A Helmet for Chris

I met Chris Venter at the Royal Enfield Rider Mania 2018 in Goa. I was painting custom helmets for Royal Enfield at their art stall. Chris stopped by and we got talking. He talked about how much he loved India and how much he was looking forward to his travels exploring my country. He expressed an interest in having me paint a helmet for him. I of course said yes and then promptly forgot about it. But lo and behold! – almost two months later a beautiful new Royal Enfiled helmet was in my studio. Ready to be painted. 🙂

He was very specific about what he wanted – Truck art and Nazar Battoo with the whole nine yards – the mirchi, the damsels, the lotus etc. He wanted a helmet that communicated how he felt about India. In style – he wanted a mix of the two helmets I had done at the Rider Mania earlier in November.

So I got to work. Since this was a finished helmet and not the usual raw shell I get from the Royal Enfield Factory – it needed some work before I could start painting. I removed the visor, taped up the edges and also left areas of the original paint masked. I then got to work scrubbing the varnish and paint layers to the primer base, did a fresh coat of white primer and then got to work.

I actually really like how it turned out. I love the original base blending in so effortlessly with the newer painted areas. I leave you with two videos of the process and the finished helmet itself.

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