[2012 TM LIGHTS] #37 Exide Bolden

Base: Me (Oh no...everyone run!)
Logos: Brands of the World
Template: Cynon
Numbers: Me (Wow Tom, you actually did half of the stuff on here for once!)

Earlier tonight when Cynon posted the TM Lights template...I had a thought (we're screwed...), to attempt a very basic base for this car. What I wanted was a two-color car without resorting to looking for a base. After remembering how I was too lazy to make my own bases, I figured it was time to try. Again, it's very basic, nothing impressive at all. I was trying to think back to late-80's and early-90's as far as inspiration for this one. With that, I present to you this atrocity as I cement my status as a worse painter than 99% of the people on here.



KNOWN ISSUES
- In the render, the Gold Star logos don't come out very well at all. In-game, however, they look just fine.

In-game photos of the car are on the bottom in hyperlinks so as to not fill the page with pictures. Don't be lazy, click them...and before you say it, yes I'm aware of the racing line being on, shut up.

Lookin' At the Left Side
It's In Your Face
Roof, Rear, and the Right
One More Look...

Ew, number font.

Also, the pink is waaaaaay too bright. I'm not too fond of the whole idea of going "retro" because there's not much originality thrown into it.

I get that's what you're going for, but you might want to try more black, more blue, and for the love of all that is good and holy, new number font (it's better than the last one you used by orders of magnitude though).

Yes, Tom, I know you hate "those boring looking numbers", but 99% of the time they actually work the best unless you have a particularly exciting company, which Exide really isn't.

Looks like the Seven Swordsman font didn't exactly work on this. That's fixable. I can easily make several changes to this thing, but being the derp I am, I forgot to save the .psd of this, so I'll have to re-do this entire thing from scratch. (Serves you right for working on this at 3 AM, Tom!)

Thankfully, nothing of importance was lost.

Changes to Make for Final Version
- Simpler Number Font (I think I've got one or two simple-looking numbers in one of my folders)
- Darker shade of pink...maybe gravitating more towards purple.
- Less outlandish use of the color black, maybe replace with a little blue.
- Cleaning up the base a bit, as I can see there's at least one area where I went wrong.

Do you think you could have a go at painting my TM Lights car that I requested?

I'm not the best guy to go to with requests. I'm sure someone else will easily take care of it better than I can.

Magus978 wrote:I'm not the best guy to go to with requests. I'm sure someone else will easily take care of it better than I can.

Do you anyone who is a painting expert?

Hey BWardboy you won't have a TM Lights entry if you keep that crap up.

Cynon wrote:Hey BWardboy you won't have a TM Lights entry if you keep that crap up.

Well I'm sorry so I'll wait then.

I would recommend a numberset to go with your paint schemes. They are not that hard to use or set up.

I'm sure you know of them... after all you suggested the idea to me or mentioned something about them shortly after the round of INDY.

you have the racing line on *trollface*

I'm not a big fan of the numbers....

Taking Cooper's words to heart, I went a different direction with version 2 of this car. I decided first off that simple numbering worked best, and thus with great reluctance, I went ahead and used an extremely simple number set. Go ahead, point out that it's too simple! Also, I used a different shade of pink. While it may still be a little bright, I honestly believe it works here. The general color scheme of the car is not something I'm willing to compromise on, as in-game the car looks surprisingly decent. The only thing I would have fixed was the base, which was meant to go on a Ford mesh. Being in a bit of a rush to get this done, I just figured it may look a little weird, but the scheme still gets the job done.

Anyway, the shading on the render doesn't do the numbers any justice. This is another instance where you'll have to trust me that it looks better in-game. Without further delay, I bring you version 2 of this atrocity. Now that it's up, go ahead and say how I've gotten worse at painting. I'll be quick to agree!

Base: Horton Motorsports (Colors changed by me)
All other credits remain unchanged.

Not bad, although I actually liked the first effort a bit better. Reminded me of Jeff Burton, and it wasn't half bad despite the slightly wacky number font. We all gotta learn to paint our first bases! Hey Tom, ever tried fiddling with the pen tool? It may seem difficult at first but if you keep at it, it will really help.

I like it, not a bad effort. You're putting time and effort towards improving and it shows

That first base was terrible, no lie. I'm gonna work on it and hopefully perfect it for next season, as I don't think I'll have enough time to do something good with it. Also I have to re-do it since I didn't save it before

It's not too bad and quite honestly I like it. Simple with a good color scheme. All I would do is use a bit of a white stroke between the black and pink and perhaps use the Napa decals in white like Jeff Burton ran on the rear bumper in 96 (media.photobucket.com/image/recent/STI09Dude/96Exide002.jpg). Also, see what tiny Gold Star logos would look like on the corner hood. That's another technique I like to employ (remiscent of Bobby Labonte's #18 cars)

Try it

Move the numbers above the black line and you have a winner.

I've never been crazy about moving the numbers up really high. I already uploaded the car to mediafire, but I think I could pull a switcheroo and upload it with the numbers over the line. I'm concerned about it not working as well with these numbers though.

Here it is with the numbers raised above the black line, even though the render is too dark to show that.

That actually makes quite a bit of difference, never though of that but it looks much cleaner.

That's pretty clean Tom, and I'd actually race that myself if I had the chance. It's simple and it works.

The only suggestion I have is to perhaps add another logo or two on the quarter panel. Since your sponsor is Exide, you can go and add say a NAPA or retro Pep Boys logo to complement that. In fact, the old Pep Boys logo would probably look nice on the white. You know how Geoff Bodine carried Montgomery Ward's Tire Express as an associate?

Here's what I recommend to finish it off. Paint the rear below the spoiler white and keep the rear bumper pink. (Like Terry Labonte had in 1994) Then take a medium sized Exide logo and put two smaller 90's Pep Boys logos next to that on the left and right. That would look really nice. Then you can put the Gold Star text on the decklid. Next, just slightly shrink the star on the rear because it's close to overlapping and it's a bit too big. Lastly, slap a star on the A-pillar and above the Bolden logo on the front, add the small Gold Star text.

Overall though, that came out really clean. I like it Tom, and I think with a few minor touches it will come out to be a really sharp paint.