Leather Jacket Painter Recommendations?

[Tigercat]

Randy,

This guy (Jerome Urbaniak) does absolutely the BEST painted jacket artwork. I have seen a number of jacket artists and Jerome is the best.

http://www.picturetrail.com/jrome

You can contact Jerome at ------ jromeau@yahoo.com

[gtokid]

Flightjacket.com does really nice work, but they only paint their own jackets. I had a Cooper I wanted them to paint, but they said no. I guess they didn't want the responsibility if they messed up the jacket. I had one custom painted and it set me back about $900 ($400 for the art, $300 for the jacket, and $200 for the hand painted patches & misc.). If you go to their site, you'll see my jacket "Little Demon". The white circles are kill marks. I had to paint my own swatikas since they wouldn't paint them. I'm very happy the way it turned out, though. I also found www.victory-girl.com and thought about having some work done on another A-2. The art looks pretty good, and the price seems very reasonable. Just my 2 cents. -Todd

[Django]

I am friends with Jerome. He's top notch.

[tom d. friedman]

randy get it hand painted with durable oil based paint. all ww2 flight jacket painting was hand painted. if you want authenticity you'll do it that way. these repro jackets on the market are nice, but they are air brushed painted, & they look to cosmetic. after my vacation i'll put you in touch with my aviation artist buddy who did mine if you wish.

[Jerry O'Neill]

Mark Wilson in Milford, CT does some great jacket art.
He can be contacted at:

usaafb17g@cs.com

I have had some done from him and he even did Sherman Best's A-2 Jacket recreation of his original "Flak-Bait" Jacket. (He flew 16 missions as pilot on "Flak-Bait").
Jerry

[Mudge]

Wade,
I did buy the jacket from them so I don't know whether that's a requirement or not.

Mudge the uninformed

[JimH]

Hey Jack, thanks for the plug. Since I have been on the road with the bombers I have sort of "retired" from painting. Bill Strawn at American Aero does great work and is very affordable. After many years of painting I settled on Tandy Cova brand acrylic paint. It is designed specifically for leather and is not only durable but extremely flexible. The jackets that I painted for myself...gawd, over ten years ago now, look just as fresh as the day I finished them. You can also try US Authentic...I haven't dealt with them in years but they seem to be doing quality work. One of the most important keys to painting jackets is the prep work. It is essential to strip the leather of its finish (oils) where the painting is to be done.

Jim Harley

proud to say I never used an airbrush on a jacket!!!

[bdk]

I had Bruce Crandall do my Stearman jacket at Chino years ago. He used Testors plastic model paint. I'll post a picture later.

Not sure where Crandall is now. I saw him a few months back at Aero Trader but he did mention that he was going to visit Tim Savage for a while.

[Chicoartist]

. . . an airbrush on a jacket!!!

Agreed. It should be illegal, matter of fact!

Wade

[Randy Haskin]

Great stuff, guys...exactly what I was looking for.

I think the answer is going to be somewhere in the middle for me. I have my own jacket, and I want to paint some of it myself...but I also want a leather patch done, as well as one of those tooled-leather nametags.

This is the art I'm putting on the back. Since I applied it to the jet, I think I can probably handle putting it on the jacket. What I'm nervous about is specifically how to prep the leather, what paint to use, and how to finish it such that it will last reasonably.

[bdk]

When my jacket was painted there was no prep at all. In fact, the artist used to repaint his jacket with a new scheme periodically. He would just wipe off the old image with MEK and start over! The paint leaves a residue when you wipe it off with thinner though so the next image would always have to be larger than the last.

[rwdfresno]

I had Bruce Crandall do my Stearman jacket at Chino years ago.

Bruce is an awesome artist and a wildman lol! He does the jackets old school using the old school techniques. I have seen a lot of great jackets that he has done and the all turned out magnificent. In fact he was the one when I was a kid that encouraged me to paint my own jacket. He has done some pretty awesome aircraft in his day as well. In fact one of the coolest things that I ever saw him do was some old B-25 windshields that he etched with a bead blaster. He made them to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Doolittle Raid when we did the whole carrier launch with the bombers. My dad has one.

[rwdfresno]

I'm nervous about is specifically how to prep the leather, what paint to use, and how to finish it such that it will last reasonably.

I never prepped mine a bit and the paint is still sticking to it 15 years later. I used Testor's model paint, it held up fine. Here are some pictures. The art isn't the best in the world, I painted it when I was 14. It also had to be something I could wear to school and not get in trouble so naked ladies were not an option lol. In fact where my ships are used to be Japanese rising suns but I had to change those by order of the school so I wouldn't offend anyone. Anyways, it is just an example of how it has held up for 15 years using the Testor's model paint and no prep at all.

[Chicoartist]

It's been so long that I forgot all about the Testor's model enamels! I'd go that route for the "most realistic" finish, and they last! The Testor's line, in those little glass bottles, were/are(?) darn good paints. I guess they still make them, eh?

The very first jacket I ever did was a "new" one for a former crewmember of the 91st BG's Hi-Ho Silver. He still had his original Tony Starcer-painted A-2, and I simply copied the design on the back of the new jacket.

This was a long time ago, but I saw him about a year or so later wearing the jacket, and the art looked new. I commented that he must not wear it very much. He said he wears it everywhere he goes in hopes of striking up a conversation with other vets or those interested in the 8th AF! I said, "Well, then, I guess I did a good job on it!"

Wade

[astixjr]

Randy,
My father and I have always used Rosemary Dery. She did two jackets for my father and I to match the Popeye artwork on his SNJ-5. You can see some of her work on the link below. I'll try to post a photo of my jacket this weekend. Mine is well worn after over ten years and probably needs to go back for some touch up work. Rosemary has been at it for long time and if you wind up having her do the work, go visit her in person. She's not hard to look at if you know what I mean. Don't try to out drink her, she's about seven feet tall and I think she's got a spare liver or something.

http://www.rosemarydery.com/bio.htm