Materials Used: Behr flat interior paint, S-H-790 Black Suede. Airbrush paints. For this project I used Createx Transparent Violet, Createx Iridescent Brite Red, Opaque White, and Com-Art Opaque Black. I also used Liquetex Airbrush Medium to further thin the paints for sprayability and for greater translucency.

Tools: Various paint brushes from 4 inch to detail size. A good double action airbrush such as the Iwata H-P BCS or something comparable ( for this mural I used a Peak C-5 ). An air source such as a air compressor with a good pressure regulator. A projector to get the image onto the surface. I generally spray at aprox 30 psi, and regulate down to as low as 5 psi for very detailed spraying.

Surface: Most murals are painted directly onto the wall, or onto canvas that is later attached to the wall with adhesive, but this was a temporary mural and was painted on a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of pink foam insulation prepped with 2 coats of white Aqua-Bond paint.

I begin by projecting my reference image and lightly penciling the entire outline. I next go back over the projected image and lightly pencil in the outlines of the shadows and highlights. And lastly, I pencil in the outlines of the details such as the chrome reflections of the grill, bumper, and wheel. I know that time is money, but try to take your time at this point and get as much detail information recorded into your initial drawing as possible, otherwise you will be "winging it" later and the painting won't be as convincing. Now that we have our detailed sketch, let's begin.

I begin by painting all of my solid black areas with the flat inferior paint using a regular paintbrush. Look closely at the front grill. All of those detailed lines of reflection were carefully outlined in the initial drawing.

I begin to airbrush the shadow areas with Transparent Violet. The car I'm painting will be red, but, remember I'm using transparent colors, so I will first create this underpainting which will give me the illusion of depth and dimension in the painting.

I continue adding violet shadows, slowly building up the intensity of color until I get the shadows in. Note that exercising control of the airbrush, I achieve Many different values with one color.

Next, I begin spraying Transparent Red. Again, building up slowly as I go and painting right over the shadowed areas.

I continue Spraying Red until I achieve the desired color.

So far the car is looking good. It has depth and dimension, but it lacks shine. This is where the Opaque white comes in. I mix Opaque White with some Airbrush Medium so that it will spray better and will have less " Tip-Dry" as I spray. Since I have been spaying transparent paints I can still see the outlines of the highlight areas that I had drawn in the original sketch and I use them as a guide as to the placement of the White. Again, exercising control I can build up from a light mist of white to an almost solid white.

Next I add the reflective ' Hot Spots " of white. Staring near the surface I begin to spray a small amount of white. As I continue to spray I increase the flow of paint by pulling back further and further on the trigger while at the same time pulling the Airbrush further and further away from the surface. This is where the painting really begins to "pop", and you can add plenty of "Bling-Bling" with these highlighted hotspots.

I finish the interior, using a small amount of Com-Art Opaque Black for shading the seats. I add a few more highlights, make any final adjustments, and Voila! We've created a custom '49 Merc and our only regret is that we can't open the door and drive it down to the Malt Shop.