The talented creators of the Auto Artisan Group, Directors MICHAEL PALLADINO and BORA BRIGHT, take us through one of their many awesome creations. This month a Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder gets the special treatment…
What is Cars And Coffee all about?
We came to meet the Cars And Coffee team at their very first event in Sydney. They are leading organiser of automotive gatherings and the Sydney branch is a part of the official representative of the international Cars And Coffee group. All the events which have been hosted have always been in bespoke venues with the highest standard of hospitality. They are open to the public for majority of their events and a lot of them attract the highest calibre of vehicles, you would not normally see on the road. Our first experience with them was literally with a cup of coffee on a Sunday morning, appreciating a bunch of amazing supercars which came from all around Sydney.
How does your Auto Artisan fit with Cars And Coffee?
The least we can say is, we are Automotive Enthusiasts. We love super cars, classic cars, big rigs and so much more. Our passion is with cars and with the Cars And Coffee events we don’t only get to see these amazing pieces of machinery, we also get to work with some of the most incredible vehicles to hit Aussie roads.
Tell us more about this project?
Cars and Coffee Sydney were planning their next event and we knew the list of cars which were attending. There were going to be some unbelievable cars there – some even valued at well over $1,000,000 and a standard Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder may not have enough of a “wow factor”. The guys over at Cars And Coffee wanted to make an impact at their show – they wanted to show the public something different to the norm, something unique. This is exactly the reason they approached us at Auto Artisan. Not only did we plan to create something spectacular – we always go above and beyond. We knew from day one we were going to be on a short deadline and there was another very important consideration – it was specifically going to be designed and installed for this one-off event as a promotional tool then removed in the following week. Regardless, we placed our commitment and even created the time for a photo shoot with Marcel of Cel Sydney Photography and an internal photo shoot at our workshop.
How did you come up with the design?
The design idea came to us as we were discussing with the owner of Cars And Coffee about creating something “wild” – something that would just stand out of the crowd. During our initial discussions, it turned out Cars And Coffee were working on a large-scale feature wall on one of their projects and we obtained the image of the wall, which was extremely vibrant. Since there was such a short time restraint, we needed to act quickly. We decided this had potential, it was different and we could make it work. We just had to get more creative with it – and fast.
What were the difficulties you faced with the design?
The image was extremely vibrant but the resolution was small. There was no chance we could utilise this image as it was, so we had to re-create it from scratch. As you can see in these photos our graphic designer is in the process of creating the artwork. It was also a basic 2D image, certainly not enough for coverage for us to plan to put it over a vehicle with so many sharp lines. We had to “Auto Artisan” this image. With careful design planning and preparation, we managed to lay it out, tile it and cover the entire vehicle. During the design stage, we felt it would be great if it were possible to downplay the colours in the daytime but really make them ‘pop’ when you wanted the attention. Reflective media always works well when you need to make a big impact. Therefore, we darkened a few of the colours quite considerably, this way they would not stand out until a flash of light reflected off it.
Take us through what’s involved in the wrap installation.
The wrap installation was a big one. The original colour of the car was yellow which meant we needed to try and cover as much of the original colour as possible. Otherwise, you would be able to see bits of yellow everywhere and it would ruin the look of the new wrap. We had time restraints to work with as this had to run around in three days! One other consideration was the immediate removal of the wrap after the event. Looking after our customer, Cars And Coffee, we decided to save time and literally wrap over everything without removing a single panel or badge off the car. Normally, we wouldn’t do this but it was a great option for a temporary wrap.
And you also did a photo shoot with a model in the wrap?
Truth be told, we had two photoshoots to complete on the same day. The other one was a jungle themed shoot. We decided both concepts could utilise the flowing lines of the Lamborghini Gallardo wrap which resembled smoke patterns. The jungle theme for the other project required some greenery and we utilised a “poison ivy theme” but there was no green on this Lamborghini. We had a discussion and decided we could colour match the green of the poison Ivy to the blues in the Gallardo, using photoshop after the photo shoot. Nice little trick to speed up the process and completely transform the outfit.
Tell us more about wrapping a model.
We always like to do something different, even for a photo shoot. So, we designed and printed poison ivy on vinyl, and yes, as weird as it sounds, we literally installed this wrap on our model Naz Bright’s face. Then, we continued the wrap installation around her legs and down to her feet. We, of course, added a specially designed Auto Artisan logo tailored for this project. It’s not every day you get to wrap a person, right?
How did the final product come out?
We lined up the car in our workshop, closed the roller door and set off several smoke bombs. The smoke colours very closely matched the colours of the wrap. We made sure to keep the smoke bombs close enough to the Lamborghini to capture the effect but not too close to avoid any heat damage. The warehouse quickly filled with smoke so we had to take these photos in a hurry. We wanted to add some magic, spice, and push the boundaries by being an outlaw for this photo shoot. Having a standard photo in a warehouse just did not cut it – the background couldn’t be a simple wall, that’s not creative, that does not inspire magic. We decided to photoshop an entirely new graffiti wall art to complement the project. This took a fair amount of time to get the image looking like it belonged there, we balanced the colours, blended the smoke effects and it was ready for the reveal. ■
If you love what you see, follow Auto Artisan on Facebook or Instagram @AUTOARTISAN
Photographed by MARCEL AT CEL SYDNEY PHOTOGRAPHY (IG: @CELSYDNEY)
Special thanks to CARS AND COFFEE SYDNEY (IG: @CARSANDCOFFEESYDNEY)
Lamborghini supplied by VEHICLE CONNECT (IG: @VEHICLE_CONNECT)
Auto Artisan Model NAZ BRIGHT (IG: @naz.bright)
For the full article grab the January 2021 issue of MAXIM Australia from newsagents and convenience locations. Subscribe here.
