Thought I'd post to see what others might know about the cost of what I want to do.
2008 Fatty. I want to use the stock front fender and have a Grim Reaper air brushed on the back one half or so.
This is to help make this bike my own and to be a little differant.
This is a winter project so I'm in no hurry. I've never priced anything like this so any info would be helpful. Along with any questions I should be asking as a newbe to this sorta thing.
I'm assuming they can sand the factory clear or deeper to the paint and do their thing and reclear coat blending it all in to be real purrrddy.
What kind of realistic price should I be looking at?
Thanks in advance

 

Realistically - not cheap. If you find someone who will do it cheap - run away! (or you will regret it). Price will vary a bit by location and artist, but, I would expect you'd pay at least $400 to do the prep, airbrush art, and clear the whole fender.

There really aren't any questions to ask. Better to look at some actual examples of the artist's work. He/she might have some actual pieces in their shop that you can look at. They should also have a book with pics of most everything else they've done.

One of my favorite airbrush artists in the country is Redhouse.


http://redhousecustompaint.com/

You can find him, and airbrush artists from all over the world on Craig Fraiser's Kustom Culture Lounge airbrush forum. Sign up for an account there, go to the Airbrushin' section, and solicit the job. The advantage of going there is you will get to see a lot of examples of actual work these artists have done.

http://www.kustomkulturelounge.com/forum/

 

Thanks for the info on the link I'll check it out.
Yeah, I'd didn't think it would be cheap like $150-$200. I also didn't know if I should expect over $1K.

Any other places I can look would be helpful.

 

$400 would be really cheap for a good custom paint job. If someone brings me all of their tins, my price starts at $3000.

 

I paid $1500 to have my tank and two fenders painted and airbrushed.On the front fender,my painter filled in and sanded the rivets nice and smooth.the tank was raw when I gave it to him.I only had it lined on the inside.It took lots of prep work just to get the tank ready for paint.He had it back to me in one week!I think it was a fair price.I like it...

 

Yeah... $3,000 to do all the tins. He's just looking to have a grim reaper airbrushed on his front fender - and nothing else. So, that would be - scuff the fender, airbrush the grim reaper, clear the fender (all this assuming there are no issues with the fender, requiring repair or tweaking). What would you charge for that?

 

Great links and pics. Thanks for the info too, I've been toying with getting some paintwork done so it's nice to have a base line to go by as far are cost goes.

 

Leave the clear on, paint over it and then shoot the clear again. The reason for this is if you dont like the artwork or its screwed up it will be easy to remove without damaging the original paint.

As far as artist go, they all vary. I suggest avoiding the so called "custom paint artist" as they typically grossly over-charge. Go to a shop that does airbrush art on T shirts and talk to the airbrush artist there. You will be amazed at what you might come across or they can lead you to the riight guy. I know one fella that does portraits with an airbrush so well that it almost looks like it was taken with a 35mm SLR camera..he owns one of these T shirt shops that I am referring to. It all depends on what your looking for.

You can probably pull the whole thing off for about 200 bucks. Do the R&R yourself. Take it to the airbrush dude and then take it to a reputable autobody shop to shoot the clear (or do it yourself). 3M quick clear is what you may want to consider. You can buff and wax in less then a week, unlike other conventional clears.

Good luck

 

$3000 to shoot a reaper on a front fender? Good God Man...

 

I gave up painting because the fun went out of it when people wanted the earth and didnt want to pay. Main problem were the objects they wanted painting. Took more time to prep than actually paint. In the end you get what you pay for. Find someone with a good reputation, they wont want to lose it. Bluessmans prices were for all the tins not just the front fender.