In the beginning … by Kim Moody
… there were home made paints and cave walls. But over 45,000 years things have changed.
Although invented in 1898, the airbrush didn’ t become popular as an art form until the 1930s. Mixing paint with pressurised air for application to the surface was the trendy new way. Surely one of those fads that would soon fade away …
Nowadays airbrushing is epitomised by the custom vehicle industry. Super realistic designs, flames, and skulls adorn motorcycles and cars. But the airbrush can be used in many painting situations- spray tanning, designer make-up, nail art, as well as canvas paintings, ceramics, faux effects, and just about anywhere that will take a painted finish.
Way back in the 90s( the 1990s, not 1890s!) I was given basic tuition in airbrushing when we had our ceramics studio. David Hoff( Duncan Enterprises, Fresno, CA) taught us to apply realistic animal fur, and other techniques to ceramic ware, but little else.
But these are skills I’ ve neglected since, so I went back to school. I spent two days at the Airbrush Academy in Evesham, on an intensive beginners course with Mick Neill. Mick has been airbrushing for 25 years, he has been a spray painter in the automotive industry for just as long, and is an acclaimed artist in oils and acrylics. His desire to pass on his skills prompted him into creating the Airbrush Academy over five years ago, and now provides the best tuition available in the UK.
Mick is a very down-to-earth and direct Brummy, who is open and free with his knowledge, and will answer any question directly.
Day 1 was the basics. How to hold the airbrush comfortably, so that I didn’ t get aches and pains in my hand, how to mix / thin the paint, and the basic strokes needed to achieve the desired looks.
The only way to get it right is practice.( Ask any one-stroke painter) So we did, and by the end of the day we had produced our first piece- the apple.
Day 2, we recapped on what we learned, and practiced again. This time we gradually put each stroke to use in our elegant eye picture. By lunch we had worked through the techniques a couple of times and were ready for the final piece. wrong … I think we did OK.
Mick took away the drawing paper we had been practicing on and replaced it with a synthetic art paper( Yupo or Polyart). He explained that at £ 7 per sheet we were not expected to get it
Anyway, in my desire to get more knowledge, and hopefully, skill, I’ m going back at the end of June for the Intermediate course. I’ ll let you know what happens.