Custom car painting in North Cyprus
By Dasha Denisova
This article will be very beautiful and interesting, I promise. Not only because it deals with 
artwork, creativity and is full of bright colours but also because you can get everything I’ll show and write about.
I hope each of us has already made one dream come true by moving closer to the sea and sunny weather. Now it’s time to work on others! Standing out from the crowd and having something to catch an eye. There we go, I have something to show you!
I used to call my tiny 2-seater car, The Bug but then it turned out to Flaming craziness. Just How?
Up until today you could find a lot of interesting unique cars in North Cyprus, including various retro models, but apart from the brand and the year of release nothing could really distinguish cars as vividly as the car painting. But luckily, a professional artist Pavel Kuzmin with expertise in car painting and other skills and talents moved to this island.
We met with Pavel Kuzmin and his wife Anya beforehand, agreeing to meet for a cup of tea and talk. During the first meeting they showed us their works, among which there were several custom painted cars. ‘Pavel, that’s awesome!’- I got excited. In Moscow I always looked at the airbrushed cars with light-hearted envy – I wanted one, but understood that there was no chance to show and appreciate all this beauty in traditional Moscow traffic jams. In North Cyprus there are many more opportunities to savour the custom-painted car – you don’t get into traffic jams here, and it’s very hard to get around without a car, because you’ll have to drive every day – a perfect opportunity to get the best out of your ride and its unique look. I understood there was no reason to wait anymore: it was time to get Pavel to work on it and begin the creative process! And so we started…
Thirteen moments of my Spring or how to airbrush your car
1) Stage one: sketching
Airbrush begins with a sketch. It’s nice to have an idea what exactly you don’t want to see on your car or what you definitely want to get. I knew that flowers and elements was my call, and that’s where we began while discussing the design. But Pavel was so crafty, that we ended up with having at least thirty different sketches! That’s where the girl begins to doubt By the end of the first meeting and discussion we gathered about eight top variations so we could at last select the final conceptual design and finalize it according to our mutual preferences. Obviously the artist develops custom painting in such a way that it highlights the shape of the trunk and visually enriches its qualities. Think of a dress one buys to match and accent their figure.
Here, these are some of the variants, selected as BEST out of the ones Pavel started with:
We chose our favourite, and then decided on the final look, but Pavel advised me that in real life everything is going to look a) better, b) brighter, c) not identical to the picture, because during the process the sketch gets worked over according to the shape of the trunk. The decision was made, and the car went to the garage.
2) Stage two: into the box
Many people are surprised when they find out that you can really find good professional painting manufacture. I didn’t know that myself until I needed to get the space for the project. Erdogus Garage in Girne have painting spaces PONY, in which they keep the conditions necessary for repaint — light, temperature, ventilation. They’re very important for the results!
They took my car to the garage; I waved it good-bye and wished a nice repainting. According to the artist the work over the trunk would take about a month. Exactly how it turned out to be. Usually smaller designs are easier to apply, however, don’t forget that even a small custom painting has the same stages as a large one. The minimum time of the small project is a week.
3) Stage three: matte painting and logotype removal
At this prep stage the factory polish is taken off as well as the small details, covering the trunk.
I didn’t plan to get the painting done on the roof of the car therefore only the trunk was covered with matte paint. My Daihatsu Copen became just a NO NAME car
4) Stage four: covering updetails
Everything to be left untouched by the paint is covered with paper: from large to small, such as headlights or windows, to the smallest ones such as the lock and the exhaust.
5) Stage five: drafting
From now on you’ll get to see true wonders – the car is covered with the pencil outline of the design for a future custom painting, millimeter by millimeter…
6) Stage six: basepainting
My airbrush design was based on the flame picture. Using enamel and airbrush (Pavel is using Japanese brand IWATA) the artist applies the base color to the trunk, then to be covered with several layers of painting. By the way, reincarnation of my Bug is the first large personal custom-painting project for Pavel Kuzmin in North Cyprus. Meaning the first one for both the artist and North Cyprus. Looking back into the past your artist with a smile recalls his first work on Tavria using Russian ‘Leningrad’ air-brush, splitting the paint Thanks to the talent and progress: today everything has changed.
7) Stage seven: adding red to the painting
8) Stage eight: adding lilac to the background and flames
9) Stage nine: detailing the flame with crimson
From this moment on I could visualise what the final variant is going to look like (I thought so ), and the variety of colors was obvious!
10) Stage ten: orange
We decided on toxic-bright orange paint! When Pavel started to work with it everybody was impressed how much liveliness it added to the design.
11) Stage eleven: detailing the painting with white, yellow and yellowish orange
At this stage I was so impressed that I could not pay attention to the nuances the artist understood. Clearly, working with a car on an everyday basis the artist knows every inch of a painting and sees whether he needs to add something to the mix.
12) Stage twelve: polish
We’re ready! The car is ready for the final touch: polish. I didn’t expect the polish to improve the wow-effect of the airbrush by that much. North Cyprus means sunny weather all year long, that’s why carefully applied polish is your ticket to the perfect gleaming in sunlight. For extra tidiness during the stages listed above the process began with cleaning the trunk with a special dust-removing cloth, because even within the ‘sterile’ conditions there are specks of dust flying here and there not to be caught on the body of the car.
The attentive reader will notice that the seats at this stage are not covered. The present from my beloved was waiting for me: it would be impossible without Pavel’s mother Irina! It is true, that talent is passed along through the family. In this family everyone’s talented. Irina is excellent at knitting and sewing. Such attention to detail, precision and love one gets only with the years of experience. A true fan of her work! Her contact number may be found at the end of this post
13) Stage thirteen: leaving the box
The month of pleasant lock-down and… my new car is ready to see the light. Outside was sunny, and the faces were happy and smiling. But of course! This work of art not only lightens the streets, but gives to everyone who sees this bright spot on the road a moment of happiness. And my car matches the green grass!
My new seat covers match the color of the paint and add to the composition.
The first North Cyprus airbrush is ready!
As I think about it now that was one of the long-awaited months in my life – I was very keen and anxious for the results, and it was pleasure to work with Pavel who patiently answered a thousand of my questions about the process. After driving around the town for a few days, I’m in hurry to share: airbrush is really cool! And custom painted car in North Cyprus is even cooler! Such an unforgettable experience of driving around, which you won’t get from anything else.
Getting there
A chance to stand out of the crowd, self-expression, and making your car truly unique: all of this became possible thanks to Pavel Kuzmin, his talent and his magical air-brush
The cost of the project is much cheaper than what it seems: from 500 TL to… infinity, because there is no limit to perfection! Of course a car with a fully painted trunk would be more costly compared to the one with a small painting. The cost also depends on the make — Lamborghini will be pricier than Suzuki. Time for the car being airbrushed varies from one week to a month, depending on the difficulty.
You can get in touch with Pavel and discuss your future custom painting +90 (533) 822 26 96
Pavel’s mother, Irina will happily make you seat covers (and, actually, anything you want!). Her number +90 (533) 887 28 88
For Turkish-speaking Ertach Erdogus will answer questions on +90 (533) 862 41 97
See you on the roads of the TRNC!
By Dasha Denisova
Source: http://cypria.ru/ and select english translation.
