The process is fairly simple and the effect can be totally awesome. See how Bret takes a Road King's tins and heats them up with ultra-cool hot blue flames. – Ed.

You might remember Bret Dethlefsen as the What's New last month. This young painter has a simple tutorial here for some Kandy Flames. We were shootin the shit the other night in my garage lookin' over the '56 Fairlane, thinking about some sick flames under the chrome strips to match the Kandy blue top. Tossin' back a couple of brews Bret was telling me about this project he recently finished.

He was commissioned to paint a flaming skull on a black HD Road King. The client requested some "Sick-Ass Blue Eyes". So here is how to do it right.

STEP 1
Sand the tins really fine and give it a dark base coat. Here he used black. You would get slightly different effects when the Kandy overlay is applied with other colors. Kool to experiment here.

STEP 2
Begin painting the undercoat graphics. Bret uses white paint through his favorite IWATA Airbrush. I asked if he masked it off or drew the design out first on the tank and he said, in this case, I just went for it. Starting with the brightest highlights and layering on from there. Keep in mind the light source so you put the highlights in the proper place. In this case the skull is being lit by the flames and from above. A good mind to the highlights and shadows makes the graphics leap off the tin.

STEP 3
You may need to go back and add more of the base coat black to bring back some shadows.

STEP 4
This is where Bret masked off the eyes so they would have good sharp edges and detail. Since the client wanted the eyes to be piercing and blue in a blue Kandy job Bret painted the eyeballs blue with good highlights and shadows.

STEP 5
Now comes the Kandy! This shit's nuts. Kandy is a test of discipline. One little dust spec or overspray and it's over. Be sure that all your highlights and shadows are correct before you overspray the kandy. Spray the whole tin to get consistent color depth. Bret uses House of Kolor Kandy Cobalt with a full size IWATA W100 airbrush.

HINT:
If you over-do the Kandy and the image gets knocked back you can come back with the white to touch up the brightest highlights. When you clear-coat the Kandy will bleed through the white.

STEP 6:
Spray your favorite clear coat to get the deep rich look. Color sand smooth.

You can reach Bret via his website www.BDCustomGraphics.com or calling him at: 714-376-6496.

T-Bone