Ferrari Dino mural
Painting a Ferrari Dino — Spray Cans, Airbrush, and a Two-Day Sprint
Some projects you take on because they push you. Others you take on because you need a Ferrari on a flyer. This one was both.
The subject was a Ferrari Dino — one of the great classic Italian cars. Elegant, timeless, and not exactly forgiving when it comes to getting the proportions and colour right. The brief was simple: I needed artwork for some promotional material, so it was back to the workshop, spray cans and airbrush out, and straight in.
Day One — Laying the Foundations
Day one was about blocking in the base and building up the initial layers. Spray cans for the broad coverage, airbrush for the detail and transitions. The workshop was, predictably, an absolute mess — which is usually a good sign.
Day Two — Colour, Detail, and Racing the Clock
Day two started cold. Anyone who's airbrushed in a British workshop in winter knows the feeling.
The focus was the red — and with a car like the Dino, red isn't just red. It's a progression: starting with orange-red to warm up the base, moving through a vivid mid-red, then pushing into the deeper, darker tones that give the bodywork its depth and form. After that, the wheel in grey, then all the detailing pulled together in black, finished off with the spray can.
One thing that came up — as it always does when you're working fast — was wet paint spidering under the airbrush. When you bring the airbrush over paint that's still too wet, it pushes the surface and creates that horrible feathered effect. The fix is simple: keep a hair dryer or heat gun to hand. A hair dryer is the gentler option and perfectly effective. A heat gun works faster but demands respect — keep it moving at all times and never linger in one spot, or you'll cause more problems than you solve.
The Result
A completed Ferrari Dino, in time for the flyers. Photorealistic, mixed media, done in two sessions — which is exactly how it should be.
If you'd like a commission of your own car, classic or modern, get in touch at info@olivierr.com
