In the end, Martin Jahnecke would have needed only a few more votes to win the popular ARNO Art Award.  The future designer had submitted several great custom painting jobs that impressed jury and editorial staff alike. We were all particularly fascinated by some race style BMW, painted in radiant orange. Martin has designed this one in cooperation with his team "Maja Art" that he founded in 2007, and documented the creation in detailed steps for us.

This BMW 3 Coupé is a fascinating car – even when it is standing still – due to a heavy dose of racecar appearance.  The spoilers and the extravagant paint make for quite a sight. "We are located in the immediate vicinity of the Sachsenring, one of the most famous race tracks in Germany. Therefore, we have a close connection to motor sport and cycling. The Sachsenring's history as well as the current racing events have a formative influence on our designs," says Martin Jahnecke. There is no doubt that they have reached their goal with this project!

List of materials used:
Iwata HP-B, 0.18 mm nozzle
Harder & Steenbeck Evolution,  0.4 mm nozzle
Sata MiniJet, Sata Jet
HS clear coat
Schmincke Aerocolor
Black base coat
Candy Colors
Oracal masking foil

At first, we got this BMW for repair work only. The customer wanted us to hide some damage to the paintwork and a dent at the fender. However, when I finally saw the BMW, there were many other things on my mind.

Fig. 1 & 1a: In order to persuade the customer of my plans, I arranged a photo shoot, and then adjusted the photographs on my computer to prepare a digital design. It is a good and relatively fast method to present the customer with rather than just a sketch. In fact, you can show him what his car or any other vehicle will look like in the end.

So I put my imaging and other graphic software to good use and added the new designs to the BMW 3 Coupe... and it did not take long for my customer to be convinced that this would look much better than merely adding some flashes of lightning. He placed the order and we took the car to our paint booth.

Fig. 2: Here we go! While my co-workers are busy getting rid of all the scratches and dents on the BMW's bodywork, I am busy preparing everything on my PC. I have taken the exact measurements of the car and constructed it with my computer in the original size, using the sketch photographs. When taking photographs for these purposes, you have to take care to shoot them without any distortions of the perspective. Cheap lenses tend to produce cushion or drum shaped distortions that make the car appear shorter or longer than the original.

Read the whole article in the current issue of Art Scene International.