The Ice Dragon

Centerfold

by Michael Lightfoot

Wrapped by Creative Kustoms

The Concept

My vision was to give tribute to Game of Thrones. Starting with the trunk build, including a custom sub box for 2 JL Audio subwoofers, personalized LED plexiglass, and TVs for entertainment, all wrapped in white vinyl. It also has full underbody LED lighting and custom 3-piece wheels. The engine bay is airbrushed and features an inverted flip hood. All four doors can be opened vertically for the look of a wing span of the dragon. Interior features include 5 TVs (1 in the front, 2 built-in behind the seats, and 2 in the headrests). The headliner is airbrushed with a Game of Thrones scene. All white custom upholstery and Alcantara dash. Lastly, we finished it off with a one-of-a-kind wrap design of the Ice Dragon to complete the vision. The wrap was designed and printed by Glarb and laid by Creative Kustoms. Overall, it took 5 years to complete the vision. There was no delay; we just broke the upgrades over time and revealed new features every car show season up until today. The whole car is one-of-a-kind, and we started with the Night King and transformed it into his dragon (The Ice Dragon).

It took a few weeks to complete; from design to print to install. The detail in the design with lining up the dragon scales was

probably the most time-consuming part to make sure every panel fit correctly.

Over the years, there has been a lot of planning and learning through the process. There are so many controllers for every feature, and making sure wiring for TVs, lighting, and air ride work seamlessly together for the shows was challenging.

The design was a collaboration between J & E Customs, Creative Kustoms, and myself. We also researched how to elevate the look of the theme, from the whole build down to the fake snow display. We even included the Night King himself to sit next to the Ice Dragon.

The Ice Dragon went hand-in-hand with my Night King concept, and the fact that the car looks air-brushed and turned completely into a dragon is everything I wanted. This project (like most custom builds) was very challenging, but getting everything to line up and match so well was worth it. Our designer knocked it out of the park and Rachel and Elton DeLeon spent many hours and late nights getting it ready for Comic Con where it was revealed. I truly can’t thank them enough.

The Design

Ryan Sandoval of Glarb Designs shared his thoughts on the masterpiece he created for Mike: Mike reached out to me after winning Best in Show at the Slammedenuff show in Gatlinburg last year. He saw the Koi Mini Cooper I designed for ProStarVinyl and wanted something to tie his theme together. His build, dubbed “Ice Dragon,” is based on the White Walkers from Game of Thrones.

I usually swipe left on themed designs, especially if all they want is a character slapped on the side with a “sick" background.

But if I can transform the entire car into the character, I'm in. Mike wasn’t sure what he wanted, as long as it incorporated an “Ice Dragon.” So, I thought, why not make the whole car an Ice Dragon? With his forward tilt hood and suicide doors, it was a perfect fit. The design was printed on my HP Latex 800W. I wanted the blues to pop, so I used Avery Diamond White SW900 with DOL1360Z gloss laminate. The metallic film with the super gloss laminate gives it a paint-like finish, with the metallic shining through the ink. If you haven't printed on a metallic film with a gloss laminate, you're missing out! You can even create color shifts or fluorescents by printing over a colored metallic like 3M Gloss Gold Sparkle.

The entire design was created in Photoshop. I started by converting an image of leaves to a black and white alpha mask, then extruded it to become 3D. I stacked and shuffled individual leaves to form a long column, then used the “Bulge” and “Puppet Warp” tools to shape it. The face was a collage of horned lizards and iguana skin textures over a 3D dragon face, with ice textures for the horns. I applied a dark blue to light blue “Gradient Map” to give the composition consistent coloring. That’s where I handed it off. Kudos to the install crew for bringing this design to life!

A big shout out to his sponsors: TunerGoods, Avant Garde Wheels, J&E Customz, Xtreme AeroWerkz Performance, and Vertical Doors all played a part in this magnificent show car.