The finalists have been announced for the National Paint Championships, hosted by Automechanika Birmingham, with the winner to be crowned at the show’s live ceremony on June 7th, 2023.
The shortlist consists of eight professionals in the sector who were chosen from a pool of 20 registrations. Those selected are tasked with designing the most impressive car bonnet to showcase their classic paint technique based on the theme of “Mobility Royale.” The designs will be on display from June 6-8, with a professional jury choosing their favourite live on stage at the show.
The finalists include Jack Smith from Forged from Flake, Rob Hendrick from Brit Built Customs Ltd, Julian Woodstock from Colchester College, Becca Denton from Bex Airbrushing, Rhisiart Griffith from RWG Built, Ian Boultwood from Bespoke Autostyling, Ashleigh Shaw from Autobodyworx and Hannah Pusey from Sprayaway Group Limited working with Airartz.
“It is an honour to be considered for the finals,” Rob Hendrick said. “It will be quite the challenge to compete against some incredible talent, and I’m excited to see the calibre of work on show.”
“I’m looking forward to being in the finalists of the National Paint Championships, as people will get to see my artwork outside of the normal lowrider community and it will hopefully inspire other UK painters to try the lowrider style custom paintwork,” said Jack Smith.
Julian Woodstock added his thoughts on the opportunities that the competition brings. “I am excited about competing, as it gives me an excuse to experiment with the use of different paint materials and combinations of techniques,” Woodstock said. “I think to have the chance to show off my skills to other people who can appreciate the amount of work required to come up with the finished product is a really interesting prospect.
On one hand I hope they appreciate what I’ve done; on the other I know there will be people who will be able to spot the tiny mistakes I will inevitably make. However, I am firmly in the belief that these mistakes should be embraced by custom painters, as perfection can be achieved by computers, but real creativeness can only be done by people with passion for their craft.”
Griffith said, “I’m excited and honoured to be shortlisted for this competition as I feel it’s an opportunity to ‘go mad’ and show the public what I’m capable of.”
The panel of judges will consist of six established industry professionals, including Rachel Murray, owner of Paint by Rach; Michael Massey, global paint finishing platform application engineer for the 3M Automotive Aftermarket Division; Simon Wait, head of editorial at Bodyshop Magazine; Jordan Salt, managing director of R+R Coatings; Sunny Yip, car body repair technician of Auto Spray; and Craig Bourke, technical sales support engineer at Walcom Walmec UK.
Additionally, the general public is invited to vote for their favourite motif, with participants competing for the People’s Choice Award.
“The Championships have been extremely popular and the talent showcased was phenomenal – it was really difficult to narrow down the finalists to just eight,” said Alex Jones, marketing director of Messe Frankfurt UK, organisers of Automechanika Birmingham. “We’re now wishing those shortlisted the best of luck and can’t wait to see the creative designs they come up with.”
The design must be executed to the highest standards but not exceed 50 hours in total to produce.
The National Paint Champion winner will also be invited to attend Automechanika Frankfurt in 2024 to compete for international acclaim and become the world champion. All finalists will be automatically included in both categories: The National Paint Champion and the People’s Choice. The design must be executed to the highest standards but not exceed 50 hours in total to produce.
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