Printing on Aluminum?

[MJVR1]

So I plan on jumping on the Pico PSU/GTX 1060 bandwagon but I also want to give my system a makeover. I have the wrinkle finish S4 but I want to paint the aluminum bezel. Why don't I just paint it? Well I want to know how feasible it would be to have some art painted on it. Here is what I had in mind
It doesn't have to be super complex, i just would like it to be some sort of low polygon type of art. I'm probably asking for too much but I wanted to see if it was possible.

My current idea is to make a custom vinyl sticker and either put it on the front bezel or the the side panels. This obviously wont look good up close at all but it's a idea I had.
Another one I had was to make another side panel, paint it, and somehow cut air exhaust holes somehow. Or rethink my cooling strategy. Any other ideas ideas or suggestions?

 

[Kmpkt]

CNC a thicker aluminum sheet to have all of the features you want and then paint it? Basically what you're planning, but in actually textured 3D.

 

[CXH4]

So I plan on jumping on the Pico PSU/GTX 1060 bandwagon but I also want to give my system a makeover. I have the wrinkle finish S4 but I want to paint the aluminum bezel. Why don't I just paint it? Well I want to know how feasible it would be to have some art painted on it. Here is what I had in mind
It doesn't have to be super complex, i just would like it to be some sort of low polygon type of art. I'm probably asking for too much but I wanted to see if it was possible.

My current idea is to make a custom vinyl sticker and either put it on the front bezel or the the side panels. This obviously wont look good up close at all but it's a idea I had.
Another one I had was to make another side panel, paint it, and somehow cut air exhaust holes somehow. Or rethink my cooling strategy. Any other ideas ideas or suggestions?

It would be really awesome if you could pull that off. I'd love to see it if you do pull that off!

 

[Josh | NFC]

CNC a thicker aluminum sheet to have all of the features you want and then paint it? Basically what you're planning, but in actually textured 3D.

it's pretty thick already--if you can find a CNC with a high enough Z-axis this could be pretty cool! I should give this a shot.

 

[EdZ]

A more permanent but much more involved process would be to anodise in multiple steps: mask off the part, etch, anodise & dye, seal that area, then remask for the next colour section. For the low-poly look you;re going for that would be a lot of discrete stages for all the shades, but as they're mostly shades of differing intensity of the same colour you might be able to do things as one or two stages, byt progressively removing masking and returning the part to the bath (so the areas exposed for longer are a more intense colour).

 

[MJVR1]

You guys are awesome. I'm going to play around with @ilovelampshade idea as it will probably be a lot easier to dye all the different shades of blue. Now it's time to look at custom cables