INXS Motorsports; the in house paint and restoration arm of ActiveThunderBoats.com

Painting our boat right now is Richie Rich and Marty from invisions. Rich is a true artist and Marty can come up with some wild designs! Richies has done work for us before and does a superb job. Both used to work for Cigarette before Skip got rid of everyone! Harold from Grafixworks is also the man!!

I'll throw in Mike Lavalle of Killerpaint.com
he's been doing all my toys for years

Although people have & will continue to say that --- is the best or --- is the best. The question of who is actually the best is not really one that can be answered in my opinion.. There are Way to many factors & I realize that your question wasn't really looking for a one person answer.. I could be totally wrong but atleast I didn't read it that way ??

Anyways I will say that as a custom painter myself I Highly respect those that have been named !! I haven't seen work from all of them but allot of them I have & they do some awesome stuff to say the least !! The average person has absolutely no clue as to what all goes into some of the stuff that they look at & go wow thats pretty !! Whether it be a boat , a bike , or a hotrod car, or whatever.. I would be willing to say that everytime a project leaves anyone of those shops that a piece of the artist goes with it.. I know first hand that it takes alot out of you & its all to often a labor of love. (or atleast it has been for me)

Not trying to start #$@% but I glanced at a thread here a while back were somebody was blasting Dean @ TAOD & I have to say I have done this stuff my entire life, though not consistently at the leval Dean & his crew has but I have had the privilage of having my hands on alot of really cool projects in my short 33 years of life & I have achieved my share of success but I learned a long time ago that not everyone can be pleased no matter how hard you try , or what you do to make it right Period... Again I am in NO way trying to start any crap , get in a pissing match ect.. Nor do I know or even care about the particular situation that was mentioned in that thread, But I will say that as a painter Dean is Highly respected in my book & I am also confident that he has a shop full of others there that likewise have my respect !!! Along with the others mentioned earlier in this thread..

I was at Skater several weeks ago. The quality of the paintwork that these guys were doing was impressive. Actually everything that was being built in that shop was very cool.

Mark @ Visual Imagination

www.customeimagemotorsports.com

Omaha, NE

Cover of Powerboat July 2008!

I to have been painting something mostly collision..for the last 30 years. I do corvettes, vipers, ect some of them are in national mags now.. just saying of all the painters Ive seen Dean blows they away.. I have had boats painted by some of the painters listed here..(not by choice)
His lines are perfect & the clear is perfect.. without fish eyes runs, ect... + he uses the top euro. paint that will stand the test of time.. big differences in paint material quality..

I have not seen the skater paint btw..but im sure its nice as well..

(ok send my ck Dean lol)
Jeff
www.jeffsautobodyshop.com

there are many extremely talanted painters out there...Price is always a deciding factor. I like the guy that can design their graphics and paint as well. I feel Visual Imagination does the best job at the moment. Mark's finish and small details is one of the best in the industry.

Very well said.