Full Cover Car Advertisements

Update: See the tutorial on "How to make Car Advertisement Mock-ups".

Whenever I want to relax I start to design full body car advertisements. Yes, I know - It is a strange hobby, but it is fun.

I started designing full body car advertisements a few years back. The company I work for asked me to design a taxi with the company logo. This was a fun project and a welcome break from the daily routine.

The final result:

One thing is to design Taxi's, why not create car advertisements for super sports cars or concept vehicle?

Here are a few examples (or maybe more than a few)...

Camaro Concept Art (new)

B.young

The Company I work for.

Markno

The company owned by my mother

Apparel

Beverages & Food

Games

Movies & TV

Music

Public

Technology

Transportation

Other

Comments

Anonymous - Jul. 30, 2006

COOL!!!!

An idea which would make someone a fortune - Aug. 10, 2006

Fantastic. I've seen buses used for advertising. Someone will make a fortune putting ads on taxis. Or how about putting ads like this on company owned salesperson's cars?

Or why couldn't the general public be paid to have ads on their personal cars? Especially if it were possible to formulate a paint that did not come off in the rain, but would easily come off with a solvent so that the car could be resold with the original paint job restored?

Thomas Baekdal - Aug. 11, 2006

Thanks,

Putting ads on Taxi's and even on private vehicles is not something new. It is common in many countries.

You do not have to invent special paint. The cars are wrapped with a gigantic full cover "sticker". This has two advantages

1: You do not have to repaint you car

2: When you remove it, the original paint looks as new as when you bought the car.

Tor - Oct. 13, 2006

In our business we call this a vehicle wrap.

To learn how to wrap vehicle go to the

vehicle wrap training

Wrap Academy

all our installers watch the videos and go to the live hands-on training. And now we do vehicle wraps for a living!

vehicle wrap

vehicle wraps installed!

if you have any questions feel free to ask!

Tor

Wrap Master Installer

Bogdan - Oct. 14, 2006

Great idea -- I love the Quicktime ad in particular, you managed to balance delivering the branding while also keeping it intriguing and elegant; very well done.

Jessica Seymour - Oct. 20, 2006

I'm with a company that also wraps vehicles. Your Mock-ups are great! Did you ever actually get these cars wrapped?

-Jessica Seymour

http://www.skinzwraps.com

Thomas Baekdal - Oct. 20, 2006

Jessica, Wow! I just looked at your gallery and that is some cool artwork. Really impressive stuff!

Did I ever get mine wrapped? Well, yes and no. My designs has "made it" to the real thing 7 times.

Marcus Ogren - Nov. 14, 2006

Hi there mate,

I love your manips, they are eye-popping :)

I'd love to see more of your work hit the streets. I myself work as a graphic designer with these kind of stuff on regular basis. ( http://www.brandfactory.se ).. But as you probably will see Im not designing that much. My work consists of applying company profiles on their cars/busses/airplanes or trains. And if you want any more pictures on taxis, that can be arranged.

I'd sure love to be more creative with my customers and give them more vivid designs.. but, unfortunatly, companies tend to be very restrictive about what they will have on their vehicles.

// Marcus

Thomas Baekdal - Nov. 14, 2006

Hi Marcus, Thanks!

I do know about the restrictive nature, even conservative nature of what the companies want. Just take the Taxi example above (at the top). The two designs I made have a much more graphical touch than the final design.

The white lines was removed, the background gray effect was toned down (and partly removed), the logo is no longer tilted to simulate motion. I made 6 other suggestions with went even further in terms of graphics, but they were rejected.

The same happened when I designed the graphics for a small company in Norway.

I think the problem is that the companies want to stand out - but not too much. That is why most of these car wraps is "a logo and sometimes a generic image".

I have also noticed that this is more the case in Europe than in the rest of the world. Most of the car wraps in USA and Japan have crazy designs (sometime way over the top). Big and bold seems to be the way "over there".

Marcus Ogren - Nov. 15, 2006

Thomas,

Aye, I know exactly what you mean. I even tried to take it to the next level by adding a vinyl shop for regular customers, where they can browse 8 to 10 different more vibrant and vivid decals, or, if they rather want a personal designed wrapper, that too would be possible.

Anywho, here are some examples of 4 different companies that has choosen taxi as a medium for advertising:

http://idi.mine.nu/margonaut/taxis.htm

The only one of those 4 that I find interesting is the Carslberg/Ramlösa wrap. The others are just meh. And I don't really get it why they don't wanna "scream" and go big when it's such new and perfect medium (in Sweden).

My conclusion is that they just are afraid. If only one company would go big on this idea I'm pretty sure that more companies would get their courage and step into the light.

You're most welcome to drop a line on my mail if you want to see more or if anything else pops up :)

baga - Dec. 6, 2006

hi thomas,

i'm very impressed with your graphic, it looks like first class.

i would hire you for a van wrap design, if you're interested and have time drop me a line.

thanx,

baga

peter - Dec. 6, 2006

kick ass!

mike - Dec. 6, 2006

Nice graphics! I was wondering what sports coupe is in most of the ads? It's hot as hell.

Thomas Baekdal - Dec. 7, 2006

Baga, I do not currently have time to help you. December = Christmas = Stress :)

Thank you for asking though!

Mike, It is the Citroen C-SportLounge Concept Car

Maki - Dec. 16, 2006

You are crazy man..It's amazing!

adine - Dec. 24, 2006

Wow, your graphics look great!

Can carwrapped cars be driven in the rain?! How long do you have to wait before they can be rained on?!

Great job!

Thomas Baekdal - Dec. 25, 2006

Adine, Yes it can be used in the rain, and you do not have to wait at all

Tarek Nasr - Jan. 11, 2007

Dear Thomas

I wanted to request that we use the snickers vehicle picture in our brochure as we provide the same service while writing your name underneath it

Tarek Nasr - Jan. 11, 2007

We are a company located in Egypt and only deal in Egypt

Thomas Baekdal - Jan. 11, 2007

Tarek,

I am sorry, but I cannot grant you permission to use the snicker car. Snickers is a trademark of the Mars Corporation, and you need to gain permission from them (which will be highly unlikely unless that is one of your customers) - and the image of the car is copyrighted by the Ford Corporation (from which you also need permission).

My suggestion to you is to use images from one of your existing clients.

I could also make a special image for you (for a price), but I do not have time until medio-february.

Steve Rezes - Jan. 12, 2007

I would like to know how much it would cost to have a small add on the side of a 2001 chevy silverado truck .

Thomas Baekdal - Jan. 12, 2007

The prices for something like that varies greatly from on company to the next. You need to ask your local bureau.

Tarek Nasr - Jan. 14, 2007

Dear Thomas

Snickers is actually one of our customers in Egypt, we have no problem using it from a legal stand point I was just asking you for permission to put the image that you drew up of the car in our brochure since you are the designer of the car

Thanks

thomas Baekdal - Jan. 14, 2007

Tarek,

Well, that solves half the problem. But, the picture of the car - the one I used to put the graphics on is from the Ford GT presentation catalog. Theoretically I cannot even use it myself, but I consider it fair use, as I am only displaying it for personaly use.

I do not try to be unhelpful, but I just cannot grant you permission to use any image from which I do not hold the rights.

I am sorry.

armando - Jan. 25, 2007

hello i want to have a consultation to have you posibly design avehicle for us please contact me. the vehicle that we want to do is an excursion.

my tel #954-963-4001

thanks

Brett Kamerman - Mar. 5, 2007

I have a stretch limo and I want to sell advertising on it. Call me at 949-723-0106 Thanks, Brett

Pete - Apr. 26, 2007

Very nice.

http://www.carwrap.com

Darryl Diggs - May. 17, 2007

Interested in having my car have advertising on it. 2007 saturn ion 3. Location currently in st.louis missouri

sige - May. 26, 2007

what............this a cool.........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous - May. 29, 2007

Wow - they give life to the wheels! TIRED OF DREARY ONE COLOR OR Two toned cars!

salvator - Jun. 8, 2007

very nice I'd like you to make a design for a corvette comvertable

VALENT - Jun. 10, 2007

I CAN SURE TO YOU THAT NOT IN ALL COUNTRIES ALL ABLE TO COVER WRAPPED CAR. IN SPAIN WE ARE NOT ABLE TO CARRY ON. BUT I WISH CHANGE IT IN A FUTURE.

NICE - Jun. 15, 2007

What kind of software do you use to make these amazing works of art. I want to make one for my car or even just to see how it can look with different paint jobs.!

Thomas Baekdal - Jun. 15, 2007

Photoshop. Tutorial here :

http://www.baekdal.com/articles/fun/car-advertisement-samples/

Butch - Jul. 3, 2007

Thomas have you used or no of anyone who has succesfully used the site you advertise here: http://www.thefreecar.com ?

I'm really interested in borrowing money from my parents to get a used car now, but I would love to start making money from it to pay them back as quickly as possible. The other thing is that I'm building a 3D animated film (I'm filmmaker with a degree from Temple U. and NYU) and would love to do something like this to independently promote it so I don't have to sell it to a larger company.

Thomas Baekdal - Jul. 4, 2007

No, I do not have any personal experience with the "get paid to drive" concept. The car wraps I make is used on company cars, or on special promotion vehicles for fairs or tours. In general know little of the car advertising business.

I would, however, not use thefreecar.com. They only thing they offer is to give a list of other companies. If I was you I would contact those other companies directly. Search for "Get paid to drive" on Google.

As for promoting your 3D work on cars. The steps are really very similar. You can wrap you own car (when you get one) for USD $500-3000 - or you can contact the same companies. Again do a search on Google for "Car Wraps"

Anonymous - Jul. 18, 2007

AWESOME love the gt40's

Good job

PS- GO AUSTRALIA

Anonymous - Jul. 19, 2007

Me again,

Ive got a challenge for you, try and do car graphics, for a formula one car

talk to me more at

elliot_mcgeary@hotmail.com

declan wall - Aug. 27, 2007

how could u find a company that makes these for companys that pay people to drive around with these on there cars

Thomas Baekdal - Aug. 27, 2007

Search for "get paid to drive" on Google

Mike - Sep. 20, 2007

Hi Thomas!

I've had your website in my bookmarks for the last 6 months and I've tried to use CS2 to do what you've done, but damn it's not easy...

I dont have any real training with CS2 and I suppose that might have been an advantage ha ha!

I do however see and amazing business opportunity in this whole decal/wrap business and especially the mainly american idea of paying people to drive a wrapped car. I am from Denmark myself so not too far away, I do live abroad at the moment though and I was thinking if there is any way I can get you to send a cd with the quick video tutorial you've made. It's hard to get a clear picture when downloading it and it moves very fast. I will be more than happy to pay you a good price for it?! Or another possibility could be to hire you for a "lesson" on how to do the designs?!

I work as a commercial pilot and have no experience in this, I just see a great idea and I love cars..

Let me hear what you think and any ideas you have would be greatly appreciated.

Thomas Baekdal - Sep. 20, 2007

Mike, What if I uploaded the original video file instead of sending a CD? I can of course send you the CD, but it would be easier to simply upload it.

I am, unfortunately very pressed for time, so a 1-on-1 lesson is not possible for me at the moment.

Note: I am away from the office, and that is where the files are. I will upload or send you the files when I get back (sometime late next week).

Mike - Sep. 24, 2007

Hi Thomas!

It would be really great if you could find the time to upload the file like you say. I'm in no hurry so don't stress about it, anytime you have some spare time in the office is fine..

I fully understand you are busy with work, so no worries about 1-on-1 session - I'll try to use the video and maybe ask you a few questions on here is that's ok?!

Thank you so much for the help - Tak!

Cheers

Mike

Mike - Oct. 9, 2007

Hi Thomas,

Sorry to bug you again, I know you're busy at work!

Just a friendly reminder, to see if you have had any luck uploading the slow/normal speed video tutorial.

Best Regards

Michael

Thomas Baekdal - Oct. 9, 2007

Hi Michael,

I ran into a problem, being that I could not find the original files - neither on my main computer or on my archieve server. ...and then I apparently forgot all about telling you!

I am very sorry!

I might create a new tutorial, but I do not have time for it until december (which is a bit sketchy too - since we all know how Christmas is the time of not-having-any-time).

Sylvia Woods - Nov. 28, 2007

I run into your Website and as I was looking at your work, I was of course impressed. As I was reading some of the emails I happen to read about wrap and I think this is what i want for my car. How much do you charge usually for a small car maybe just the back. Can you let me know please.

Thomas Baekdal - Nov. 29, 2007

Hi Sylvia, Thanks you for your comment, I really appreciate it.

Three things:

1: Unfortunately my schedule is packed - so far until March 2008 (probably longer). Creating car wraps is not what I do for a living (it is more of a hobby), so unfortunately these kinds of jobs has low priority.

2: I do not produce car wraps, I only make the concepts. I create a design "sketch", turn it over to a car wrapping company who then in turn create the final graphics and print for the car.

3: My fees is 900 DKK/hour - but, you might want to read this: http://www.baekdal.com/notes/personal/us-economy/

My advice to you is to contact one of the many companies who make car wraps - there are several links in the comments above.

Ralph Bianculli - Nov. 30, 2007

I am curious about the price range for restaurant advertisements on the doors and back window of a Jeep Patriot '07 and a Dodge Sprinter.

Please get back to me asap.

Ralph

Dan - Dec. 2, 2007

Recently did a job on my hummer. Although our results turned out amazing it would have been nice to have seen your work prior to doing our wrap. Excellent work!

Ryan - Dec. 4, 2007

Hi Thomas,

I have seen alot of your wraps and what you do and was just wondering where you learned to do all this stuff? and is it just Photoshop that you are using or other programs as well?

The reason why I ask is because I am fifteen years old, and am seriously looking into graphic design, and I am looking to learn more. If you could get back to me that would be great.

Thomas Baekdal - Dec. 5, 2007

Just Photoshop - see these pages:

http://www.baekdal.com/design/automotive/car-design-tutorial

http://www.baekdal.com/articles/fun/car-advertisement-samples/

PS: In my former job I teached people how to use Photoshop...

José Chang - Dec. 20, 2007

WoooooooW

You really have talent. Congratulations, very good work. By the way, Why don't you work making graphics for a brand of cars? Not only making comercial design.

Thomas Baekdal - Dec. 21, 2007

Thanks José!

- Why don't you work making graphics for a brand of cars?

Well, mostly because it is only a hobby, my real work - making web applications and helping companies form an good internet strategi - more than covers my day :)

Rotulacion - Jan. 11, 2008

Congratulations, very good work.

I'm very impressed with your graphic, it looks like first class

Very good workkk!!!

Kevin - Jan. 20, 2008

SPEACHLESS.

armando ortega - Jan. 29, 2008

HI PLEASE I AM IN MIAMI FLORIDA AND WANT FOR YOU TO MAKE A DESIGN FOR US PLEASE CONTACT ME TO MY EMAIL.

THANKS ARMANDO

Honza - Feb. 7, 2008

NICE works! White car ADIDAS is best!

Josh - Apr. 2, 2008

Beautiful work .. I am looking for an intial design to start my company in SW FL. As you may know good graphics and layouts are hard to find, at least for a beginner in this industry. Please let me know if you have time for the little guys out there like me? Again great work and hope to hear from you.

miguel - Apr. 10, 2008

am intrested in working for someone who ill hire me to advertise on my vehicles...i ve been looking on websites snd i have failed i would relly apreciate it if you can give me some pointers or point me in the right direction...

Konstantinos - Apr. 30, 2008

I have a commercial van and would like to rent it to anyone that would pay me to advertise their company with a wrap (if they pay for the wrapping).

Do you know where I could contact such a company?

Thanks for your reply.

Luis - May. 6, 2008

I was looking to get paid by using my two wips. Wrapping them with a company logo seems interesting.I have a "off the hook" 97 Chevy Cavalier with customized paint, interior,body kit,spoiler, rims,music,tv's and much more. My '97 Venture is in mint condish and also has rims. What do I do next?