Airbrush Technique Issue 21

Eagle and American Flag Helmets My name is Paul Shaw and I currently reside in Radcliff, Kentucky. For this article, I will be showing you how to create an Eagle and American Flag design on a Motorcycle Helmet. I used the following supplies: Auto Air paints (Sun Gold and Sepia Transparent and Semi-Opaque Deep Red), E’TAC EFX paints (Red, Blue, Yellow, Magenta and Black), E’TAC Reduce Air, FW Acrylic Artists Ink (Sepia 251), 4H Pencil, Kneaded Eraser, Electric Eraser, Iwata “Stretch mask”, Iwata HP-C Plus, Tack Cloth, paint brush, Xacto Knife and blades. Supplies also used for prepping the Helmet were Red Scotch Brite pads, Masking Tape, Prep-All “Wax and Grease Remover” and Rags. To prep the Helmet I masked off the bottom rubber edge and front vents with masking tape. I scuff the original clear coat with the Scotch Brite Pad, wiped with the Tack Cloth and cleaned with the Prep-All and Rags. Once the helmet was prepped, I covered the entire helmet with Stretch mask. This was my first time using the Stretch mask and as you can see in the photos, I still had problems getting it to lie flat without the “ridges”. Using a 4H pencil I drew the design outline directly on the Stretch mask itself. It took me a few times to get everything positioned exactly the way I wanted it. With the design laid out I’m now to begin cutting out the design. I will be using the original white color of the helmet to my advantage while painting the Stars, Stripes and Eagle itself. Keeping this in mind, I begin by cutting out the blue of the flag with the Xacto knife and a new blade. The Stretchmask will cut very easily with a new Xacto blade, very little pressure is needed. Once the area is cut out I lay down an even base of E’TAC Phthalocyanine Blue. After the blue base is down, I add a few extra layers of blue around the edge of the rips. These extra layers will help me begin adding depth and dimension to the flag since I want it to appear as it is under the white helmet and behind the eagle. At this point I use five drops of blue and add 1 drop of E’TAC Carbon Black. Working in light layers I start shaping the blue of the flag. I leave the high points which will be the center areas of the original blue base and start fading from the white edge inwards. This is also the point were I begin to create the rolled edge in the second star from the right. Next I mix two drops of Carbon Black and two drops of Reduce Air to get a reduced black, this will be my shading mixture. This mixture is then sprayed from the edge inwards covering half of the area I previously did with the 5:1 mix. Now I go back over the entire area with straight blue. This should give the blue the gradual fade I’m looking as I’ll be doing the cast shadows and highlights next. I mix a thinned down E’TAC Plasma White and spray very light layers over the high points in the Blue. I cut out and peel off the Stars and White stripes. With the same reduced black mixture I used earlier I go in and add the drop shadows over the blue and the white stars and stripes at the same time, this should give them uniform shadows. I work with this mixture in layers building up my shadows until the white stripes; stars and blue are complete with the exception of the final highlights.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Airbrush Technique Issue 21

Airbrush Technique Issue 21 Tom Banks John Phillips & Javier Soto Lorin Gipe Patrick Kelly Paul Shaw Easyrider V-Twin Show Airbrush Fitto Kicks Korner RIch Milo John Avila ABT Reader Meet and Greet

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