Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You’ll Need:
Step1
Taped off sections
Tape off the windows and shiny metal parts of your car, and any other things you don't want paint on. You can tape newspaper to the windows.
Step2
Good base coat
Assess your original paint. Is it rusting or flaking? If so, you may need to start with a base coat. Spray paint works pretty well. Sand off any rust or flaky parts. Just take a few cans of a neutral base color (we used green) and spray it evenly all over. If your starting base coat is pretty good already, you can skip this step.
Step3
Good stencil with a nice border
Make some cardboard stencils of symbols and shapes you want on your car. Draw the shape onto cardboard, leaving a 4-6 inch border of solid cardboard around the edge. Then cut out the shape with an exacto knife. Some things we have done have been: ducks, hearts, flowers, swirls, zigzags, words, happy faces, flames, and hand prints. If your shape has something floating freely inside, like the middle of an "O" you can tape the middle part directly onto the car when you paint it.
Step4
Stencils painted on
Starting with the larger shapes, hold the cardboard stencil where you want it with one hand. Try to hold it very tightly to the car, or tape it with a roll of tape on the back. Spray the color you want from about 12 inches away. Too close and the paint will drip; too far and the paint will blow away and get in places you don't want it. A fun one to do is to make a stencil with your hand and just put your hand on the car and spray over it.
Step5
Finished Product
Continue with painting, covering your "canvas" (the car) with as much or as little art as you would like. After it's dry, take off all the tape and newspaper and drive it around!