Airbrush Technique Issue 22

tee shirt with black and shades of gray. We still display some of this style work in our shop.” As more color was introduced to the art form more jars appeared at the artist’s easel. The selection would be black, hot pink, hot yellow and hot blue. The pictures would first be painted using blacks and grays, the artist would then add the colors, mixing them on the shirt to create the desired effect. “For instance”, says John, “to make a purple area you simply shot the blue, hit it with some hot pink, achieving all the colors needed for the design. We could mix as many as eight or ten shades on the shirt.” “The material most airbrush artists were using then”, John says “was Naz-Dar Silk Screen Paint which had to be thinned with mineral spirits and strained. At first mixing, the color selection was very good. The price was around $60 a gallon, and you could cut it at about a four to one ratio. When water-based colors became available, I switched to Aqua Flow paint in about 1979, allowing much more flexibility in the mixing of colors. “My choice of airbrush would be the Paasche VL 3-1—very dependable, easy to work on, and an excellent beginner’s learning brush. The beginner should learn on the brush he or she will use.” John advises the entrepreneur, “When setting up a new airbrush store, keep in mind that after selecting airbrush equipment, find someone to build a painter’s bench, an easel on which to rest your supplies, and several sized boards for holding the objects to be painted. Special boards will be necessary for specialized items, such as hats and auto tags. When setting up for your color bottles, give some thought to Paasche’s glass jar. It can be set on a shelf with your brush still attached to it, as opposed to the plastic bottle which requires a board with holes into which to set each color. I have used Paasche glass bottles all my 51 years. On my 50th birthday, my son gave me a 24 carat gold Paasche VL 3-1 airbrush.” John has always personally trained his staff, “I prefer to train someone who has never used the airbrush before, all of my painters came with no experience and were trained by me. I would have them try airbrush exercises demonstrated in the instruction booklet that came with the brush (Paasche). Once they could draw a steady line we were on our way. I had them work with stencils. Everyone learns at a different rate, and girls had a tendency to learn more quickly. If my painters would work five to six days a week they could usually pick up the skill within six to seven weeks.” All of John’s family has been involved one way or another in the tee shirt business, if not painting then as part of the sales staff. “Besides me, my wife, my son, Eddie Roseboom, and my other son “Doc” Roseboom have all painted in the shop. My grandchildren have dabbled with the airbrush, and all have helped run counter (taking tee shirt orders) at one time or another.” Eddie, however, was born with artistic talent, “as a child he would play with the airbrush in the back room of the store and stepped up in the window booth when he was 8 years old to paint his first shirt for a customer. He stood on a milk case to reach the easel.” Although Eddie still helps out airbrushing “special projects” for his dad he now is an illustrator for children’s book, creates games and catalog layouts and works as a consultant for Bob’s Space Racers. Things have changed over the years in the tee shirt painting arena. “When I started tee shirt painting in 1957, all that I needed was one airbrush and one jar of black color. From this I could create tones from black through to the lightest gray. It was a real challenge yet rewarding when the customer and his friends would praise the work. In a short time, along came the can of spray paint in Day-Glo colors. The Airbrush artists would place the tee shirt on the easel, spray hot yellow across the center, followed by hot blue at the top and hot pink at the bottom. Overlapping the spray would create a shirt full of colors. Next the design would be drawn over the color, allowing the colors to fall where they may. My personal favorite then and now is a white Pictured above one of the Passche airbrushes John still use’s today that he purchased in 1950’s.

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Airbrush Technique Issue 22

Airbrush Technique Issue 22 Danyell Butler Lee Diaz C.S. Bailey Big Daddy John Roseboom - An Icon in Airbrush History Patrick Charuel Helmet Trim Natalie Lapelosa - How to Airbrush Hellboy on a T Shirt by Xzotic Ink Ashley Brayson

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