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(September 2010) posted on Wed Aug 25, 2010

Creative Color Studio renders large a cinematic icon.

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By Brent Luther

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Brent Luther is co-owner of Creative Color Studio (formerly Nu-Form Graphics) in Burnsville, MN.

 

Kevin Morgan, from Canton, PA; Tyler Hambrick from Newnan, GA; and Greg Vassar from Burnsville, MN, met at the 2007 Bandit Run, a 30th-anniversary reenactment of the Texarkana-to-Atlanta run with smuggled Coors beer (which was then illegal east of Texas) made by Bo “Bandit” Darville, played by Burt Reynolds, and Cletus “Snowman” Snow, portrayed by Jerry Reed, in Smokey and the Bandit.

At the time, they had no idea of the roles they would play in recreating Snowman’s trailer graphics. They also didn’t envision they would befriend the late Reed’s family and bring them tremendous joy with their work.

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Persistence pays off

Hambrick builds small versions of the Snowman's rig. For his replicas, he used a stagecoach graphic of poor quality from the Smokey sequel. Strangely, the first movie’s stagecoach graphics had never been graphically reproduced. Tyler asked Vassar, a graphic designer, to create a stagecoach graphic like in the original Bandit. After working on the graphic for hours, Vassar tried to tell Hambrick he couldn’t handle the job, but Hambrick and his Vassar’s wife, Jan, insisted he keep trying.

With Adobe Photoshop, Vassar continued perfecting the graphics. He used its "smudge" tool, which smoothed out all the image’s shadows from the trailer ribs. After working for months, he finally finished the graphic. After he talked with Hambrick, Vassar realized he had created a digital-file scale with sufficient resolution to be rendered on a 40-ft.-long trailer. Realizing the file’s possibilities, they decided to restore their own Snowman trailer. Their only obstacles were no money, no truck and no trailer.

Hambrick found a 1971 refrigerated trailer in a field in Newnan, GA. Local businesses helped bankroll the trailer’s restoration, along with Bandit Run members – who, of course, were big fans and made generous monetary donations. When asked if it could be done, we gave the response Snowman gave in the movie: "Well, they said it couldn't be done. Well, that's the reason, son."