Japanese carmaker Nissan has broken the Guinness World Records title for the largest glow-in-the-dark painting by using the glow-in-the-dark Nissan Leaf to paint a 207.68 square metre self-portrait of the 100-percent electric car.

The painting, depicting the front of a Nissan Leaf, was created by maverick motoring artist, Ian Cook of Popbangcolour. Usually seen working with radio-controlled cars, Ian used the full-size Leaf EV to spread strategically placed pools of glow-in-the-dark paint across the canvas with its tyres to create the image.

The successful attempt was overseen by an official Guinness World Records adjudicator Fortuna Burke and awarded the Guinness World Records title on March 20, 2015.

The painting, which took more than 61 hours to create, has been painted using more than 60 litres of luminous acrylic paint, on a giant PVC coated canvas.

The innovative finish applied to the Nissan Leaf absorbs UV energy and other visible radiation during daylight hours and glows for between eight and 10 hours when the sun goes down; making it the ideal tool for the glow-in-the-dark painting.

Cook comments: “This has been one of the most challenging paintings I’ve ever been asked to create – but it looks fantastic! The full-sized glow-in-the-dark Nissan Leaf is one of the more extraordinary things that I have used as a painting tool.”

The Nissan-backed painting beats the previous record of 164.6 square metres (1771.73 square feet) set by Saint Lucas, in Eindhoven, Netherlands, on January 23, 2014.

Also see: How Nissan became the first carmaker to use Glow-in-the-Dark paint