painting cars

[96Stang]

ok guys...any info is good info on this topic for me, so please feel free to chime in with whatever you know.

I was thinking before about becoming and auto painter, more like custom or things like that and preferrably not like repair paint jobs and maaco stuff. Only problem I ran into is that I really dont know where to start...Is there a school for it, besides pennco tech, cause I was about to enroll there but heard nothing but bad things. Is there other ways to do this?? I have a long art background with a huge interest in cars and paint seems like the way to go...if anyone has any info, please post up and I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks guys
eric

[enigma]

For learning, READ books first.
Then buy a nice airbrush kit, and practice with that. Build some model cars, and try making a flawless looking paintjob. Alot of the same principles apply with full scale cars.
Buy yourself a nice set of pinstriping brushes, and practice with them.
Any body shop will prolly give you a damaged panel to play with, hoods and fenders are usually replaced with only minor appearnace damage.
Then pick up a moderatly priced paint gun and practice with that.
The best way to learn painting is hands one experience, trial and error kinda stuff. You have to learn the flow of your particular gun, and how well its shoots the paint at different adjustments.
Learn how to wet sand and buff, and then when you get enough confidence, paint your own car. Or buy a beater, and practice on that. Its all about practice practice practice, and alot of the basics you can learn through reading.
Some decent body shops may take you in as an apprentice.
Or you could always go to wyo-tech, but that takes some money.

[96Stang]

For learning, READ books first.
Then buy a nice airbrush kit, and practice with that. Build some model cars, and try making a flawless looking paintjob. Alot of the same principles apply with full scale cars.
Buy yourself a nice set of pinstriping brushes, and practice with them.
Any body shop will prolly give you a damaged panel to play with, hoods and fenders are usually replaced with only minor appearnace damage.
Then pick up a moderatly priced paint gun and practice with that.
The best way to learn painting is hands one experience, trial and error kinda stuff. You have to learn the flow of your particular gun, and how well its shoots the paint at different adjustments.
Learn how to wet sand and buff, and then when you get enough confidence, paint your own car. Or buy a beater, and practice on that. Its all about practice practice practice, and alot of the basics you can learn through reading.
Some decent body shops may take you in as an apprentice.
Or you could always go to wyo-tech, but that takes some money.

thanks for the info...i was thinking bout going to get some books on it and all...the only thing is that i want to do it as a job and if i went to a shop and they asked about my experience when i was confident and good...all i have to show for it is my practice stuff...i need some way to prove that i know what im doing to get the job

[DC2.2GSR]

you will not by any chance start out your career as a painter. as with anything else you have to start at the bottom... even if you go to school for it.

my way in was simply to go into a random body shop and ask if they needed help. i went to one about 10 minutes from my house and walked right in, introduced myself, i was honest and said i had zero professional experience whatsoever, and basically told them i'd sweep floors for 8 hours a day if i got to look over someone's shoulder once in a while and learn the trade. after about 15 minutes of laid back conversation, the owner and his wife took me for a quick tour and asked me when i could start. i would start as an apprentice and make *decent* hourly pay. it's now a year and $4.50/hour in raises later and i still work there and it took me about 6 months to get into actual painting.

my case may be rare and all, with me not having any experience before hand, but it's obviously possible. if you're seriously into it, go check out the shops in your area. honestly going to a tech or automotive school may hurt you more than anything. most reputable body shops want to mold you themselves. within the industry as i've found out, most body men, painters, shop managers and owners look down upon the 'newbs' fresh out of school because they're usually ****y, know-it-all, and have no actual real world experience even though they claim to. instead of thinking for themselves, when they're asked to prep or paint or fix something they want to run to the books to figure out the "proper" way to do it as their teacher told them instead of just getting it done the most efficient way possible. previous habits are very annoying to managers looking to hire new people.

it's a very tough trade, more of an art than anything.. and you absolutely cannot expect to jump right in and have a gun in your hand within the first few weeks. even if you show potential and progress, it takes a ****load of proof of ability before a shop manager will let you spray anything especially on a customer's car. it's a ton of bitch work, lots of 'yes sirs' and ' no sirs', and lots of actively working on furthering your career so to speek and trying like hell to make it. basically you won't stick around long in any shop (mechanical or body related) if you go in with a know it all attitude and are not willing to work to their standards and do things their way even if it seems wrong, and if you're not able to open yourself up completely and be a total sponge and suck up all information possible.

after all that rambling, here's the bottom line...

it's very physically demanding, very mentally demanding and stressful, very time consuming, and very natural talent dependent to become an automotive painter/body man. but, if you are very serious about it, it doesn't take much to get your foot in the door. go for it, i love it.. you probably will too.

[yellow2000S/R]

Its all about practice...

And I agree with everything that 95_GSR said. Up here at WyoTech, they instruct us like we are going to get a job at a top of the line shop that follows every little detail in the books doing insurance work.

Guess what, I know how the real world shops are, they dont follow everything, its about 1. quality, 2. turn around time, and 3. come backs. You want all 3, but the come backs you want because you have great customer service and dont screw over the customers, not because the paint starts peeling or chipping off bad in a few months.

[96Stang]

you will not by any chance start out your career as a painter. as with anything else you have to start at the bottom... even if you go to school for it.

my way in was simply to go into a random body shop and ask if they needed help. i went to one about 10 minutes from my house and walked right in, introduced myself, i was honest and said i had zero professional experience whatsoever, and basically told them i'd sweep floors for 8 hours a day if i got to look over someone's shoulder once in a while and learn the trade. after about 15 minutes of laid back conversation, the owner and his wife took me for a quick tour and asked me when i could start. i would start as an apprentice and make *decent* hourly pay. it's now a year and $4.50/hour in raises later and i still work there and it took me about 6 months to get into actual painting.

my case may be rare and all, with me not having any experience before hand, but it's obviously possible. if you're seriously into it, go check out the shops in your area. honestly going to a tech or automotive school may hurt you more than anything. most reputable body shops want to mold you themselves. within the industry as i've found out, most body men, painters, shop managers and owners look down upon the 'newbs' fresh out of school because they're usually ****y, know-it-all, and have no actual real world experience even though they claim to. instead of thinking for themselves, when they're asked to prep or paint or fix something they want to run to the books to figure out the "proper" way to do it as their teacher told them instead of just getting it done the most efficient way possible. previous habits are very annoying to managers looking to hire new people.

it's a very tough trade, more of an art than anything.. and you absolutely cannot expect to jump right in and have a gun in your hand within the first few weeks. even if you show potential and progress, it takes a ****load of proof of ability before a shop manager will let you spray anything especially on a customer's car. it's a ton of bitch work, lots of 'yes sirs' and ' no sirs', and lots of actively working on furthering your career so to speek and trying like hell to make it. basically you won't stick around long in any shop (mechanical or body related) if you go in with a know it all attitude and are not willing to work to their standards and do things their way even if it seems wrong, and if you're not able to open yourself up completely and be a total sponge and suck up all information possible.

after all that rambling, here's the bottom line...

it's very physically demanding, very mentally demanding and stressful, very time consuming, and very natural talent dependent to become an automotive painter/body man. but, if you are very serious about it, it doesn't take much to get your foot in the door. go for it, i love it.. you probably will too.

thanks for that. i was actually thinking about going to a couple of the shops ive seen around here to start doing that. not to toot my own horn but all the places i have worked at loved me due to the fact that i dont care about being told what to do, i listen very well, and do what my supervisors say without giving them any lip. its a very hard thing to do but you have to know and understand why you are somewhere. i will know that i am there to become a painter even if it is sweeping floors that im doing.