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Creating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It Off

If you're planning on becoming a race driver, you need to know that being a professional isn't all about being fast on the racetrack. There are plenty of things you need to work on when you're away from the track as well. If you don't have an unlimited budget to spend, you're going to need sponsors. And to secure some sponsors, you need to have a marketing team to support you with those off-track activities.
Creating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It Off 35 photos
Photo: AWS Graphics
Creating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It OffCreating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It Off
Imagine the following scenario. You're building a car for drifting. And for your first event, there are a total of 60 registered drivers. That means a total of 60 cars will be on the track during the weekend. You have to remember that you aren't just competing for a spot on the podium.

You are also fighting for the attention of fans, media, and sponsors. So how do you plan on standing out from the crowd? Sure, going out with a 1,000-hp car with a strange engine swap is going to help, but that's not all there is to it.

When scrolling through social media feeds, people need to see some vivid colors. They need something that will stop them from mindlessly browsing around so that they can notice you. And a well-executed livery is the key to that moment of attention. If your car is wrapped with a cool design, it will be easier for fans to recognize you.

Creating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It Off
Photo: AWS Graphics
And it might also attract some potential sponsors. These days, there are plenty of companies that can produce design schemes for your car. But you'll rarely come across someone as passionate about cars and as experienced in drawing as this 36-year-old Graphic Designer from New Zealand.

Andrew Stewart has been creating custom liveries for the automotive industry for over a decade now, and his skills are about as sharp as a Japanese katana sword. His passion for fast cars started at a young age.

"We would hop in the car as a family and head off to watch Rally events, Speedway, circuit racing, boat racing, you name it!" Andrew also remembers randomly coming across a Jet Sprint Boat Racing event at one point, and the V8 sounds he heard back then still echo in his ears today.

With Australia being close by, Andrew even got to see several V8 Supercars races when he was growing up. But it would be through his uncle that he would kickstart a career in the automotive industry: "My uncles had Speedway race cars. I would help in the pits to clean cars during events. Their team eventually started my career and AWS Graphics."

Creating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It Off
Photo: AWS Graphics
At first, Andrew started drawing cartoon versions of the cars his uncle owned, and that became a full-time job as other teams wanted to have prints of their own. At this point, Andrew was still in his second year of studying Computer Graphic Design at the university.

Given his job, Andrew has also been lucky enough to ride shotgun in quite a few insane cars over the years. He has fond memories of being a passenger in an original Hannu Mikkola Woolmark MK1 Ford Escort WRC car. Surviving a 111 mph (180 kph) crash in a friend's Mitsubishi Lancer Evo Tommi Makinen Group A car wasn't exactly as fun, but no one was hurt and that just adds to the collection of cool stories to think about when he's going to be old.

We were curious to find out what kind of cars Andrew has been driving over the years, and he mentioned an MK2 Ford Escort Ghia which he rolled down the hill at a rally sprint event and an MK2 Escort RS which he still owns to this day.

Even though he started with Speedway cars, most of Andrew's clients come from drifting. You'll see AWS Graphics liveries on plenty of cars in both Europe, North America, and of course Australia. Looking at some of his most renowned designs include one that was fitted on a WRC Hyundai and a few NASCAR teams that we can't disclose due to an active NDA. Over the years, he has also been providing his services to huge companies such as Red Bull, Hot Wheels, Toyota, and Monster Energy.

Creating Race Car Liveries Is a Job This Man Loves, Also Has the Skills To Pull It Off
Photo: AWS Graphics
With that kind of portfolio, it must be hard for him to even keep track of all the liveries he's designed in the past. Still, we asked him about some of his favorite designs and he quickly prompted: Dai Yoshihara's Falken Tire Formula Drift Subaru BRZ, the Hyundai i20 R5 WRC car, and the Sailor 7 project he created for Youtuber and race driver Collete Davis.

Curious about how much time one design takes him from start to finish, we asked him to walk us through the process: "It depends if I have the template for the car drawn up. Templates take about three hours. The design of a drift car can take anywhere from one hour to five hours. But there have been occasions when I spent a whole lot more time for more complex liveries"

Seeing some of the artwork AWS Graphics has created over the years might inspire you to either ask him to design your car or even take up a career in the automotive industry. Either way, his vision just goes to show how exciting and vastly diverse the automotive industry is nowadays. The video below depicts a Supercharged BMW M3 E92 GT4 that previously won the European Drift Championship, and was designed by Andrew himself.

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About the author: Dragos Chitulescu
Dragos Chitulescu profile photo

The things Dragos enjoys the most in life are, in no particular order: cars, motorcycles, diecast cars, and drifting. He's seen (and driven) many vehicles since he started his writing career back in 2009, but his garage currently houses a 1991 Mazda RX-7 FC3S Turbo II and a 1999 Suzuki SV650-S.
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