Airbrushing......

[nnickusa]

Thought I would make a new topic for this part of my efforts. I watched the video of the airbrush "True Flames" again this morning and had a shot at my test board....MDF painted with a can on black spray paint I had laying around.....Will need to rub back with steel wool or something to get better adhesion from the air brush paints, but I'm encouraged...

I traced the outline of the SG onto the board, and quickly realised that the flames I was painting(?) were too big for the body, but I can adjust that as I go. I'm trying to get the technique down this time around.....

Pix show the first rough sketch, a coat of trans fuschia on top, and a few tries at getting "hot" or yellowish flames marked. Only spent 15 minutes today, but will have another go tomorrow....main issue at the mo' is the water-based airbrush paint pulling off the sprayed black. Steel wool, and we'll see...

airbrush 001 (Medium).JPG (99.93 KiB) Viewed 14816 times

airbrush 002 (Medium).JPG (98.68 KiB) Viewed 14816 times

airbrush 003 (Medium).JPG (98.65 KiB) Viewed 14816 times

airbrush 004 (Medium).JPG (114 KiB) Viewed 14816 times

airbrush 005 (Medium).JPG (105.69 KiB) Viewed 14816 times

[Nick]

Cool Thanks for posting Nick, I'll be watching this post with interest. I've got a double action airbrush I bought years ago with the intention of learning the craft but so far it's only been used for applying fine bursts to the edge of things when I don't want a huge depth to the burst.

[Jeremy D]

Very cool...

[matthew]

I think its really cool how you've managed to avoid getting any overspray on the golden silk cushions ...

[nnickusa]

I do value my life......

[nnickusa]

Didn't like my first try when I looked at it this morning, so I painted over black and had another go. Coming up better. I think I'll have a fair few more trial runs before hitting the guitar...

Order of pix is rough outlines with a dark fuschia, same with transparent deep red, another go with deep red paint, and then transparent orange....

Tomorrow, I'll try to define more with the lighter colours.....I hope you can see in the pix, the changes are subtle, but more visible in person....

airbrush 003 (Medium).JPG (73.32 KiB) Viewed 14679 times

airbrush 005 (Medium).JPG (85.83 KiB) Viewed 14679 times

airbrush 007 (Medium).JPG (82.6 KiB) Viewed 14679 times

airbrush 010 (Medium).JPG (88.92 KiB) Viewed 14679 times

EDIT: The pix don't show it up too well, it's looking a bit more like "ghost" flames at the moment, but the lighter colours ought to define it more....Evidently it's all about the layers and painting from back to front

[Gizmo]

Evidently it's all about the layers and painting from back to front

Don't have any airbrush experience, but I think you are on the right track.
When I worked as a gilder we did marbling and ebonising as well. To get a lustrous dark finish we would start with a light colour and glaze over it with tinted clear glazes. This gives depth to the finish because light is reflected from the background. Full coats of clear between each flame colour might help to give you some of that depth.

Nik

[nnickusa]

Thanks Gizmo. The DVD I got with the stencils suggests using transparent colours between the base coats, which is meant to provide that effect....

This morning, I had an hour to try a bit more.....

So I,
1. laid down another coat of flames in a lighter orange.
2. coated those with transparent light orange.

airbrush 002 (Medium).JPG (71.2 KiB) Viewed 14589 times

3. went more flames with light yellow.

airbrush 004 (Medium).JPG (85.61 KiB) Viewed 14589 times

4. coated those with transparent yellow.

airbrush 007 (Medium).JPG (81.43 KiB) Viewed 14589 times

5. mixed white and yellow and added the "hot spot" highlights.
6. took a little transparent purple and tried to deepen the background and brighten the highlights.

airbrush 012 (Medium).JPG (89.67 KiB) Viewed 14589 times

At the end of it all, the yellow has actually gone a bit green, so I'll need to try a bit of the purple over the yellow to see if that was it. Orange and yellow should just give me a lighter orange, so I suspect the purple.

I am, however, encouraged. I feel like I'm learning to use the double action gun better. It's all about controlling the amount of paint coming out, and my hand is getting steadier as I progress.

Anyway, see what you all think...

[Nick]

I'll see if I can track the clip down on Youtube but there was this old character that had obviously been doing flames for years & they showed you him freehanding these flames on a bonnet, when he'd finished you almost ran for the bucket to put the damn thing out! Could have sworn they were real.
Looking good so far Nick, that first pic "airbrush 002" looks pretty realistic just not quite 'hot' enough

[nnickusa]

Thanks Nick. I agree, it was all going pretty well, but I think I may have overdone the yellow, and definitely used too much for the "hotspot" highlighting....

I am happy that I get the feeling of "Depth." Almost a 3-D effect as the layers are building.

Tomorrow, I'll spray the back of the board with the black lacquer and see how that works. I also have the clear, so I may try the other advice to clear between colours and see what happens then.

The DVD I have gives a quite different result, but, flames have always been somewhat stylised, so I'll just keep playing around and see where I end up.

I did notice that the paints I'm using as solids are labelled "INK", so they may be too translucent to get what I'm looking for. I'll visit the airbrush megastore for some solid colours, I think....

[Nick]

The old codger I was trying to think of wasn't an old codger at all! It's a guy called Mike Lavallee who they profess to be the "king of flames". Here's one of his realistic flame jobs



He also does the blue style flames & is fairly handy with an airbrush full stop! There's a few clips of him on youtube (which includes the one I first saw him on doing flames for the "overhaulin' " TV series) doing flames but they aren't very instructive, he does however do a DVD which he sells from the Killer Paint website but just so happens they're all out at the moment!

[nnickusa]

That's the DVD I've got. My gut instinct is that it takes more practise than I actually have time for, and he reckons that LOTS of PRACTISE is needed. Some of his work is amazing......

Hard to put all of that paint job in a 1 1/2 hour Video, but the flames on that truck are KILLER....

[Nick]

Yeah sorry about that Nick, I just went back & re read your original post & saw you were following the True Flames DVD Old age is a bastard at times!

Geez, getting myself into all sorts of crap here! Turns out the truck was done by a guy (who's web address is on the pic) who used & followed Mike Lavallee's teachings & methods to create the truck.