I know a lot of Forza players have different ways of painting their cars. What do you usually do for your cars in FM7?
I generally stick with the rule, if I have seen it, thats the color it is on Forza. Its a ton of fun flipping through my garage and seeing cars in the same color they were when I actually saw them. My most recent big example was the Ferrari FXXK. Just enjoy the video below 
I tend to paint cars to replicate if I know someone with that car or very close. I will also tune the car to that spec if possible. Otherwise I do what I think looks ok, sometimes silly, sometimes not.
All of mine are painted to match my Lemons car: purple body, black hood to reduce glare, black hood and rims for accents, and #98 decals on the doors/hood.
Split the body in half white top, black bottom, with two diagonal orange lines on the bottom half around the passenger door area. Black hood, white front bumper, white rims, number 5.
It’s been my go to quick livery on forza for awhile. It evolves and changes a bit to fit each car. Older cars will get a vintage livery though. And occasionally with certain cars and series (ie NASCAR and old F1) I’ll paint something completely different.
Something relevant to the brand, trend of the time the car was released, and just add some very discrete accents or details. As long as it looks as if it came that way from the factory. I don’t like loud, crazy and over-the-top nonsense.
Unless I get inspired to do something, I gravitate towards yellow. Sometimes I get inspired to replicate or parody. Sometimes the manufacturer paint has a design I want in a different colour. Sometimes I just want a simple two tone. Sometimes the lines of a car are begging to be accented, and then the vinyl creator won’t let me for various reasons and I give up and just paint it yellow or something.
Look at the panel gaps & curves of a cars body, sometimes there is a livery template just waiting to be discovered.
Yup.
A lot of the time, red, to match the only brake colour available throughout 10 games!
I tint all my windows black, 85% of the time I paint the wheels black, but some look better with brass/copper colored wheels.
As far as body color, I just cycle through them until I see what I think looks good an any particular car. For Decals/Graphics, I just start trying different things, and again, see what looks good to me. Occasionally while I am racing I will think of something that would look good, and jump back out to the paint booth and add/change it.
Road cars generally stay as a manufacturer colour, race cars I’ll usually leave the stock livery unless I’m racing online then I’ll do my best to make a replica of a real livery but with my 'tag and race number in place of the real drivers name and number. Currently working on a 2017 Porsche 911 RSR livery for my #45 Flying Lizard for a Forza GT championship.
I usually do the carbon fibre colour, matte or glare, rims likewise or opposite (glare, when body matte), windows black and then do some red gradiented decals around the bottom line, front low, rear high. My only look since there are decals 
Was it on FM3 or 4? I don’t know, but there was no option for carbon fibre colour, so I made a decal with it. Was a lot of work
Now way easier…
My designs (loosest sense of the word) usually involve slapping random decals on, random paint colours, depending on what mood I’m in when I decide to paint the car. I’ve been experimenting lately with combinations of black/white/red vinyls of the same type but decreasing in size to give an outline/overlay effect. I don’t get a lot of time to paint elaborately (and I certainly don’t have the talent) so my designs aren’t too complex. I’ve sold a few though, so they can’t be all bad ;0)
Having shifted tens of thousands of liveries over the years, especially when the Auction House existed, I used to do a complete range of NFL Celicas with all 32 teams and many movie tribute cars (Escape From New York, Blade Runner, Fifth Element, Close encounters, Andromeda Strain etc.etc.) I like doing race replicas these days.
However with the current paint booth being so bugged and frankly getting worse game by game I have let my mojo go. Usually my enthusiasm is directly related to my enjoyment of the game and of that there is precious little.
We need more pocket liveries!!!
Always been a fan of your work man, however, you need to work on your rivals times
I like very simple liveries, and I have specific ones that I do for my favorite cars:
Dodge Challenger (vintage or modern): Black gloss with Red stripes and accents
Lancia Delta: bright Orange with Chrome bumpers
Lancia Stratos: Dull Silver with Red Stripes along the sides
Lotus Esprit: White with Dark Gray bumpers and single Red stripe on each side
Lamborghini Jalpa: Brushed Aluminum with Black tinted windows
Chevy Camaro IROC-Z: default White with IROC details
Mazda RX-7: Blue/black two-tone gloss
Sometimes I will do whole designs that complement the lines of the car. Sometimes simple racing stripes.
Way back in maybe the FM4 days I did a lot of cars where I would fade to a darker color towards the bottom of the car on all sides.
Over the years I have noticed a trend where I paint a lot of cars blue. Still do. In fact that’s why I bought a blue car (IRL) recently when getting a new car.
Unless I’m painting for a specific tune, the car is usually a secondary consideration. I will paint an image I like, then find a car to put it on to - possibly the wrong way to go about it.
I probably should have it all planned out but I don’t, plus I might not be able to paint the image I set out to in the first place, so I think if I can at least get that done - I can worry about what car it’s going on later.
I’ve painted on every forza since fm2 - I don’t think stamping a spider on my car and writing Dave on it counted in the first game. I mainly paint fantasy but have dabbled with the odd race replica over the years. All of my favourite cars from the hundreds I’ve been involved in have been collaborations working with other, usually far more talented designers than myself. It’s a real shame that feature has been removed although to be fair I totally understand the reasons behind it - too many unlocked drama’s over the years.
Anyway I digress, what was the question again? It’s my age you see, oh I remember when this was all fields. What did I come in here for anyway?
You’re too modest D 
Couldn’t agree more about the collabs though mate. The BUGGIN’ and Snow White cars that MiMiC organised immediately spring to mind. I was also lucky enough to work with Ollie on an NBT set, Radda & Larx on a tribute to Sir Bobby Robson and GlassmanNZ on a remake of my Liz Taylor Porsche for one of the AH Blowouts… happy days!
It seems we’re very much alike in our approach when it comes to fantasy work. I like that process because it usually results in a completely unique design. Might not be a best seller mind… but that’s never been my motivation anyway. Layouts were always an issue for me right from the start but I’ve made a conscious effort over the years to put a bit more thought into it while I’m choosing my source images. Nowadays I don’t spend so much time searching for a suitable car, in fact I’ll often work on the layout on a couple of motors as I paint my images/custom text etc.
Race designs are a new addition since I came back from my FM5 break. It’s good to keep pushing yourself & try things out of your comfort zone. Having said that, I’m still a Fantasy painter at heart so the Race designs that appeal to me will invariably have an element of fantasy incorporated. I’m not overly stressed about creating exact replicas either - happy to leave that to the pro’s - but i still put as much effort as I can into researching the Racing Teams & their cars’ sponsors.
I have a tendency to go for simple striking designs. Lately, I have a thing for red, white and black, and same as TeamRadicus above, I’m using the same #98 on most of my cars, unless it’s a replica. I don’t really have plans before starting a livery, just some created groups that I paste onto the car and then move about until it looks balanced!
I’m spending less and less time in the paint booth in 7 though. I suspect that, when I finish the career, I’ll be in there more often.