Basic Airbrush Painting Techniques

— BASIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CREATIVE AIRBRUSHING i JUDY MARTIN^^ y^MHjV^ P^lvx^ p^ci^^J^J /mC\*aJ* i /tl»CCCLl\ TTll l Atecc V!^^^ l^/ J Vuomy fei 1?>'^I — 1 ,— BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY BASIC AIRBRUSH TECHNIQUES PAINTING * m. 9 ~~W s J * •v If \M BASIC AIRBRUSH TECHNIQUES PAINTING A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CREATIVE AIRBRUSHING JUDY MARTIN NORTH LIGHT BOOKS CINCINNATI. OHIO BRIGHTON published in 1994 by HarperCollins Publishers First London First published in the United States by North Light Books. F&W Publications. Inc. 1507 Dana Avenue. Cincinnati. -800-289-0963 Ohio 45207 | © I 1 Nigel Osborne. 1994 Designed and produced by Nigel Osborne All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, m ec ca p h ot ocopy n g. recording without the prior written permission of the publishers h a n i I. i or otherwise, ISBN 0-89 34-585-X I Produced by HarperCollins Hong Kong Contents NTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE CHOOSING AN AIRBRUSH How CHAPTER TWO 6 8 the airbrush works • Air sources GETTING TO KNOW YOUR AIRBRUSH 18 Basic technique • Freehand spraying • Graded tones and colours • Project Animal sketches • Line and wash • The principles of masking • Proiect Landscape CHAPTER THREE AIRBRUSH PAINTING 38 Cut and torn paper • Found objects and materials • Proiect Cloudy skies stencils • Proiect Still life • Masking fluid • Project Flower garden • Adhesive tapes and labels • Proiect Rose • Masking dome • trellis CHAPTER FOUR • Hand-made film • Project Pavilion Proiect Pineapple SURFACE EFFECTS 76 Highlighting • Light and shadow • Texture and depth • Textured and coloured grounds CHAPTER FIVE GRAPHIC AND 3-D PROJECTS 86 Graphic styling • Stencilled lampshade • Fabric painting • Cafe poster • Decorating plastics and ceramics • Colouring a model CHAPTER SIX CORRECTION AND RETOUCHING 08 Correcting with a patch • Handtinting photographs • Photomontage CHAPTER SEVEN PRACTICAL REFERENCE 8 Media and surfaces • Cleaning and maintenance • Troubleshooting INDEX 26 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION The airbrush was invented by a watercolourist, Charles Burdick, in 1 893, as a tool for laying colour washes. not well received by his fellow painters, It was who disapproved of the idea of a mechanical painting tool, but its potential was quickly discovered by artists practising in other fields. The airbrush became a valuable tool for commercial art forms, photo-retouching and decorative crafts such as ceramic and fabric painting. It became specially associated with graphic art and illustration, and has been represented mainly and in inspirational that context in recent technical books on airbrushing. The