Airbrush Strokes and Techniques
By Pointzero Airbrush
No matter what you plan to do with your airbrush cake decorating, t-shirt design, temporary tattoos, auto painting, etc. you’ll need to first learn the basics. This will help you as you create more intricate designs. The basic strokes are essential to creating most designs, and shading and drop shadows helps to create designs with greater depth and dimension. This guide will go over the basics to get you started.
Master the basics first. Then move on to more complex airbrushing techniques to expand your skillset. Shading and adding drop shadows will serve you well as you blend colors and add dimension to your artwork, while adding effects such as stippling to your arsenal will give you greater versatility in the types of images you can create.
Getting Started
If you plan on airbrushing t-shirts, for example, you don’t need to waste a blank t-shirt when you’re just learning or practicing your airbrush techniques. Any blank surface will do, so choose one that is cheap and readily available.
The best surface to use when you’re practicing airbrush painting is newsprint, which is affordably available at most art and craft stores. You could even practice on a piece of cardboard. Before you even start the basic strokes, take a scrap piece of newsprint or cardboard and just doodle with your airbrush. This will help you get the feel for using the airbrush.
If you have an easel to pin your newsprint or cardboard, then you can use that to hold your canvas. If not, you can always improvise. Pin the newsprint/cardboard to a peg board you don’t mind getting dirty, or even tape it to a wall in the garage or basement.
Common Strokes
There are four basic airbrush painting strokes that everybody should practice before they begin: dots, lines, fade lines, and dagger strokes.
Note: The following instructions assume that you are using a dual-action airbrush. If you are using a single-action airbrush, you will pre-set the paint flow and do not need to worry about pulling back on the lever to release the paint.
Before beginning, always prepare your airbrush by loading the first color and setting the regulator to the appropriate pressure level. Check your airbrush for any specifications, but most new users can start at about 30 psi. The pressure you’ll ultimately use will depend on your airbrush painting surface, the paint you use, your air source and airbrush, as well as your design. You’ll get a feel for when to increase and decrease pressure. It just takes a little practice and experience.
Always wear your safety mask or ventilator when you’re airbrushing. It’s not difficult to do and it will help keep the fumes and overspray out of your lungs.
Airbrushing Dots
Position the airbrush about six inches from your newsprint.
Push down on the lever to release air.
Gradually pull back the lever to release paint.
Do not release too much paint. The idea is that you should get a feel for how the paint comes out of the airbrush.
The dot should appear slowly. If you use too much paint, it will begin to drip.
Continue making dots on the newsprint. As you get more comfortable, try making dots quicker by pulling back a little further.
Move the airbrush a little closer to the newsprint to make smaller dots. When you do this, you do not need to release as much paint to get a well-defined dot.
Try making dots across the newsprint until you feel comfortable.
Airbrushing Lines
Position the airbrush a few inches from the newsprint.
Push down on the lever to release air.
Using your whole body (not just your hand), begin moving your airbrush to your right and pull back the lever to release the color.
Be sure to keep the airbrush in motion to create a smooth, even line.
Like you did with the dots, move the airbrush closer to the surface for finer lines, and move it further away for less-defined lines.
Make a few lines until you feel comfortable. Try moving left to right, right to left, up and down, etc.
Try connecting the dots you made earlier.
Airbrushing Fade Lines
Position the airbrush about six inches from your newsprint. Hold it at a 45-degree angle. The angle helps to create a more natural fade.
Push down on the lever to release air.
Using your whole body (not just your hand), begin moving your airbrush to your right and pull back the lever to release the color.
Keep the airbrush in constant motion to create a smooth, even line.
Move your airbrush back just a little bit and make another line right above the one you just made so they are touching. Your new line should be lighter than previous one.
Repeat the last step three or four times to create a fade from bottom to top.
Airbrushing Dagger Strokes
Position the airbrush about six inches from the newsprint.
Push down on the lever to release air.
Using your whole body (not just your hand), begin moving your airbrush to your right and pull back the lever to release the color.
As you move from left to right, move your airbrush closer to the surface so that you’re left with a finer line as you move to the right.
At the same time, push the trigger forward gradually to use less color as you move your airbrush closer to the surface.
Your line should begin wider on one side and then end in a point at the other.
Practice, practice, practice.
Shading with Your Airbrush
Practice your shading skills by using basic shapes like the sphere. When creating a sphere, the color fades from dark to light in a circular motion to give it dimension. Use newsprint or a piece of scrap paper to practice.
Use a jar lid to draw a circle on a piece of paper.
Cut out the circle using a sharp utility knife.
Place the negative stencil (paper with hole cut out) on your surface and tape the four corners to keep the stencil from moving. You might also use weights or sticky tack to hold it down if you are worried about tearing your surface when removing the tape.
Figure out from where you want to light source to hit the sphere. For our example, the light will hit the sphere from the top.
First spray around the edges, going darker on the bottom of the sphere (furthest from the light) and getting lighter as you move towards the upper part of the sphere (where the light is coming from). This doesn’t mean that you should completely turn off the airbrush at the top, however.
Start moving inwards, continuing to move in a smooth, curving motion that follows the contours of the sphere and easing up on the color near the top. Remember where the light is hitting the sphere.
When finished, the sphere should fade from darker on the bottom to lighter near the top where the light hits it.
Drop Shadows
A drop shadow can give depth to any design, and with proper airbrushing technique, they’re very easy to create. Using a stencil results in a more defined drop shadow than freehanding it, which typically appears more faded. Either works well, so it’s up to you to decide which works best for your design.
Without Stencils
Most add drop shadows without the use of stencils. Add drop shadows freehand by lightly spraying a black or another color next to the edges of your design. Hold the airbrush a bit farther back to create a less-defined line, but be careful not to hold it too far back or you’ll get a lot of overspray that can ruin the design. How far you hold the airbrush back will determine definition in your line, which is a personal preference. Add a drop shadow to flames, lettering, shapes, or any design you create.
With Stencils
The positive stencil is the part of the stencil you cut out, and the negative is the material with the design cut out of it. Refer to the following steps to create a stencil drop shadow. For our example we’ll create a red ball with a drop shadow, but you can use this technique to apply a drop shadow to just about anything.
Trace a jar lid onto a piece of paper to create an even circle. You have a few options for making stencils, but since we’re just practicing, go ahead and just cut the circle out of the paper using a sharp X-Acto knife. (You could also fold a paper in two and cut out half a circle.)
Save both the positive stencil and the negative stencil.
Prepare your airbrush by loading your first color (black to create the shadow) and setting the regulator to the appropriate pressure level.
Position the negative stencil on your surface. Attach it to your surface with tape or tack.
Position the positive stencil on the surface offset a little bit from the negative stencil so there’s a small opening.
Spray the small opening with black, using the tip of your finger nail to hold the stencils in place. This creates the drop shadow.
Remove both stencils to check out your work. Then place the negative stencil so its edge covers the shadow, and spray your red color.
While shading with the red, shade the ball so the darker side is the one closer to the drop shadow. Spray in a curved motion, letting up on the paint as you approach the light area of the ball. (Remember our tutorial on shading? We used a sphere. Same idea.) Lightly spray black on the shadow side of the ball to give it added dimension.
Remove the negative stencil and you have a red ball with a drop shadow.
Stippling
Stippling creates very small dots for a unique effect. It can add a degree of realism to your artwork, and it’s relatively easy to do. You’ll need an object such as a popsicle stick, pencil, small piece of cardstock, or a clothes pin. The paint will bounce off of the object and onto your canvas, creating the stippling effect.
Hold the nozzle of the airbrush on the end of your object at an angle so the paint will bounce off of it.
Release the paint and you’ll see the paint stipple onto the canvas.
Adjust the distance from the end of the object or the angle at which the paint hits your object to increase or decrease the fineness of your atomization.
Try holding the airbrush at different angles and at varying distances from the end of the object to get a feel for what you can do with this effect.
The 8th annual West Main Arts Festival was back and bigger than ever from noon to 7 p.m. Sept. 14, 2024!
Picture this: a vibrant four-block street scene filled with thousands of visitors, 75 artist and maker booths, 20 food trucks, 20 local bands, a beer/wine garden, and street performers. Plus, the Arlington Public Library will host an interactive kids' area in Gene Allen Pocket Park.
This lively stretch of West Main and the Cultural District includes Dance Theater Arlington, Boys & Girls Club, Theater Arlington, Wellspring, High Grind, Worthington Bank, Arlington Fire Station No. 1, Arlington Public Library, Catalyst Creative, City Hall, F6 Gallery, and the Levitt Pavilion.
Music lovers, rejoice! From Noon to 10 p.m., enjoy free, live music across three stages featuring 20 local bands and buskers playing along West Main Street. After the festival, head over to the Levitt for more live music from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Don’t forget your lawn chairs to relax and soak in the tunes. It’s a family-friendly event, and pets are welcome too!
This festival was created nine years ago by Arlington residents to celebrate and support local artists and musicians. Now more than ever, we need our community's support to keep our creative space thriving.
Our vision is to foster an engaged and diverse community where passionate people love to Live, Work, and Create.
Got questions? Feel free to contact Mark Joeckel at mjoeckel@createarlington.com
ART BY JERRY LYNN
About
Jerry was born and raised in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee. He received early success and recognition with the collaborative art he created with his brother under the moniker “Twin”. His art is in the collections of celebrities, business leaders, and notable people such as Bob Johnson, Kem, Alonzo Morning and Isaiah Thomas to name a few. His current practice involves taking black figures from the past and present and immortalizing them on canvas in an refreshing way. His art was recently selected for the upcoming exhibit “Red Clay Suvey” at the Huntsville Musuem of Art, Alabama.
For inquiries please email artbyjerrylynn@yahoo.com
Or call (214) 317-5138
Gallery Representation:
https://www.davidluskgallery.com/artists/jerry.lynn
https://eandsgallery.com/product-category/twin/
https://mackeytwinsartgallery.com/artists/
http://www.stellajonesgallery.com
https://artcloud.com/artist/jerry-lynn-i
https://www.reddoorgalleryonline.com/artistgallery/project-three-k5nz2-e8ras-826es-e2dfsp2p87-aa979
Background of Airbrush Dojo and where are we going to do forward
Mission
AIRBRUSH DOJO creates opportunities for sharing powerful arts learning strategies for addressing the gaps in equity and access for high achievement within urban schools.
Vision
AIRBRUSH DOJO will be Engaging the Artist in Every Child, based on the expectation that every student is a talented learner who brings their individual gifts to the artistic and academic process.
Airbrush dojo direct approach applied to its work with schools reflects the connection of two urban education approaches: Arts for Impact and The Pedagogy of Confidence. Core beliefs that drive the Network’s arts and pedagogy approach are:
o All students have the capacity to create, and are capable of further developing their creative intelligence through engagement in the arts. Through high quality arts learning students become more adaptive and flexible, intellectually, socially, physically, emotionally, and creatively.
o Intensive arts learning serves as a strategy for mediating underdeveloped skills by affirming cultural frames of reference, which accelerates learning.
o Effective outcomes in the arts are predicated on excellent teaching.
o Based on research in cognitive development and neuroscience, The Pedagogy of Confidence changes belief systems about the achievement capacity of urban adolescent students and provides educators with proven hands-on strategies for reaching the highest levels of performance.
o Connecting the Arts for Impact and The Pedagogy of Confidence approaches creates a positive culture for educational change and enhances learning outcomes in the arts classroom and throughout the school.
We believe in the value of building a National Network of individuals who support this vision in order to create a critical mass of leaders who can support and implement arts learning strategies and move to close the gaps in equity, opportunity and achievement in urban schools. The purpose of this national Network is:
o To create a network of individuals and organizations who support in-depth arts education as a powerful pathway for moving urban adolescents from potential to high intellectual and creative performances.
o To serve as a clearinghouse for arts learning strategies that enhance high levels of artistry and intellectual mastery.
o To provide classroom teachers, arts educators, administrators and teaching artists with professional development that results in building their understanding and capacity for using both the Arts for Impact and Pedagogy of Confidence as approaches for ensuring that students are engaged in learning and reach high level performance standards and learning outcomes.
o To share Network core strategies and gather effective arts learning practices nationwide and communicate them on-line and on-site to Network participants.
Contact Us:
Danny Rowland, Executive Director for Airbrush Dojo, with collaboration with CKOF Roy Kimble, Executive Director. Email: airbrushdojo@gmail.com
High-quality arts education is absolutely critical to providing all students with a world-class education. The study of the arts can significantly boost student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and increase the odds that students will go on to graduate from college. Arts education is also essential to stimulating the creativity and innovation that will prove critical to young Americans competing in a knowledge-based, global economy.
And the arts are valuable for their own sake. They empower students to create and appreciate aesthetic works. Creating by doing is a powerful way to learn. Our nation’s students need a wellrounded education to succeed in the 21st century–and that should include engagement with (the)… arts. It is deeply disturbing that all students do not have access to arts education today.
A considerable body of research suggests that disadvantaged students especially benefit from high-quality arts education. The arts opportunity gap is widest for children in high-poverty schools. This is absolutely an equity issue and a civil rights issue. (Excerpts from prepared remarks by U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the release of “Arts Education in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools: 2009-10” (FRSS Report), Washington, DC, April 2, 2012)
