What's your original livery approach?

[D-Max]

Recently I've clocked up a silly amount of hours on the livery editor and the problem I'm finding is, I don't really know where I'm normally going with it.

I never seem to go in with a solid idea nor do I tend to stick to an idea and one thing I struggle with is having a main sponsor logo. Then you have the issue of using different shapes and angles to change the dynamic of the livery, I seem to suck at that!

so my question is, how do you approach a livery?

 

[syntex123]

That's a good question.. And I will most likely think of my approach as I write this, word for word.

I generally start with the color choice. What color do I want as the base, etc. Then I go on making the paint scheme and fill in the "blanks".
After a rough idea is placed, I begin thinking sponsors. I never overthink this, I just do what I think looks good.

I don't share original creations that often, as I'm generally out of ideas when it comes to making my own original liveries. I tend to do replicas far more often. I should stop that, shouldn't I. I always end up Googling a car to find the best references possible and make all the decals I need before I begin in-game. If it's not 99% accurate I won't enjoy the result.

 

[VXR]

I find I'm more likely to start something original and then go and find a livery for inspiration and just create something with the essence of it, but not a replica.

 

[D-Max]

That's a good question.. And I will most likely think of my approach as I write this, word for word.

I generally start with the color choice. What color do I want as the base, etc. Then I go on making the paint scheme and fill in the "blanks".
After a rough idea is placed, I begin thinking sponsors. I never overthink this, I just do what I think looks good.

This is exactly what I do but sometimes i feel it's just lacking. something is always missing apart from a couple of livery's I have completed. I know the ones that look good all round and the ones I think are great at time of creation but then realise they just aren't!

 

[Ryan Sandall]

I started with the helmet it’s a rossi inspired design and the blue is similar to the blue on my personal racing overalls in real life, the sponsors on the helmet are ones I could genuinely have in my imaginary pro career aha
GoPro I use for film or my racing
Thrustmaster wheel I use
RS is my initials (renault sport logo)
Monster I drink plenty of
The 58 is a note to Marco simoncelli

I have recently come up with a livery that I have transferred to several cars. Based a bit off the helmet design
Note I also made the helmet and car in a way I could create like an alternate version for my friends or for myself different colours and stuff
I could show you those too if you wanna see them
Anyways..
I used the same colours as the helmet
And I have a set area to include my sponsors
I wanted something that would stand out but also be simplistic so it didn’t take too long to make in every car

I stuck with the yellow stripe with a black outline to make it stand out more

On the side of the car I try to put them roughly in similar places (not always possible) the GoPro, thrustmaster, monster (agv sometimes also my helmet brand irl) rs and often my sort of star design too

Let me know what you think
I’ll post some more cos these are the original 3 I did and there’s lots more now

Also need to update as I’m adding gtomega to these as I have this rig at home

Here’s some pics of them all, and some victory shots cos the helmet and car in the shot in your own livery is a really awesome thing, I wish you could save those pictures aha these I took from my phone of the tv

 

[baldgye]

Inspiration for original ideas is hard.


Personally I use house hold objects as a base, or maybe some design I've seen somewhere. Can be anything. What you have to do, is be ruthless and thorough. If you have an idea to copy, say the design and look of the new Hoover you have or Kettle. Do so to the best of your ability and don't add extra **** because it looks cool. That way you are able to focus your design and idea rather than getting lost.

 

[D-Max]

Inspiration for original ideas is hard.


Personally I use house hold objects as a base, or maybe some design I've seen somewhere. Can be anything. What you have to do, is be ruthless and thorough. If you have an idea to copy, say the design and look of the new Hoover you have or Kettle. Do so to the best of your ability and don't add extra **** because it looks cool. That way you are able to focus your design and idea rather than getting lost.

I find the idea of something I want to create pretty easy, it's just the execution and trying to keep it simple! I love crowded cars, the old Nascars that literally had stickers on every single mm of the body, that's what i like. I hate cars like the Car Guy NSX from Blancpain as it's so bland. a great design but just not enough on it!

This is what I ended up needing to do to be satisfied with the car guy livery!Although i've had many compliments on it, it's so far from the original! Cas in poin, @Cytoria's NSX from the Suzuka 10 hour

I think I've found strong motivation once and stuck to an idea. I've applied this to multiple cars and love this livery. But i've never felt as good about one as I have with this.

I think my issue is that I'm change my ideas too much in the process of it all. I need to just sit down and do what I've planned or thought about!

 

[Cytoria]

Here’s some pics of them all, and some victory shots cos the helmet and car in the shot in your own livery is a really awesome thing, I wish you could save those pictures aha these I took from my phone of the tv

Just hit the « Share » button of your pad and the pic will be saved in your PS4 gallery.

I find the idea of something I want to create pretty easy, it's just the execution and trying to keep it simple! I love crowded cars, the old Nascars that literally had stickers on every single mm of the body, that's what i like. I hate cars like the Car Guy NSX from Blancpain as it's so bland. a great design but just not enough on it!

This is what I ended up needing to do to be satisfied with the car guy livery!Although i've had many compliments on it, it's so far from the original! Cas in poin, @Cytoria's NSX from the Suzuka 10 hour

I think I've found strong motivation once and stuck to an idea. I've applied this to multiple cars and love this livery. But i've never felt as good about one as I have with this.

I think my issue is that I'm change my ideas too much in the process of it all. I need to just sit down and do what I've planned or thought about!

I agree this NSX is too blanck. The actual Super GT car has a lot more sponsors and I may do it later but I wanted to get this one done quickly for the event.

As for a livery, it was quite fun to do because I much more like doing masks and shapes within the game rather than searching and creating obscure sponsors for tiny stickers, like @JKcreativeworks said. Yours is great too, it looks more like a real race car . And the most important thing : you like it ! As long as it’s your taste and you have fun making it, it will be the best livery, no matter what others will say/like/share. I really enjoy my Infinity Art Car but it has only 19 likes and I just don’t care.

Speaking of original designs, I’ve made a few but I admit it is harder to me, I just don’t satisfy myself and sometimes what I have in mind didn’t work at all once on the car. It’s frustrating but I’ll keep it up this way. Replicas teach me how to use the editor and how creators made them, and I took a lot of inspiration from them to be able to do my own designs.

 

[YukinoSuzuka]

About inspiration, sometimes I've an idea with a liverie without having a car favourite for the livery I want to make, most of the time I'll end up with the usual cars I always like to treat with decals.. Which are the Viper GTS '13, Ferrari 458, BMW M6 and the little cute Toyota SFR concept.

Sometimes I don't have any inspiration, pick a car I never touched and follow the lines of the cars or do a kind of roulette thing in my decal collection and sometimes the brand I stopped suddenly give me some inspiration indeed. Last month I had the Viper GTS again and suddenly I had the idea to make a series of basic liveries, different colour schemes for everyone to use or to edit and make it complete.

Now I've a similar idea for the little Mini Cooper, but not satisfied yet to share it with the world

 

[Balwerk]

To me start with your own big theme, is that street theme, art car, trackday car, race car, or even itasha. Next you need find the color mix you can use this as reference https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ and you need find the reference absolutely if you can't start immediately.​

​

Like this one, basic idea is Akka ASP but not same color and shape then I evolve this with my old work in Assetto Corsa (the Itasha), and evolve again more like big rework put make random shape so it become right now.

 

[daibon]

This is a good Topic.

I end up with the "writers block" all the time.. I start something... and I don't like what I do ...so I simply save it.. But if I don;t like it, I do not upload the,. There are too many mediocre liveries out there... Initially I used to grab what I can get..but once I knew how to create liveries, I became judgmental on what are good liveries and what a "lazy and uncreative" liveries. And I try my darnedest not to be that person. I even look at my early liveries I had created and took them down.. I simply deleted them.

I do get an idea of a theme once in a while, and I get excited and go berserk and start working on them and load what I create. After I upload them I then want to add to it..and sometime I do add and reupload or simply keep it with myself especially if other online users had given a postive feedback to the old one.

Just when I think I have run out of ideas, something do pop up that gets me excited. If you watch the daily decals people upload, it gives me some inspiration. Recently I saw some one upload a whole bunch of Laurel and Hardy Decals,.. that gave me a theme.. L & H and went to work on it.. I added my own L & H Decals and did a Laurel and Hardy livery special.

Right now.... I am out of ideas!

Replicas are the most challenging...to collect all the right decals or build them yourself. But free wheeling liveries is lot easier.

 

[Chris___75]

Sometimes think outside the box.

 

[baldgye]

Sometimes think outside the box. View attachment 763316 View attachment 763317

Don't cans like that, usually come from inside a box?

 

[Stephan]

There's two ways that can go down for me in terms of making a livery.

One is well the obvious approach aka the itasha approach where I'll make a itasha livery based from animes I like. Like this KonoSuba RC-F GT500 I made for example. This one thanks to the decal uploading community whom they uploaded decals like the Konosuba Megumin Racing decal (a spoof of Toyota Gazoo Racing), Megumin related decals, and KonoSuba related decals, this livery became possible.

The second approach is the non-itasha approach. This one if let's say I've seen enough real life liveries related to the car, I'll make my own livery. This Peugeot for example I made it and it's inspired from the original livery itself.

 

[Chris___75]

Don't cans like that, usually come from inside a box?

No no. Think OUTSIDE the box.

 

[syntex123]

No no. Think OUTSIDE the box.

So.. like when your cardboard wine is empty and you take out the bag to breathe in the last fumes?

 

[Chris___75]

So.. like when your cardboard wine is empty and you take out the bag to breathe in the last fumes?

Really? Do you have too??

 

[syntex123]

Really? Do you have too??

I don’t know. It was just meant as a funny joke after what @baldgye said. I guess it failed.

 

[D-Max]

So.. like when your cardboard wine is empty and you take out the bag to breathe in the last fumes?

not just me then?

Thanks for all the replies. Nice to see the different approaches! I will give them a try and see how it goes!

 

[Victoria H]

Recently I've clocked up a silly amount of hours on the livery editor and the problem I'm finding is, I don't really know where I'm normally going with it.

I feel the same. I usually pick a color and try to combine some shapes until I get something cool.

Sometimes it works, but it often ends with me getting frustrated, closing the livery editor and go racing

 

[MisterWaffles]

For me it’s honestly pretty simple:

Step 1: Choose a logo, either from something you’ve seen recently in real life or a random logo from the discover tab that looks cool.

Step 2: Come up with 2-3 colours that look good with the decal.

Step 3: Open up the editor and start playing around with the shapes.

Step 4a: Get frustrated and go to close the editor.

Step 4b: Slap yourself and continue working.

Step 4c: optionally look up liveries on the same car in Google or other liveries in the discover tab for inspiration.

Step 5: Finishing touches.

Step 6: Add racing stuff, logos, windshield banners.

Step 7: Profit? (In street cred)

Here are some of my personal selection of examples of what I can do with this method:

 

[llNovall]

I typically choose a color scheme and and an alternate and stick with it. The HPS logo is one I made up, and is for Howard's Performance Specialties...the name of the speed shop I wish I had, named after me. The separator of colors is a changed color theme of the Maryland flag, and I integrated my favorite race team logo, Flying Lizard Motorsports, and Shipley Energy (the company I work for) as secondary sponsors.

I've also done a bunch of liveries using the color and theme of the mentioned company I work for and its trucks, with Flying Lizard Motorsports logo as a secondary sponsor.

So for me, I use decaling that applies to me and stick with it. Good luck finding your niche.

 

[D-Max]

I typically choose a color scheme and and an alternate and stick with it. The HPS logo is one I made up, and is for Howard's Performance Specialties...the name of the speed shop I wish I had, named after me. The separator of colors is a changed color theme of the Maryland flag, and I integrated my favorite race team logo, Flying Lizard Motorsports, and Shipley Energy (the company I work for) as secondary sponsors.
View attachment 764173

I've also done a bunch of liveries using the color and theme of the mentioned company I work for and its trucks, with Flying Lizard Motorsports logo as a secondary sponsor.
View attachment 764174
View attachment 764178

So for me, I use decaling that applies to me and stick with it. Good luck finding your niche.

That's really awesome! I've made a couple of original logos but haven't used them yet! I've tried a few of these methods and they seem to be working a lot better than before so definitely is a great help by everyone!

 

[Teal]

I usually pick a logo or a set of logos, usually Hooters, and build off that.

 

[Stephen220378]

99.9% of my liveries are replicas but if I ever did try a fantasy livery I suppose I'd pick a title sponsor first which pretty much determines the colour scheme, then pick out other decals which suit the application (i.e. Ohlins for a rally car, GReddy for a tuner etc) then look to the real world liveries for inspiration, for example rally cars are usually simplistic designs while GT3 cars are a bit more artistic, LMP cars are usually plain and company orientated, then use that as a base for the car I'm creating.

 

[D-Max]

99.9% of my liveries are replicas but if I ever did try a fantasy livery I suppose I'd pick a title sponsor first which pretty much determines the colour scheme, then pick out other decals which suit the application (i.e. Ohlins for a rally car, GReddy for a tuner etc) then look to the real world liveries for inspiration, for example rally cars are usually simplistic designs while GT3 cars are a bit more artistic, LMP cars are usually plain and company orientated, then use that as a base for the car I'm creating.

rally cars have so many shapes Ro them these days. rally cars of old are easier but newer stuff not so much!

 

[OJT6627]

To be honest, i mostly prefer my cars clean: nice paint, dope rims - and i'm good to go . But lately i got really hooked up into the livery game and tho i don't tend to spend silly amount of days on them like some of the guys do (my most complex liveries took me like 6-7 hours, which is somewhat reasonable), what i end up with mostly looks fine

First thing i do is choose a car. Some cars look better in one color combination or the other. Might sound like a simple thing, but it is quite an important one.

Then, after choosing a car, i think of a good color combo (if it is a self-made livery) or choose a real-life livery that i think would look good (if it's a replica)

And one of the more important things: detailing. Especially relevant when you are doing a replica. Every decal, every shape must be exactly where it is supposed to be (or at least as close as possible). If some sponsors are unavailable, switch them up with the ones that have the closest color. And always look at the sponsors that i place (no Toyo and Yokohama stickers on one car, for example ). I tend to zoom in a lot when placing the decals so i make sure they are perfectly fit

Last thing is: patience. Don't try to overdo things or you might end up stickerbombing the whole car. Keep it simple first, then add detail, and don't be afraid to split the livery-making into several gaming sessions. At the end, the efforts will be worth it

Spoiler: Some of my work

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• OJT6627
• Sep 8, 2018

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• OJT6627
• Sep 8, 2018

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• OJT6627
• Sep 8, 2018

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• OJT6627
• Sep 8, 2018

 

[Stephen220378]

rally cars have so many shapes Ro them these days. rally cars of old are easier but newer stuff not so much!

Not really though in the case of WRC cars it's a simple title sponsor or manufacturer colours, RX car liveries are a bit flashy right enough

 

[6BK]

99.9% of my liveries are replicas but if I ever did try a fantasy livery I suppose I'd pick a title sponsor first which pretty much determines the colour scheme, then pick out other decals which suit the application (i.e. Ohlins for a rally car, GReddy for a tuner etc) then look to the real world liveries for inspiration, for example rally cars are usually simplistic designs while GT3 cars are a bit more artistic, LMP cars are usually plain and company orientated, then use that as a base for the car I'm creating.

I was reading the comments and wondering what my thought process is and your comment hit the mark. I can't make decals etc myself so I am very grateful to those who upload to their work to the discovery archives for the rest of us to share. Generally while most of my liveries are fantasy they will look like race cars but not necessarily replicas. A "title sponsor" will take center stage and then colour scheme and sub sponsors follow to suit. Most times they will be a little playful too with sponsors such as LEGO, Matchbox or Hotwheels Toy Cars, 7Up or M&M sweets etc. These are usually done when I'm too tired to drive anymore but refuse to sleep.

GTR Gr3 "Matchbox" - a personal favourite

WRX Gr4 "Ninjaru" - fixed the Pirelli Tyres on Advan Wheels sponsor later. The one I race has Yokohama.

991 Gr3 "Marvelous Machine" - see what I mean about playful.

Beetle Gr3 "Edibeetle" M&M

 

[zorrofox]

I'd sell ma granny fur a saltire-based livery. A saltire decal would be most welcome. Although I use PS for my photography I've no idea how to create an image from the ground up.