint” is an intense, educational and enlightening day
with the artist and the regional products rep and is the perfect forum for questions
and answers from those that already have their hands in paint. The special tag-team seminar/workshop covers the
mechanics of and the spectrum of; the variety of paints and products, the
strategy of design, and the scope of paint manipulation techniques available to
the aficionado of custom paint and vehicular décor. With extensive studio time Custom Paint 101 & The Biz of Paint is
valuable as the instructors provide answers, show you techniques and strategies
for those professionals that are experiencing obstacles while utilizing
combinations of effects and provides many of the missing pieces of the puzzle to
the painting game for those that are already on their way as custom painters
and seek to add to their repertoire.
Custom Paint Basics: Chemistry
101, urethane vs lacquer thinking - evolution of coatings
Provide a foundation= prep
work
The Zen of Spray – Choose
Your Weapon
Variety of durable finishes
Got GPS ? – Graphic Paint Strategies – Select
goal and take the right directions to get there
Taping off the classic flame
Transfer paper frisket
cutting
Spray gun tactics over the
art: building an insulating layer
Candies, pearls and clear
coat oh my
Proper finishing cut and buff
Making Custom Paint a
Business
Goals of Art: A picture is
worth…
Emotional Payoff = Pride in
Ownership
Economy of Design
Wet Blended Pictorials
Using the Grid
Integrity as a Process = you are only as good as the work you do now
Finding a Niche
The Marketing /Career Curve
Building a Customer Base
The
minimum in your kit should be; pencils, stabilos, scotch tape, masking tape,
yardstick, airbrush, jam gun, etc. Professionals and hobbyists bring your kit
with you. We have paints, tape, compressed air, solvents, incidentals and
materials for projects.
Plan
to invest time at the bench perfecting the exercises taught during class time,
complete a project of your choosing or complete one of the guided projects
during the workshop with an opportunity to work late each day and plenty of
additional time on Saturday.
The
Wednesday Night Series is a six
week workshop with flexible agenda for those that live within a reasonable
commuting distance; class begins at 6 PM and continues until 9 PM – a
comprehensive introduction that caters to the specific needs of the class
allowing access to all aspects of the custom paint genre will take place during
the series that will allow students with busy schedules and specific questions to
participate.
All Are Welcome, Special Needs Accommodated
Attend
any class of the subject that interests you or to optimize your ability,
understanding, level of skill and jump start your career, stay for all five consecutive days and learn all
aspects of this interesting opportunity for the creative personality.
Classes
take place annually in January and February. RVSP to Kelly 813 752 8063 or paypal at letterfly@aol.com any one
day class is $225. with the best value being all five classes for $850. The Wednesday Night Series of six classes
(with one snow date) is $225. Make plans now to participate, add to your
repertoire and be launched into the fascinating world of custom paint.
Reserve Your Spot with only $100 deposit!
BYOB “Bring Your Own Build”
Especially valuable for the custom
bike builder is the special BYOB (Bring your own build) workshop that provides
the missing aspect for a home builder that doesn’t have a proper paint
facility. At Letterfly ArtPark, with supervision and a working paint shop, the
proud craftsman has everything needed to personally complete every step of the
paint job from prime and fill, color, graphic shape creation, special effects,
final candies, pearls, pinstriping and décor, and finished clear, plus cut and
buff, to make the project completely his
own. Understandably, to facilitate these projects, special consideration to
reserve the entire shop during the winter months of December through March
requires advance planning. Visit LetterflyPinstriping.com for more information
or Call Kelly 813 752 8063.
We supply the complete paint
facility to bring about your under construction bike to completion. We
facilitate the planning of the painted graphics, disassembly for the compete
paint job starting with supervision of prep, prime, fill to color coat, graphic
execution, addition of art created in a variety of ways, candies, pearls, clear
finishes, to cut and buff to a show shine.
