About Me

Hi. I’m Andy Shillito.

I’m a freelance Graphic Designer based in Leeds. Check out my online portfolio of the real work I get involved in when i’m not having fun painting car bodyshells !

I have always enjoyed painting and design – and have always enjoyed painting lexan bodyshells. The demands of working for a living, teaching and having 3 young children has meant that historically I have not had as much time as I would like to paint. That said – I made a real effort this year (2012) to finally show what I could do with an airbrush and a lexan shell.

My shells are not painted the traditional way – although I do sometimes use liquid mask as many other people do.

I love technology – and as a graphic designer I have wanted to persue how to get my computer based designs onto a bodyshell.
I finally decided to buy a vinyl cutter and some masking vinyl and have so far managed to get really good results by using computer cut vinyl masks to create the designs on the shells I have painted. I still use liquid mask & a steady hand  when it’s appropriate – but for custom designed elements and logos etc – I have found the vinyl mask approach works really well for me.

Each shell I paint starts life as a computer based design – overlaid onto a photo of the clear shell – this way i can ensure that the design fits the shape of the shell properly.

Then I create all the parts I need to cut separatley, then flip them and send them on a page to the cutter.

Then the fun part of applying all the vinyl masks to the inside of the shell.

Finally – with all the mask in place I can begin painting and gradually remove the masks as required to paint each area.