Custom Dell Painting - Ideas Please

Ok, so I have a guy in my CS Clan that is an automotive custom painter & airbrush artist. He does some insanely good work. He's offered to do painting on our computers and the stuff he's already done has been great.

Now I'm getting together my spare chassic parts from my I9300 to send up to him to get done up.

This thread is to help me figure out what I'd like to have done on the laptop. Please do not hijack this into what you want. I'm looking for ideas I like, not to hear what you've been dreaming to do and then steal the idea from you.

I've currently got the XPS2 chassis pieces on giving me a two-tone black/silver case. But I've kept the LCD rear cover from the 9300 on because I don't care for the XPS logos and rolled metal on the XPS rear cover.

I want to stay with a two-tone look. Probably something along the black and silver lines. But I've also considered switching to blue/black, red/black, or titanium/black.

One solid color is just too boring in my opinion. But then there is the idea of having something purely custom on the LCD rear cover. Probably fill-in the Dell logo and make it one smooth canvas.

And pictures or artwork that pertains to CounterStrike, Planetside, Transformers, RoboTech, Dell/XPS, or even something with a Nightvision/HUD look to it would be good starting points.

I'd like something that will take up the entire area of the LCD rear cover - except for the "white trim" and the bottom where it says Inspiron. Those areas will be made the prominent color of the two-tone.

If I stick with black I'm considering black chrome/mirror quality and giving the silver area a brushed titanium/silver paint job.

Please ask any questions to see if what you're thinking will be something I'd like before just posting it up.

Here are some shots of the custom work that was already done on the side panel of one of our guys' desktop cases. The custom windowed lights is something I may even consider if the LCD backlight will be good enough to shine thru (like on the Apple laptops).





Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions. After I make a final decision on what I want done, it'll take about a week or so to get it shipped, completed, and sent back. Then I'll post up all the pics that people want showing detail/quality/etc. Thanks again.

Our guy has his own shop in NY. He also has a basic website up. It's www.drsairbrush.com. He completely airbrushed that Megatron case. His detail is fantastic.

As for what I would have glow thru on the laptop, it would probably involve cutting the LCD cover and placing a slighting raised piece in its place with a well rounded trim to give it a more professional look. What I would actually have showing thru isn't decided. I was thinking if I did the cutout and mounting trim in place, I could make interchangable "glow plates" which I could pop out the trim and change without alot of hard work. I could have things from CS logo's, Clan logo's, to my moniker as options to put in there.

Since most of the Robotech models are light colors (greys, whites, etc) I was thinking of maybe doing a blue or red base, and then changing all the silver to black chrome. Then anything airbrushed on would stand out just fine.

Thanks for being the first reply though. I was hoping to have more ideas put up.

They charge twice as much as my guy and they don't provide the level of detail he does by hand. Smoothcreations makes stencils for layering their work and spray it quick. There is no "art" to what Smoothcreations does.

Leader's are rarely ever the best. Mass production and vanilla offerings win out everytime in business. This even allows a "leader" to become overpriced because of their own ego - i.e. Alienware.

I did not say they weren't the leader. They get plenty of publicity for their work.

Also, like I said in the original post. Do not go hijacking this with your own stuff. So please leave the thread if you can't comtribute to the main topic.