Airbrush with Cars: Tricks and Special Effects.
Hello, there are a lot of airbrush beginners, and this post is exactly for them! Lessons are not mine, I am at first stage, but taken from the book: “Jon Kosmoski Car Aerography: Tricks and special effects”. Perhaps many have already seen this great book, but for me personally it was kind of hard to find it for free download and after many searches I finally found it! I’ll be glad if you like the lessons, and will be happy to write more, and if you still have this book at hand, then just tell me, and I will stop clogging up the community, “banana” posts, as the book was released in 1999!)…
P.S. the quality of the photos, not a shitty one, but still clear enough!)…
…Stone This effect has been popular for many years, known as the “granite” or “stone” effect. It has a dual purpose: as a graphic effect and as a neutral background. Its moderate gray blends well with any other color and is great as a background for multicolor graphics. Neutral gray and silver are important as backgrounds for many designs because of their ability to connect well with individual colors without changing the overall mood of the design. This effect looks great with silver colors, and it also takes on a beautiful shimmering look if you add some pearlescent to the overall colors. In this lesson, I used a white metal flatbed as the canvas – the kind of flatbeds sold for making signs and signs. For your practice, try to find some metal panels painted white, too. I strongly recommend that you look for the same panels for signs in your city and practice on them. First of all, you can varnish them and display them in the shop as examples of your work, and secondly, it’s much safer for your own health to practice on iron sheets than on a client’s car or Harley. (This is known as the 150 Kilogram Harley Owner Rule – “No matter how cool your respirator is, nothing can protect you from such a health hazard.”) …
1. sand the panel with a #600 wet or dry sandpaper. To make a nice frame, tape the edges of the picture with masking tape 5 cm wide. Thanks to the tape, the picture will not come out beyond the edges of the frame. (Then, when you paint on the car, the frame will be part of the masked auto part. You’ll have to mask off most of the car so that the spray paint doesn’t go where it doesn’t need to). Use the same scotch tape to mask off the bottom half of the panel and draw some kinks and cracks with the marker.
Use a sharp utility knife or a scalpel (I use a knife designed specifically for airbrushing – it’s called an “X-Acto”) to cut and remove the areas that need to be painted. When you cut the masks on the machine, be VERY careful not to put too much pressure on the knife, or you will cut through the paint layer on the machine. As a result, the cut spot will corrode after a while, or the paint will simply peel off. Generally speaking, it takes a lot of practice to accurately cut masks.
Using a mixture of black and white urethane base paint (Basecoat), cover the panel with a light gray color. House of Kolor (HoK) BC 25 and 26 are well suited for this purpose – they penetrate the surface structure perfectly and do not rub off during further work. Using solvent-based urethane paints is also a good way to avoid unwanted reactions in the coating. I spray a light gray color on the panel with an Iwata Eclipse airbrush with a bottom feed of paint. To give the stone a more natural look, don’t try to coat the surface as evenly as possible, let the stripes be visible in different intensities. The stripes should go in the direction of the kinks, showing the direction of the structure of the stone.
And now with the same airbrush paint, let’s do a little trick that I borrowed from Terry Hill (a famous American airbrush painter who paints T-shirts). This trick will give the stone a grainy texture. Take half of a wooden clothespin (or just a small flat stick). Place it under the airbrush nozzle so that it protrudes slightly forward (see photo). Now when spraying, the paint will accumulate at the tip of the clothespin, and small droplets will splatter, creating a grainy effect.
5. When the surface is grayed out, change the color in the airbrush to a black base color. In general, it’s a good idea to practice splattering on a piece of paper first so that you don’t ruin your work. Try changing the angle between the wand and the airbrush nozzle – that way you can change not only the number of droplets, but also their size. Be careful at this stage and don’t get too carried away with spraying black: the stone will darken very quickly.
6. Change the color to a white base color and add the finishing touches to your texture in the form of splashes. You don’t need too much white to create a good stone effect, so always remember the golden rule of airbrushing: “The quieter you ride, the farther you’ll be.” (Here: English “Less is more” – literally “Less is more”). If you are not very good at splashing – do not despair – there are several other ways to create this effect. For example, you can lower the pressure until the airbrush begins to “sputter”. In the top-fed airbrush models, you can move the lever back and forth without pushing down (without airflow) – the needle will be loaded with paint, and when you push the lever down with air, you will get a good splash. If that doesn’t work either, don’t forget the good old-fashioned way of spritzing with a toothbrush.
7. Now let’s draw cracks and fractures on the stone. Here we need a highly diluted black color and Iwata HP-C airbrush. A weak transparent black color can be obtained by heavily diluting the black base paint in the ratio of 1:1 (1 part paint : 1 part thinner). With this liquid black color, sketch cracks, pebbles and breaks. Even if you do make a mistake, the transparent black will not overlap the texture of the stone. Nothing kills a good “stone” texture as quickly as too much opaque color on top of it. Working with a transparent color will give more depth to the pattern once you’re done and the varnish has come into contact with the paints.
8. Once you are finished with the sketch, continue working by making the cracks darker and applying shadows. (You can already do a little thicker black at this stage). Add water undertones around the stones, giving the drawing an “aged” look. Don’t forget the shadows. Imagine that the light source is located in the upper right corner of the drawing. Always think about the placement of the light source before you start so you don’t make mistakes.
9. Give the stone slab a thickness – draw the broken edges of the stone, using a moving mask, moving it with the airbrush (you can use a regular business card). When you’re done, you can “soften” a little with the airbrush the unnaturally sharp contours that are always left after using masks.
10. When you have finished applying the black color, remove the scotch tape masking the breaks in the stone. Add shadows falling from the stone, keeping in mind where the light source is. This will separate the stone from the background and add a sense of depth to the drawing.
11. Change the color to white, and using a movable mask, draw light highlights and reflections of light on the edges of the stone, along the contours of the cracks. Try to apply white in as thin layers as possible to maintain transparency, Nothing contaminates the work faster than a white opaque color!
12. Continue to paint white highlights – highlight the edges of the slab, cracks, pebbles, also add some “hot spots” – although they do not exist in nature, they nevertheless create a very nice effect and make the stones protrude even more.
13. The last step is to varnish and polish. It remains to be noted that our pattern may need a few extra coats of varnish due to the fact that the surface has become uneven because of the many splashes of varying magnitude. Therefore, you should not make too heavy and large splashes, otherwise you will spend extra money on additional coats of varnish later.
… Materials and equipment
Sandpaper #600 dry/wet 5cm masking tape 3M clothespin Marker Knife X-Acto Hose of Color (HoK) Basecoat Black Urethane BC-25 (black primer) HoK Basecoat White Urethane BC-26 (white primer) Hok Basecoat Reducer RU-311 (thinner) Iwata HP-C with top paint feed Iwata Eclipse with bottom paint feed Iwata Micron-C … Thank you all! )…
Airbrush Lessons for Beginners. Part 1
This article will help you learn the basics of airbrushing
With practice and skill, anyone with good hand-eye coordination can use an airbrush to paint. Using pre-made stencils, even a beginner can enjoy the results. Practice and learning opens up unlimited fun in using the airbrush. Almost any paint will do for painting with this device. The size of the nozzle should be chosen taking into account the fluidity of the paint. Remember that the less fluid paint is, the more pressure is needed for good atomization. To get a full feel for airbrush capabilities, use templates, stencils, and just try painting by hand. Be sure to keep your tool in good condition and always remember to clean the airbrush.
Airbrush care
It is not unreasonable to study the instructions that come with your airbrush. Always clean the airbrush after use, even if you leave it idle for a short time, it should be clean. You should blow clean water (in case of water-soluble paint) or solvent (in case of acrylic paint) through the nozzle. However, in spite of all the warnings, there will be times in the job when dried paint will interfere with the free spraying of fresh paint. In such cases, it is not enough to blow solvent through the airbrush. You have to take it apart and rinse everything thoroughly. Again for this it is better to study included instructions.
Operating the airbrush
There are three basic movements that you need to learn to perform easily and accurately. These are the basics for the beginner.
- Hold the airbrush so that the tip of your index finger is on the lever that will control the air and paint flow. Then push it in to get the air flowing.
- If you are using a Double Action airbrush, pushing harder on the lever will start the paint spraying.
- For Single Action airbrushes, you adjust the paint flow with a separate lever.
- Try moving your hand with the airbrush up and down (vertical) and left and right (horizontal).
Airbrush operation
The width of the pattern sprayed with the airbrush depends on the distance of the nozzle from the surface you are painting on. Therefore, to form a medium thickness of spray, move the airbrush away from the surface by 10-15 cm. Shape the spraying gradually. If you spray too hard, it may drip. For a fine line, bring the airbrush close to the surface, approximately 1-1.5 cm. To form a thin line, spray a small amount of paint.
Draw a number of 1.5 cm squares on the paper with a pencil. It is necessary to make something like a grid. Then, holding the airbrush at a distance of 1-1.5 cm, spray small dots at the intersection of the lines. When you are able to accurately put dots exactly on the intersection of the lines, increase the distance from the surface and also increase the intensity of the spray paint. Next, make the dots even larger. You should get something like this
If you hold the airbrush too close to the surface of the drawing and make the paint flow full, the paint will splatter. Practice accuracy, not speed. Speed comes with experience. You must learn to spray a neat spot of the right size in the right place. This simple exercise will give you a basic skill in airbrushing and allow you to get involved in learning.
The next exercise will allow you to draw straight lines without forming dots at the beginning and end of the line. Learn to work with a relaxed hand and a slight movement of the wrist. Move your hand with the airbrush from left to right without spraying the paint. Start spraying paint at the beginning of the line, stop spraying at the end of the line, but continue moving your hand without spraying paint. Increase the length of the line until you get an even straight line, long or short, with ease.
Parallel lines, varying their thickness from thin to thick. It is realized by gradually increasing the intensity of the paint flow and the distance from the surface. Also, to avoid leaving a dot at the end of the line, keep moving your hand after you remove the paint flow. Practice controlling the intensity of the spray every day until you get the hang of it and don’t concentrate too hard on it.
Draw a grid with a pencil as described above. Spray dots as small as possible at the intersection of the lines. Connect the dots with straight lines of equal thickness, as shown in the illustration. Repeat several times until you can connect the dots without imperfections. If you can do these exercises very well, it will already be a good basic level of airbrush skills. If you keep practicing, you will develop the skill of airbrush painting, producing blurry and crisp contrasts in color or in black and white drawings.
Working with a relaxed hand and wrist, moving your hand from left to right and right to left, you can achieve shaded tones from pale to saturated colors. Clear edges (borders) can be formed with masking tape, stencil. Always start and finish spraying on the masking tape or stencil. This way, the tone will always be even.
In this lesson, we will reproduce several varieties of tones and effects using cutouts on stencil paper. Replicate as much as possible the tone shown in the illustration. Allow the paint to dry, forming the darkest area, before adding more paint to avoid smudges.
