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Working on my first vehicle wrap

tranceraider

New Member
Working on my first wrap, usually my brother does the design work in the shop. Printing on a 54" Roland VersaCAMM VP-540, the greys don't pop as much when printing already did the hood, now working on the sides and the tailgate.


Was wondering if you guys had any ideas or tips to make it look better or easier installation.

My truck is red, I was wondering what I should do between the bed and the cab, should I just spraypaint it black or just let the red show.

Thanks for any/all input
 

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4R Graphics

New Member
Why dont you just print a few pieces solid grey and apply them behind the cab and bed before you wrap the sides and when you wrap the sides just have a seam where the 2 come together? The grey panels dont have to go in to deep say 6 inches or so. You shouldnt be able to see the red with out really looking for it that way and you wont have to slide the bed back.

You really need to figure out how to cover the red remember people are going to see your vehicle and judge your work based on your truck.
 

mikey-Oh

New Member
It's a shame you've laid the hood, that Jurassic Park logo about the name woulda jumped with a relief cut.

Personally, I'd not spray paint between the cab and trailer. Unless your never planning on reselling, no one will notice driving down the road.

*EDIT: Most truck bed's are only held by 4 bolts, something to think about
 

tranceraider

New Member
It's a shame you've laid the hood, that Jurassic Park logo about the name woulda jumped with a relief cut.

What do you mean by relieft cut?

Also the hood was just a test print and laminate with a test roll of material and laminate 3M gave us, I just wanted to see how well it printed and stuck we usually don't use 3M but we have gotten some bad print problems with the Avery recently. Well.. back to the point, I wouldn't mind reprinting the hood, cause I'm not to happy with the placement of the logo either.

I kind of wanted the logo to be hard to read, and just a neat smoke effect. Since it was on the hood I figured not that many people would really be reading it too often. I was figuring of making the sides and tailgate really easy to read, with a list of things we do/phone number on the perf.
 

grafixemporium

New Member
Your website looks very good.

wayne k
guam usa

Despite the glaring intellectual property issue.

I don't get it. If you really think a dinosaur is going to help take your sign business to another level of success... couldn't you just draw your own dinosaur or have an artist draw you one? Why steal?
 

tranceraider

New Member
Despite the glaring intellectual property issue.

I don't get it. If you really think a dinosaur is going to help take your sign business to another level of success... couldn't you just draw your own dinosaur or have an artist draw you one? Why steal?

My dad actually did draw the dinosaur. He has been a sign painter for over 35 years. About 13 years(not sure exactly I was only 12 myself) ago he painted the logo on the side of his truck it was a little bit different back then, but he did it because he felt like his profession was becoming extinct hence the little paintbrush in the dinosaurs hand. He painted billboards back then, and the industry was going toward digital prints. Just recently, within the past 5 years we bought a building and invested in a digital printer, and once I got out of college I came to work at the business.

But back to the point, what's the problem with a dinosaur being in our logo? What is so appealing about your logo that really brings your business to another level of success? Is it the edgy spelling of graphics?
 

mikey-Oh

New Member
Easy, cut the arch to contrast or cut the dino.
Either will pop against the complementary colour.

Does it have to be a t-rex? Almost certain no one would notice that, if it were a Stegosaurus or some other reptile in teh top arch.

Pterodactyl would fit nice and could be dynamic!
 

tranceraider

New Member
Easy, cut the arch to contrast or cut the dino.
Either will pop against the complementary colour.

Does it have to be a t-rex? Almost certain no one would notice that, if it were a Stegosaurus or some other reptile in teh top arch

Ahhh thanks,

Oh no, the Trex looks almost identical to the Jpark logo, but if you google trex black skeleton there are people selling stickers on amazon that also look just like the trex from the jpark logo. Not saying this validates anything, but I guess I don't see the problem we are taking a recognizable image to people and basing the logo around it, not directly copying anything. If we are in the wrong then, yea ill change the shape of the vector, but I don't see how picking a different skeleton is any different.
 

Pat Whatley

New Member
Ahhh thanks,

Oh no, the Trex looks almost identical to the Jpark logo, but if you google trex black skeleton there are people selling stickers on amazon that also look just like the trex from the jpark logo. Not saying this validates anything, but I guess I don't see the problem we are taking a recognizable image to people and basing the logo around it, not directly copying anything. If we are in the wrong then, yea ill change the shape of the vector, but I don't see how picking a different skeleton is any different.

Keep telling yourself that. Hell, Mickey Mouse is recognizable and people love him. Get Dad to draw you up one of them and stick it on there, too. Maybe a couple of peeing Calvins for the back window, too.
 

signswi

New Member
Ahhh thanks,

Oh no, the Trex looks almost identical to the Jpark logo, but if you google trex black skeleton there are people selling stickers on amazon that also look just like the trex from the jpark logo. Not saying this validates anything, but I guess I don't see the problem we are taking a recognizable image to people and basing the logo around it, not directly copying anything. If we are in the wrong then, yea ill change the shape of the vector, but I don't see how picking a different skeleton is any different.

If you end up in court they'd like rule it a derivative work and probably make you pay out any earnings you've accrued while using the logo. I'm not a lawyer so this isn't legal advice but...be careful.
 

Bobby H

Arial Sucks.
I immediately thought "Jurassic Park" as soon as I saw the wrap design.

The logo is obviously a copy of the T-Rex skeleton used on the original hardcover edition of Michael Crichton's novel. The same skeleton was incorporated into the movie's logo.

Not only that, but the graphical container (the circular element around the skeleton and lettering background bar) are similar as well.

Being the big movie nut that I am, I vectorized a version of the JP logo way back when the movie was originally released. I scanned the logo off the soundtrack CD and then worked on it in CorelDRAW 3.0. I attached a Photoshopped JPEG made from that old logo so viewers in this thread can directly compare the differences between it and the submitted wrap design.

On a side tangent, very few movies these days have any logos at all. So many have merely set some type in Trajan or some other Font du jour of the day. Lately a lot of Gotham has been used and then Avenir or Futura just to look a little like Gotham without actually being Gotham. Jurassic Park had an actual unique brand, not just some lettering. Also, most movie posters don't feature illustration anymore. Just Photoshopped actors heads. Blah.
 

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