Any Graphic Designers in the house?

[redking]

Hi there

I would like to build a very special guitar to commemorate the life of our little girl, Paisley Page that we lost this past January.

My idea is to create a very unique "Paisley" telecaster that incorporates an image of a dragon with the Paisley design.

I have no idea how to start the process of creating such a design, nor how to go about taking the design from a concept to some actual printed Paisley paper.

Can anyone guide me as to where to start this design process?

I have already contacted a luthier known for building Paisley finished guitars and he didn't even want to take it on.

thanks,

R

 

[Goodcleanfun]

so you want a design that's something to do with paisley and something to do with a dragon? DO you want the whole top in paisley? A dragon breathing paisley as fire-breath stuff? A dragon made of paisley?

 

[Job-Job type Job]

Hi there

I would like to build a very special guitar to commemorate the life of our little girl, Paisley Page that we lost this past January.

My idea is to create a very unique "Paisley" telecaster that incorporates an image of a dragon with the Paisley design.

I have no idea how to start the process of creating such a design, nor how to go about taking the design from a concept to some actual printed Paisley paper.

Can anyone guide me as to where to start this design process?

I have already contacted a luthier known for building Paisley finished guitars and he didn't even want to take it on.

thanks,

R

I'm very sorry for your loss. I had a guitar built for my daughter who passed away in 2007 (in my sig).

My wife and I are in the design business although our skills are mostly geared toward video production. Still, I'd imagine that finding some elements and using Photoshop/Illustrator could likely get the job done. As for printing and getting it on a guitar, I'm at a loss.

I certainly couldn't design a Paisley pattern alone. That would be beyond me. If I were to go about it I'd probably heist some patterns from the internet and work with them. That's probably not much help to you but...

Anyway. I hope you're doing okay. Losing a child is the toughest road to travel in life.

 

[redking]

I guess the best way to explain my vision is this:

A paisley design is a number of small images arranged in a pattern that repeats throughout the design. In my vision, one of the images in the pattern is that of a dragon and the "paisley" images can form themselves around the dragon to compliment.

 

[redking]

I'm very sorry for your loss. I had a guitar built for my daughter who passed away in 2007 (in my sig).

My wife and I are in the design business although our skills are mostly geared toward video production. Still, I'd imagine that finding some elements and using Photoshop/Illustrator could likely get the job done. As for printing and getting it on a guitar, I'm at a loss.

I certainly couldn't design a Paisley pattern alone. That would be beyond me. If I were to go about it I'd probably heist some patterns from the internet and work with them. That's probably not much help to you but...

Anyway. I hope you're doing okay. Losing a child is the toughest road to travel in life.

Thank you for your comments, and I'm sorry for your loss as well. We are doing OK for now, and thankfully our oldest daughter has been a bright light for us to stay positive throughout this whole thing.

As far as the design goes, basically the process of getting the image on the guitar is the "easy" part. You adhere the paper to the front and back of the guitar, burst the edges and finish over top. For me, being completely clueless as to how to create the design and take it somewhere to get printed, that is the hard part...

I'd be happy to pay for the services, but I don't even know where to begin or who to contact. I don't know if there are designers that specialize in this type of design, etc....

 

[Freddy G]

Hi Rory,
Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.
What about doing it with a different process? I have a friend who does "pixelation or pointelism" art with metallic pens. Basically its just drawing dots in a pattern and afterwards I clear coat to seal it all in. She did a tele for me and I think it looks really cool. Here's a few pics:

This is kind of a reptile pattern but I've always thought that paisleys would look great with this technique.

But if that's not your thing, there is still another option that I think is a sonically better option than the wallpaper thing with clear coats. You could do the whole design on waterslide decal paper. Any colour and even metallics if you want.

 

[redking]

Hi Rory,
Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.
What about doing it with a different process? I have a friend who does "pixelation or pointelism" art with metallic pens. Basically its just drawing dots in a pattern and afterwards I clear coat to seal it all in. She did a tele for me and I think it looks really cool. Here's a few pics:

This is kind of a reptile pattern but I've always thought that paisleys would look great with this technique.

But if that's not your thing, there is still another option that I think is a sonically better option than the wallpaper thing with clear coats. You could do the whole design on waterslide decal paper. Any colour and even metallics if you want.

That does look really great! And I do agree, better than clear coating over paper. I will PM you offline.

Thanks,

R

 

[pinefd]

Wow, Rory, I'm so sorry for your loss. I can't even imagine going through what you and Job-Job have gone through.

I'm not a graphic designer...and not even close. But when I read what it was you were trying to do, the first thing that came to mind was some Mickey Mouse paisley design ties I used to have. Disney is very creative when it comes to this kind of thing. I realize that Mickey Mouse is about as far as you can get from a dragon, but you may be able to get some inspiration from some of the cool Disney designs on this website: Mickey tie | Shop mickey tie sales & prices at TheFind

Here's one of the designs they show on that site:

All the best to you and your family. And looking forward to seeing what you come up with for a design!


Frank

 

[emoney]

Rory.....and Job for that matter, not much I can say but wow. You guys are an inspiration
of strength. Sorry, as a word, is not enough.

As for the guitar, finding an Artist, either in paint of some type or airbrush, to work with
you to develop the "look" is the key. Like Freddy said, you'll end up with a much better
guitar to cherish without the worry of something "coming off" later. I'm sure there's
tons of Artists in your area, and if nothing else, start at a local Tatoo Parlor. Lot's of
actual artists inside there as well.

 

[Mr Teeny]

Thumbs up for the tattoo parlour idea, plenty of talented artists in those. They'll have a lot of experience doing the chinese dragon designs that are very similar to the paisley pattern design and should be able to translate your ideas and either stick it on a guitar or paper.

 

[evolved_insanity]

Where are you located? I hopé this isn't too forward and feel free to PM me if you want instead of posting in public or you dont even have to PM if you dont want to share, but how did this happen? The reason I ask is I know a few people that do airbrushing and also a few tattoo artists that may take on an endeavour like this but most people will ask the story behind it. I hope you dont think Im being a d1ck by asking. I have two girls and could not imagine the feelings and emotional roller coaster you must be on. Stay strong.

 

[purevilpleasure]

I don't know if you are looking for ideas, but here's what I was thinking when I read this, btw sorry for your loss, Why not have the top done with your paisley pattern and than have a contrasting color of the outline of said dragon you wish to use? It could be very subtle or bright and out in the open. I bet than the local person wouldn't have any trouble doing it and you can get a person who can do a great job at it too.

 

[Fred_Garvin]

My deepest sympathies, redking. My aunt as well as my younger brother have lost children, I can't imagine how it must feel. I am a graphic designer by trade and I would be more than happy to help out with your project.

PM me, I work 50-60 hours a week, but I'd consider it an honor to contribute.

 

[lowatter]

Here is an image result search for "paisley dragons" that might give you some ideas...
Image Search Results for Paisley dragon design
Out of respect for any artist's designs, any direct usage I would suggest contacting the artist with your intentions. I'm sure that nobody would scoff at a one-off guitar plagerisation.
Many blessings on your new commemorative quest and journey. Sorry for your loss.

 

[redking]

Wow.. you guys are all beyond awesome! Thank you for your comments, offers and suggestions. I'm going to digest all of this info for a couple of days.

Our daughter Paisley was born 7 weeks prematurely on November 15th. A week or so later we found out she had a severe neurological condition and we knew her life would likely be short. We didn't know how short, however. We hoped to take her home so that we could all be together in our home as a family as we were told most kids with this condition don't make it past age 2. So we were hoping for those 2 years, but it was not meant to me.

After fighting against the odds for 10 weeks, we lost her on January 24th, but not after getting to give her Christmas, New years, A "Zero" Birthday party, a private concert by an A Capella group, a visit from a couple of Edmonton Eskimo Cheerleaders and all kinds of love and kangaroo cuddles.

At her memorial service we celebrated her life with ballet dancers and a really great rendition of Little Wing by a local blues artist. We tried to jam a lifetime of experiences for her into 10 weeks. She continues to inspire us to live life like it's your last day. She has impacted our lives, and the lives of others in an amazing way for a little angel that was only on earth for 10 weeks.

 

[Reverend D]

Condolences for your loss. My niece had my great nephew Parker stillborn a little over 2 years ago and it was incredibly sad for the whole family. Several months after Parker's death she again became pregnant, Quinten was born almost a year ago now and truly made her life complete (along with the whole family). I wish you all the best and I think the memorial guitar is such a great idea. After you mull over the idea's and if you find the right artists, I'd be really interested in seeing the finished project. Prayers and thoughts to your family.

Regards,

Don

 

[TKOjams]

Hi Rory,
Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.
What about doing it with a different process? I have a friend who does "pixelation or pointelism" art with metallic pens. Basically its just drawing dots in a pattern and afterwards I clear coat to seal it all in. She did a tele for me and I think it looks really cool.

WOW
That is amazing!!
That must have taken forever to complete.

 

[TKOjams]

redking,
Deepest condolences for your loss. This it a wonderful idea, and great way to keep her memory alive.

 

[evolved_insanity]

Thank you for sharing RK. It sounds like you guys were amazing parents to a little girl in a small time frame.

 

[sdshirtman]

Hi there

I would like to build a very special guitar to commemorate the life of our little girl, Paisley Page that we lost this past January.

My idea is to create a very unique "Paisley" telecaster that incorporates an image of a dragon with the Paisley design.

I have no idea how to start the process of creating such a design, nor how to go about taking the design from a concept to some actual printed Paisley paper.

Can anyone guide me as to where to start this design process?

I have already contacted a luthier known for building Paisley finished guitars and he didn't even want to take it on.

thanks,

R

Let me start by saying I like this idea and I'm sorry for your loss.

I own a graphics and screen printing and promotional business so here are some thoughts.

First off I'd suggest figuring out what style of dragon you want as well as the style and color tone of paisley you're looking to tie it in with. For budgets sake I think a good starting place would be someplace like istockphoto.com. If you can find something you like there it will save you some money over hiring an artist to illustrate your idea unless of course you can find someone who's willing to do this kind of time intensive illustration for free.
A search on "paisley" on istockphoto yields over 2k matches and "dragon" yields over 8k.
I'd narrow those down by searching only illustrations. That way if you choose to purchase one they can be edited and tied into one another in a graphics program like illustrator.

The second thought is once you settle on a suitable final graphic is how you're going to accomplish the application. You could have it printed onto a glossy vinyl substrate and have it applied to the guitar body much like a vehicle wrap for one. That option limits you on the finish though. Well I guess it would be NO finish with that process.

You might be able to get away with paper but I would be worried about reactivity between the printer inks and the final clear coat. I'd call someone like ordiway sign supply and ask to speak to a sales rep and explain to him what you're looking to do and have them suggest a printing substrate that could work for a project like this.

If you're thinking of doing this like the fabric paisley finishes you could have the final artwork digitally printed onto fabric and use that fabric swatch to do the finish. You can find T shirt shops that have a direct to garment digital printer to accomplish this. It shouldn't cost more that $20 per print. Once you get that far you'll have to experiment with the clear coat to make sure it doesnt react with the ink used in the process. I wouldn't think that it would as the inks are fused into the fabric via heat but you never know.

If you go the stock photo route I can help with tying in the two graphic elements as long as you are patient with me. My gratis work always takes a back seat to my paying customers and production.

Take care.