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ARTIST Paul
BUTVILA
ISSUE 46

Jeroen Van Neijhof

Completely Bonkers
Painting Step by Step
Part 1

Jeff “JT” Simon Tiger

Mural Step By Step

LEARN HOW TO PAINT THIS PIN UP

Ergum Yasar Trucker

Hat Step By Step Rick Primeau Polishing Andras Bathory Artist
Clear Coat Profile
 ISSUE 46
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Ergun Yasar trucker hat Step Rick Primeau polishing

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Mike by Brian McCaffery

1
 Step by Step “Noah” Custom Trucker Hat
Ergun Yasar also known as “Jadier” has been in the Airbrush Industry for over 20
years. He owns and operates Airbrush Tatts‘n’Caps and specializes in the Art of
Custom Airbrush Caps, Shoes, Tees and Airbrush Temporary Tattoos. Based in
Sydney, Australia you can follow us through our web page:
www.airbrushtattsncaps.com or via facebook www.facebook.com/AirbrushCaps
or on Instagram JADIERONE

Step 1
Find the surface preference you
desire to airbrush, mine being a
trucker hat. I then tape the seem
of the hat as this stops any un-
wanted overspray from hitting
the mesh part of the hat at the
back.
Step 2
The next step is simple, I base the hat
with “Createx opaque sky blue”, and
then I switch to my next colour this
being “Createx pearl turquoise” and
blend that over the sky blue. Having
done this I remove the masking tape.
Step 3
This next step is to stylize some
lettering across the face of the
hat. The name the client chose
was “Noah” and wanted it to be
funky.

Step 4
Now for the next part I simply add my blocking in and then fill in the gaps
with “Createx wicked black”.

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Step 5
Now here I use free-hand tem-
plates, I spread it out onto the
design and try to fit it in places
I feel best, (go with your con-
science.) The colour’s used was
‘Createx transparent blue” with a
little light shading with black.
Step 6
To make my lettering pop! I out-
line the entire name with “Createx
wicked white’ then the next step
Step 7 Finished
Now here is the final product
would be to highlight the inside of
completed and ready to move
the name with wicked white.
on to my next order.
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 POLISHING CLEAR COAT
Here are some sand scratches that are swelled up
and causing the light to reflect a different angles, You
will need a good set up of lights for this project due
to the fact that you are looking for perfect reflection
not the look of the color or anything else.. that will
come with reflection. On this area we are going to
use a hard block so the sand paper will not follow the
lines of the scratches, a soft block will have the ten-
4
These are the products I will be using for this how to.
I use a hard and a soft block sanding blocks, some
1500 grit wet dry sandpaper, a wool pad, a foam pad,
polishes and a squeegee.
dency to follow the imperfections and orange peel.
There are a ton of manufactures that make blocks I
just use what the shop has laying around, most of
the time it is the 3M blue and black block, but I also
like Soft Sanders blocks. I use a squeegee a lot to see
if the scratches are out, this drys off the panel faster
and lets you see how much more is needed to sand.
When you sand you want to use ample water and a
couple of drops of soap. I like using a spray bottle so
I don’t keep using the same water if there is a piece
of dirt in it, you use the soap for a lubrication and
listen for the sound of sanding, if you hear a little
noise that sounds a little different then spray with
water and clean off the sandpaper. This means you
have a piece of dirt on it or contamination. While
you are sanding, remember you are shaping, not
sanding. You are changing the shape of the body so
don’t just sand in one spot and always sand in an x
style pattern. If you are sanding and polishing next
to a body line make sure you use a little tape to pro-
tect the sharp edges. Clear naturally rolls off these
peaks and makes it to where there is less material
on them than anywhere else, and usually there is no
imperfections on these edges.. I will tape up door
edges as the panels will sometimes roll outwards on
the edges and cause a high spot that usually will not
get sanded down in the prep stages so this is a com-
mon area of sand through.. I will pull the tape off
right before the last stage of polishing. As we sand,
you can see the scratches show up much better now,
the dull is the area that needs to be sanded, remem-
ber you are shaping, you have to take the high area
all down to the low area.. you are not sanding out
the scratches, you are sanding the surrounding area
down to the lowest spot of the scratch. This is why
they have guild coats while doing bodywork, there is
a graphite for wet sanding also, but if you have good
lighting you should not need it. As our eyes get older
it may come into play the graphite can be used wet
or dry.
As you can see some of the scratches
are getting less and the orange peel,
which is the little dots of shinny you
see will also disappear as you sand.
We are almost done with sanding, we
only have a couple of areas left. If the
painter did not put enough clear on,
we would have to get to a point and
either live with the imperfections or
re-clear the panel. We were lucky on
this job as the painter put enough
clear on to sand them out. I will do
an extra coat of clear just for color
sanding and polishing.
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When you polish you want to make sure you hold the
buffer at a slight angle to the panel, this will cause the
polisher to walk towards that direction. You go back
towards the other direction you will walk the buffer
towards the other side and it will walk on its own
towards that direction. Do not want to hold the buf-
fer at an extreme angle as this can cause more swirl
marks and burn through the clear quickly. There are
a lot of great compounds on the market for this job
I am using the Mothers professional line rubbing
compound and a wool pad and as you can see it is
pulling out the 1500 scratches great! Now while I’m
compounding I’m making sure that the scratches are
all gone, if I see them a little I do not try and polish
them out sand that area again and then polish.

After this stage we go in with a waterless wash and clean

the surface using a micro fiber towel followed with a foam
waffle pad and the foam pad glaze. This stage is to get rid
of the cutting marks that the polisher has put in, they look
like a hologram look in the sunlight. This stage is not a
very noticeable difference in the shop lighting you can see
it get a little darker and the pearls appear a little more but
the difference is out in the sun.

This is a piece of dirt that is under the base, this is not a fisheye and
this has a noticeable bump in the center, a fish eye is a crater all the
way down to the base, or even primer. This is typical in areas like
the firewall, door jambs and other areas that are hard to clean and
get all of the area around it clean to where as you paint you get dirt
blowing up onto the surface.

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 And as we start sanding you will see it show up better, keep on sanding
until you do not see it anymore. Then add a little polish and start your
polishing, on this little area we are using a little air polisher and a 3 inch
polishing wool pad.

I hope that you have learned something from this how to should
you have any questions please ask away on my facebook page or
by e-mail info@primocustoms.com and I will get back to you
as soon as I can. Remember to check reflection often and always
smile in it.

Rick Primeau from Primo Customs has been custom painting

and airbrushing from the day he was 14 years old. He started
airbrushing because all of his friends were getting airbrushed
back windows and his father worked at a title house where the
artist used World airbrushes. So his father brought home an airbrush and Rick took to it the very next day.
After a while he started airbrushing for all of his friends. Rick was so busy that and his wife Chris started
Primo Customs. Rick paints everything from T-shirts to complete restorations, no job is to small.. Rick has
been seen on “Rides”, “Overhaulin” and Entertainment tonight. He has painted with Chip Foose, Bill Carter,
and Christopher Titus. Now Rick is working with a couple of Hot Rod shops running the paint department
and teaching airbrushing to students all over the world via Skype and SpreeCast..

7
 What drives you to be an artist?
To become an artist was a natural path for me, from
my early school years I scribbled images on anything
and everything. Later all the jobs I had come in the of
visual arts fields. I was working in the film industry than I
My love for the visual arts started at a very early age, worked as a graphic designer. I changed only the tech-
it was a great pleasure in my childhood which luck- nology and tools from job to job. Self expression, cre-
ily has developed into a career as an adult. I became ativity was all the time the base from which my career
involved in shooting short movies with friends which has grown.
lead to receiving awards at international film festivals
for one of my short films. At 16 those awards really
motivated me to get more involved in the film indus-
try. In 1990 I started working in TV and film production
as a cinematographer here in Hungary which eventually
evolved into learning classical film cutting and digital
editing. During this same time period I designed movie
posters and took up cartoon animation. I was opened
for new challenges so I tried the airbrushing another
genre of visual art and one more way to extend my
creativity. In 1996 I opened my shop which was the first
Hungarian airbrush and design studio offering car and
bike custom painting as well as wall murals and body
art. As an advertising solution I offered to business’s I
developed a new technology which was a combination
How was it you first picked up an airbrush to use in
of airbrushing and wrap design. Since 2002 I have been
your artwork?
a vendor at international airbrush events and car, mo-
In my country there was no one teaching airbrushing
torcycle shows I opened my second shop exclusively
when I started. Later there were a few people like my-
for custom painting clients in Hungary. Within a short
self who have started to teach airbrushing. The first
time I moved the shop to Germany and offered clients
idea for trying airbrushing was directly inspired by the
more opportunities by international services. I have also
motorcycle sene I got into in 1995. At that time I had
started to teaching courses for amateur airbrush paint-
to pick up all tricks in this profession by myself. There
ers. From time to time the bikes and cars I have painted
were many years I could say I’m airbrushing trying to
have been awarded on the international stage. I have
create something but was never satisfied with the re-
placed emphasis on combination of classical and pro-
sults. It took a lot of trail and error over many years to
fessionally developed design with modern elements.
develop my style and achieve results I could be proud
The helmet of Valentino Rossi, the European awarded
of.
Snake Bike, the horror theme Killer Bike are a few of my
favorite paint jobs I have done. Thru airbrushing live at
How do you go about using color in your artwork?
shows at European events and more “big” project paint
After a long time my style has evolved where I can
jobs have allowed me to refined my style, which I can
truly say it is my own style. For this style has a color
say is all mine.
scheme which contain cold base colors and warm ef-
fect colors. This is my special style.
8
Is your artwork planned or spontaneous for the most
part?
I used to make concept but if it is not necessary I am
not planning. I prefer when the design layout is done
directly on the surface.
Do you use a computer, plotter to help with design
ideas?
I use both a computer and plotter. For planning I am
also using a projector for bigger surfaces. In case of
symmetric and special design I use a plotter for cutting
templates, signs, contours, non-figurative motives.
What inspires you to paint?
There are favorite styles for me and I’m interested
in lateral thinking. Typically the challenge to create
something unusual and new is what really inspires
me.
What keeps you motivated on those days when you
just don’t feel like painting but commission work needs
to get finished?
There are situations when the ideas do not come as
fast as they should. During those times I must take a
break and do what I like or I pick up an other job and
work on that. After I go back to the painting I find the
solution most of the time. The real challenge when I do
not feel the theme is not my world than I start to look
for something which is close to me in the design. I turn
it into my style and I can say it is mine.
Who are some artists you’ve worked with?
My style I could not share with other artists ever be-
cause the final picture never comes out looking like I
imagined at the beginning of the paint job. When I’m
working with other airbrush painters I prefer when we
are complementing each other’s work. Normally I work
with body painters, they prepare the jobs for me and
apply the finishing clear coat. I have an assistant who
talks with clients and does the paper work. as well as
organizing the necessary things in the shop. The last
couple years my wife has been my assistant who pre-
pares jobs for me and takes that weight off my shoul-
ders.
Which artist inspires you?
I love to figure out how the painter achieved the results
he painted. At the beginning of my career H. R. Giger,
Luis Royo amazed me with their work while contempo-
rary artists like Mike Lavelle, Fitto, Nunez, Pastrana and
others I have a respect for their art work. Moreover I like
when I can inspire them with my work.
9
 Completely Bonkers Part 1
Artist statement
“All my life I have been marveled by all beauty sur-
rounding me. Even in the simplest of things I see a
whole array of possibilities. This is my love for art
and why I paint. To express my soul on a canvas.
How a painting will turn out is always a surprise
since I change plans often during the creation pro-
cess. I let my subconscious guide me giving it total
freedom.
All my paintings are mixed media, the more the
better. A variety of styles combined is what strongly
appeals to me, varying from airbrush, brush, dry
brush and even dotism style. The possibilities and
combinations are endless. Art is my great journey
in life it allows me to express myself in ways words
could never achieve. Art helps me greatly in discov-
ering who I truly am, and through the years it has
revealed many aspects of myself I never knew ex-
isted. For this I am very grateful, and I hope I can
continue on this path for a long time to come.”
Equipment I used in this painting.
Airbrush: Iwata Custom Micron B
Paints: AeroColor-Schmincke - sepia, opaque black,
transp. black, neutral grey, super white, transparent
white, cobalt blue, ultra marine blue, sapphire blue,
permanent green, phthalo green, magenta, violet,
lemon yellow, primary yellow, brilliant red, brazil
brown and goldocker.
Special paints: metallic copper, aero shine silver,
metallic gold (all Schmincke)
Talens Decorfin - silver, copper and gold (Is very
thick, perfect for relief effect).
Base: Size: 70 x 55 cm MDF panel with 8 layers ges-
so.
Additional materials: Gesso, various brushes (fine
liners), pencil eraser, electric eraser, carbon paper,
masking film, Q-tips.

www.jrgraphics.nl

Step 1 I begin my project with tracing the entire reference

photo, including all details. For this I use a 70 x 55 cm rice
paper sheet (it’s very thick and transparent). Over that I lay a
sheet of low tack plastic masking (from a huge roll) and trace
the outline. I cut it out and place on the artwork in the cor-
rect spot. Now I can spray the background.

10
Step 2 For the background I used a mix of
several greens. I first spray the green and then
the neutral grey outside, misting it onto each
other to give a nice smooth overlay effect.
Then I carefully remove the masking, and ap-
ply a thin layer of varnish to protect it. This
will dry in minutes, using a hair dryer.
Step 3 I’m going to start on the hat. I take my detailed
sketch and cut of the hat section. After studying the ref-
erence, it becomes clear that all the black dots are holes
in the hat. So I’ll make them first, right after I spray the
base color/under painting.

Step 4 I need to layer the colors for the under painting,

working from light to dark. I mix up 4 bottles rang-
ing from a greenish goldocker to a dark green for the
darkest shadings.

Step 5 I mask the surrounding area, to prevent

over spray, and start building layers. The light
green areas are folds in the hat; highlights if you
will. I spray them first followed by spraying all
colors going increasingly darker each time. The
darkest green I use to create the ‘rim’ on top. This
in itself creates a 3d effect already.

11
Step 6 As you can see I use a fine liner with about 11mm
long hairs. I fill in the entire hat with thousands of dots.
Working around the previously made black dots. This is
incredibly time consuming, but if you want your art to
look realistic walking the extra mile is unavoidable. I my-
self find dotism very relaxing to do.
Step 7 As mentioned with pic 3 I’ll start with
the black dots (will become clear later why).
I place the sketch over the artwork lining it
up perfectly (why I use transparent paper it’s
much easier) I use black carbon paper and
a ballpoint pen to trace all the dots. Then I
take black paint and a fine liner brush and
go over all the dots with that. Now comes the
fun part: texture. This is a LOT of work, but
this will set your artwork apart from others
giving it that extra touch.

Step 8 When all the dots are done I place all mask-
ing back to prevent over spray and I glaze the whole
thing. The 4 bottles of paint I used earlier I have now
thinned down with 50% water, making the paint
transparent. This is very important, because you don’t
wanna bury your hard work under opaque paint. As
you can see 3D is starting to show nicely. The areas
that were left yellow(ish) on the under painting, now
look like folds that are sticking out slightly.

Step 9,10 Next layer is white this time I make dots with-
in the dots I previously made. They are highlights giving
it a super realistic effect. Of course, you can choose to
skip this step but for me it’s a must. Light source comes
from the left so that’s where light hits them and where I
highlight them.

12
 Step 11 Here the 2nd layer of highlights
are done. I left out the area’s that will be
overlapped later so no need to create extra
work. Next I mask off the outsides again
and give it a final glaze using the 4 colors
again.

Step 12 On the top are 2 twigs tied with black

rope. I airbrush the twigs, and add the rope with
fine liner brush. Next is the gold stitching. I use
thick gold paint for that. This will create relief
onto the artwork giving it even more 3D. I trace
the spots with my sketch and carbon paper, and
fill it all in with gold. Last but not least I use
transparent white to create the highlight in the
middle of the hat, where light hits it. This pretty
much completes the surface of the hat itself.

Steps 13,14, 15, 16 Now that the base is done I

can add some of the overlapping elements. The
top part is several pieces of fabric and iron clips
in various colors. To create the fabric I mask off
each individual section, spray base color and then
a darkened version of that same color through a
piece of actual fabric. This will create texture as
you can see in the photo. On the other side I add-
ed the 10/6 card. The letters I make with a fine
liner brush. The brown sides I airbrush while sur-
roundings are masked off. I’m now at the point
where I feel comfortable moving on to another
part of the artwork, the magenta silk scarf around
the hat.

13
 Step 17, 18, 19 After giving the completed hat part a layer of varnish I
allow it to dry for 12 hours. Then I mask of the silk section, the varnish
is used so that the masking in this step doesn’t lift the rest of the art
when removing it. I start by blocking in the folds using loose stencils
then I freehand it all to a smooth whole so the folds look natural. The
middle right is untouched, and the lower right finished. In this step I
use a magenta/red/white mix.
In the second picture the 2nd layer/color is done. It’s the same color
as the 1st layer but with brown added. I leave some parts/folds un-
touched giving it nice color varieties throughout. It’s starting to look
nice now but it lacks shadows/darks.
In the third pic all layers have been added and I’m quite happy with it.
The darkest color is again the same color as the 2nd layer (magenta/
red/white/brown) but with neutral grey added. I spray initial shad-
ings with that pretty roughly, over spray is your friend here. Then I
take my 1st paint mix (red/magenta/white) and add grey to that and
spray the final shadings. The darkest parts only the deepest shadings
watch out with over spray. The layering is what will create realism and
is inescapable.

Step 20, 21 Next I start on the face blocking in

the main components first starting with the
eyes. I cut stencils of the inner eye making a tiny
square in the middle and apply tape so I can stick
it on. I use a brown/yellow mix to faintly estab-
lish an outline. Next I take the same stencil (but
the outside) of the inner eye and trace the shape
of the irises onto low tack mask. I cut them and
stick them over the paper mask. Using a variety
of greens in this painting for the outer iris I mix
sepia with that green. The pupil is straight black.
Reflection highlights are done with transparent
white. All the detail within the iris is done with a
fine liner brush.

Then the mouth, the picture is pretty self-explan-

atory. I place the stencil ‘flaps’ back and forth
where needed and airbrush the teeth one by one
in various steps and colors. With each layer I add
some more dark brown to the mix. Here and
there even a hint of green. Again highlights with
transparent white.

14
Step 22, 23, 24 Next I make the lips. I mask of the inside
of the mouth and mix 2 bottles of color. One white/red
and one white/magenta. I begin with a layer of white
red and erase and scratch to get texture matching the
reference photo. Then I apply thin layer of varnish.
Once dried I apply a layer of white/magenta and erase/
scratch some more until I reach the desired effect. The
last step is taking the white/red mix and adding some
sepia. This will create a quite ‘filthy’ color but this is
exactly what you want. I use this color to create 3D and
apply it on the insides of the lips giving them the illu-
sion of roundness. This pretty much finishes the lips.
Next I move back to the eyes, I work around as I please
lol, so bear with me. In the reference photo his face is
completely different left to right, blue and magenta. I
cut stencils for the eyelids, place them correctly and
spray a generous amount. This will later be covered up
all again with various layers.

Step 25, 26 The face is beginning to look somewhat like

a face now. As you noticed I sprayed the basis for the
nose too. I used a positive and negative sided stencil for
that (cutting one, provides 2). Colors used are neutral
grey and a brown mix heavily diluted with water. It’s
better to apply many thin layers than to do it in one
go. Next I work out the upper and lower eyelids. Most
is done through spraying a basic ‘shape’ freehand and
then scratching and erasing most away again providing
texture. I do this in several layers of paint and paint
removal (lower picture is the end result). Play with it,
make it your own.

15
 Step 27 All elements are now roughly blocked in. Time for
the absolute hardest part, shading the face. In this painting
it’s even harder because the entire face is covered in white
makeup with blue and magenta hues. So… I mix 4 bottles of
paint.
1: 10 drops sepia/2 drops ultra marine blue - thinned 50%
with water.
2: 15 drops sepia/2 drops ultra marine blue - thinned 50%
with water.
3: 10 drops sepia/2 drops magenta – thinned 50% with water.
4: 15 drops sepia/2 drops magenta – thinned 50% with water.
Now I have 2 ‘light’ mixes of both colors, and 2 dark ones. I
start with the light ones. I use a few loose stencils what I keep
of the surface to map out the basics, the rest is all freehand.
Building layer upon layer in the end close to a hundred. In
this stage I just make some basic shades though.
Step 28 I refined the eyes/shadow side a bit
more and added the eyebrows roughly with
carbon paper. This gives me a better over-
view for later. At this point I feel comfort-
able with the face and move on to the hair. I
mask of the hat and face and make a sketch
on rice see through paper. I use carbon paper
to trace that onto the painting giving me a
rough map. The carbon impression is actu-
ally the last layer of hair to be painted but it’s
vital to apply it now so all layers will ‘bury’
the nasty black carbon lines. I begin by mak-
ing the hair under painting. For this I use
bright orange inks which I mix using red and
yellow. Notice how it turns completely dull
when applying it over the green background.
This is exactly what you want in this step
these are the hairs furthest away in the back-
ground/shadow side.

Step 29, 30 After making the first few layers with orange I
load my airbrush with neutral grey, mask the face off and
spray it along the face. Next I take my fine liner brush and
super opaque white and scribble more layers of hair. At
this point I’m still ignoring the carbon impression under-
neath since that will be the final 2 layers on top.

16
 Step 31 Next I mask of the face again and the en-
tire hat and body too. Over the white I will be
spraying HOK tangerine kandy. This is very tox-
ic and permanent paint so watch out with over
spray. At this point the hair begins to develop a
nice orange glow. But still far from where I want
it to be. For now I’m happy with it and will leave
it as is.

Step 32 I move on to his jacket. For this I did a three day

study because the jacket in the reference photo is pretty
close to invisible (dark). I also make a test outside my
painting which I never do, but this time I was very un-
certain about which method to use. I masked of the en-
tire painting leaving only the jacket unmasked. I mixed
a green/sepia mix and blocked in the areas roughly. I use
three shades of green starting with the lightest and ending
with the darkest. When done I remove the masking, and
end up with the base for hand painting the fabric fibers
horizontally/vertically.

Step 33 Now the fun part detailing. I use my

fine liner brush and add all the fibers. It’s
an old worn out jacket so I do it in a rather
‘sloppy’ way. I glaze it with four shades of
brown. Lightest is a yellowish brown, dark-
est a red brown all diluted with 50% water
to make it transparent.

Step 34 Adding more and more layers ending

up with the same greens I used for the under
painting. I repeat all steps on the shoulders
and sleeves. On the right side you can see how
I layer the white before I glaze it. Layering is
the key as always.

17
 Step 35 Here I have completed nearly all fabric except the
edge of the overlapping part. Obviously because I need to
finish first what’s underneath.

Step 36 Adding the edges I first make the very outsides and glaze
them with a red/brown on the insides. Over spray will take care
of the outer points giving it a nice soft look. Then I take my
brush and white again to make the inner stitching. Notice that
some parts are falling apart and have thread sticking out. Finally
I glaze this with a yellowish brown. This completes the fabric/
jacket.

Step 37 Now it’s the bow tie’s turn. For me this was the
absolute most time consuming and frustrating part of
the entire painting simply because of the massive loads
of stencils. Of course you could do it all freehand but I
doubt you’d get the same crisp effect. I choose to do it
this way. I cut low tack masks with all the shapes and
apply it. Spray it with opaque white until I get a grey-
ish coverage and start blocking in all the colors.

Step 38, 39 Both sides of the bow tie are pretty much done in this
picture. All colored parts later freehanded to give a nice smooth
effect. This part alone took me several days. After which I moved
on to the collar of the jacket. Masking everything off and sprayed
that area with a red/brown base. After that same as before I add all
fabric. Keep in mind directions since it’s going around his neck.
Again as before I add the edges doing so in several layers with
glazing in between. The collar is now finally done.

18
 Step 40 Now I move back to the hair.
I’ve come to the point where I can
start adding the carbon impression
layers. I study my reference photo
and take out the lowest flocks paint-
ing them in white. I add a glaze of
HOK tangerine Kandy (be careful
with over spray, this paint is nasty).

Step 41 In this picture I’m adding the final layer of white.

Notice how I make the flocks of hair go in and under each
other. This will create a more appealing effect.

Step 42 And a final glazing with tangerine. Spray

inwards to the face to prevent over spray. The very
ends of the hairs I do with a fine liner brush. Which
is tricky, since HOK dries almost instantly on the
brush, so working fast is a must. Difficult, but do-
able.

Stay tuned in issue 47 for part two and finishing

this painting.

19
First I prepare a 20”x 30” piece of illustration board by smooth surface. The paints I am using are Createx and
doing three coats of gesso and lightly sanding the last Golden. I am also using an Iwata HP CS for this painting,
coat with 400 dry sandpaper. This makes for a pretty my favorite brush. Now on to the step by step…

1) Here you see the ref. photo and the

sketch side by side. I usually work with
very good ref. photos as it makes the
painting process much easier. I’ll normally
use 12” by 17” photo copies as they only
cost me about $2 each.

2) I always start on the eyes first, just a personal

thing you can start anywhere you feel comfortable,
for me it’s the eyes and face. I start with a sepia
tone and thinned out about 50/50 with reducer. I
also lower my air pressure to suit the viscosity of
my paint. Here I am probably spraying at about 25
psi. Just play with the paint/pressure before you
actually start the painting just to make sure you
are “dialed in“ I have ruffed in the eyes and lashes as
well, I’m kind of just drawing with the airbrush at
this point.

3) Continuing on the face with ochre and

a bit of reddish brown. I’m trying to keep
the tones on the warm side as well. Here
I’m blocking in the shapes. Try to go slow
during these early stages and keep your
layers of color light.

20
 4) Pretty much finished the face. Lips were done
in a bright red, started on the ear and also started
laying in some hair with the ochre color. My paint
is still fairly thin at this point. I will make several
passes slowly building the tone I want with each
pass the tone gets a bit darker, knowing when
to stop is key. I continue on with the hair add-
ing darker tones where needed. Follow your
ref. photo closely. I tend to look at hair as being
shapes rather than strands of hair. It can get very
confusing so try thinking about shapes rather
than painting actual hair, you will be amazed at
how realistic it will look.

5) Now it’s onto the body. I have masked off the background
as it will remain white, pinup style.

6) I proceed much like the face painting in layers so as not to

get too dark to soon. The legs and other skin areas are also
treated in this manner. Keeping things light and layering gradu-
ally will help you immensely as you won’t have to go back and
try to fix areas that got away on you and got too dark.

21
 7) For the stockings all I did was paint the skin a
little different by using some darker colors on the
edges it is a bit of an illusion. Once you paint the
tops of the stockings with the lace, your eye au-
tomatically sees stockings. I have also painted the
pistol using both an airbrush and traditional brush-
es to create the metal look. Keep your reference
material close so you can follow it. Even blow up
sections of your image to allow you to see all the
fine detail easily.

8) In step 8 and 9 I start on the arms, again as

mentioned earlier I work in layers until I’m satis-
fied it is a close match to my ref. photo. Layering
just allows you to reach that perfect color and
intensity before going past and having to fight
your way back to lighten an area again.

9) Completed arm,

22
 10) Here you can see all the skin has been rendered and I am sat-
isfied with the color. I do go back and re visit some areas that
I feel require more attention. I have also finished with the stock-
ings. I did the lace by first painting the tops of her legs a skin
tone and so it would be seen thru the lace. Because I was using
a very reduced paint I could still see my original sketch which
allowed me to use my hand brush, a #1 Windsor & Newton brush
to lay down the lace with a mixture of purple and black. I then
went back with my airbrush and gave the edges a quick pass
so as not to leave paint strokes. I can’t stress this Enough fol-
low your ref. photo as closely as possible it will make for a more
convincing pattern.

11) Moving on to the corset and lace skirt. The skirt was done
with a mixture of magenta and black. This was a bit challenging
as the skirt has many folds and small ripples in the fabric, so
paying very close attention the photo is very important here.
You just have to “pick” away at it slowly, as well as the corset,
which was painted with mostly black, and utilizing the illustra-
tion boards white surface I was able to create greys as well. 11)
Sometimes I will block out much of the area I am working on
with a plain piece of paper and create a window/cutout to view
only a small area of ref. this way I’m not over whelmed by the
details.

12) The last step is the cards. You can just barely see the cards
sketched out on the board. I used my plotter/cutter to create
masks that allowed me to paint the faces and the text “ Texas
Hold em’. After laying down the masks I gently sprayed the col-
ors building up the layers. Once the cards were painted I used
some thinned out black to spray some light shadows to give
dimension to 67the piece.
That’s about it. I hope you got some tips from this step by step
and enjoyed reading about it as much as I enjoyed sharing it
with you.
This original painting is hanging at Pinup Pointe gallery in Las
Vegas.
23
 JT’s Tiger
Jeff “JT” Simon here with a tutorial on how I air-
brushed a tiger appearing to rip through a car hood.
An auto body shop here on Long Island that spe-
cializes in custom painting had seen my work at a
motorcycle show and approached me to airbrush a
tiger on a the hood of a Nissan Altima for one of his
The first step is to find a good reference photo,
which I found on the internet and downloaded at a
high resolution. I print a good quality reference pic-
ture by taking the reference photo file that I saved
on a flash drive to a local pharmacy that prints pho-
tographs. I have them output the reference on 5” by
7” high quality photographic paper which produces
a very good quality photograph of the tiger. The bet-
ter your reference picture the better results you will
achieve. I put the reference photo aside and then
used my inkjet printer to produce a full size print
out that’s the actual size of the painting. I will use
this full size print to transfer my image to the hood.
I had to tile print and tape together several sheets of
paper to achieve the full size image since the tiger
is approximately thirty inches in size and obviously
would not fit on a single sheet of A4 paper. I used
Corel Draw for the tile printing, but just about any
basic drawing program will tile print an image that
doesn’t fit on a single sheet of paper.
Next I carefully taped my full size printout to the
hood making sure it was properly centered. I only
24
clients. The customer wanted the hood base coated
in a purple to black fade and the tiger was to be a
half white tiger and half orange tiger. These were
very specific instructions by the client and although
initially I had some doubts, the results came out
very nice.
tape the print at the top forming a hinge so I can
slip white Saral transfer paper underneath, which is
the next step. I used white Saral because of the dark
base coat color on the hood. If it were white or a
light color base coat, I would have used the graphite
color Saral transfer paper instead. For anyone not
familiar with Saral it’s basically like carbon paper
but does not contain any wax so you can airbrush
and clear coat on top of it without affecting adhe-
sion. Using a mechanical pencil I trace all the lines
that I feel are important to provide references to
airbrush an accurate painting. Every so often flip-
ping up your reference and Saral to check the lines
to make sure you’re not pressing too hard with the
pencil. Tip: when using Saral press lightly and try
not to lean your hand on the reference or you will
get smudges and the lines will get too bright which
will give you trouble later on trying to hide the ref-
erence lines with the paint. If your white Saral ref-
erence lines become too bright you can dull them
down by lightly wiping with some wax and grease
remover.
To create the tiger’s claws I drew them in Corel Draw
and printed it out in a size proportional to the tiger’s
head and transferred that to the hood just under the
tiger’s chin using the white Saral paper. Tip: when
airbrushing anything with fur, make sure you add
some reference lines that indicate the direction of
the fur. If the direction of the fur is off the finished
painting won’t look right, no matter how good a job
you do. In first photograph you can see the full size
printout on the hood with the reference photo just
above it. In the second picture you can see the white
reference lines that I transferred on to the hood by
using the Saral paper. Notice I added plenty of lines
that indicate the direction of the fur.

Now that my image has been transferred to the hood

I cover the central part of the hood that will have the
ripped metal with clear application tape. I use clear
tape for this so I can see where the tiger is and where
I want my metal tears. Using a fine Sharpie marker I
draw in my ripped metal on the clear application tape.
For now I just cut out the center part of the clear tape
exposing the tiger. I’ll cut out the actual metal rips lat-
er. Make sure you use a new sharp razor blade or Xacto
knife for this so you don’t cut in to the hood. I covered
the rest of the hood with paper application tape to pro-
tect it from over spray.

It’s time to start airbrushing the tiger. I used all Cre-
atex Wicked detail paints for this project along with
the new Auto Air 4012 high performance reducer.
The secret to getting fine detail and minimal tip dry
with Wicked and Auto Air is the proper reduction. I
premix a bottle of white paint at one part paint and
two parts reducer, but always add more reducer to
my airbrush cup as needed. My best guess is that I’m
somewhere around one part paint, 4 parts reducer
in order to get the Wicked to spray the way I want.
If you are having trouble with tip dry and spitting,
you probably need to add more reducer to the paint.
Reduction is the secret to getting Wicked to spray
smoothly with minimal tip dry.
The fur is created using a whole lot of dagger
strokes. Actually the entire tiger is comprised of
dagger strokes so if you need to practice your dagger

25
strokes airbrush a tiger or some other furry creature.
I airbrush in all the white fur, eyes, mouth, teeth and
claws with the white. Keep your airbrush no more
than a ½” to 1” away from the surface to achieve
nice tight dagger strokes. Continuously look at your
reference photo and give your fur some dimension
with the white. Don’t just hose on the white creat-
ing a single tone. Right from the beginning airbrush
the white such that you’re creating the illusion of
Now its time to add the black fur and details with
Wicked detail black. This is where the magic hap-
pens and the tiger starts to come to life. I use the
same reduction technique for the black as I do
for the white. The black is reduced to a level that
its spraying more of a dark grey tone than black.
This allows you to slowly build up your black fur
and dark detail areas. This is especially important
in the area of the gums that surround the teeth and
tongue. Building up your dark tones slowly in this
manner will add much more realism and a higher
Once my black and white under painting is to my
liking, its time to start adding color. To create an ac-
curate reference color for the fur I use Corel Draw’s
color dropper tool to sample a section of the orange
fur and then print it out on my inkjet printer. Now I
can custom mix the tiger’s orange fur, which is really
an orange-brown color. To create this color I first
mix a nice orange using Wicked detail yellow and
red. Easy with the red as its very strong. Now I add
26
areas close up and well defined and areas pushed
back and less defined. I purposely leave the areas of
black fur unpainted since I will have to come back in
with black to define these areas anyway. The fourth
photo shows some progress as I build up the fur. The
next photo is a close up of how I build up my dagger
strokes to create the fur. Notice the dagger strokes
cross over each other, which creates more realistic
fur.
level of quality to your paintings and prevents you
from going too dark too fast. In the sixth and sev-
enth photos, you can see how I build up the black
areas of the fur as well as the gums, eyes and teeth.
Again I just don’t hose on the black. I continue to
airbrush the black fur using dagger strokes the same
way I airbrush the white fur. After I finish airbrush-
ing the black I go back in with the white again to
really punch up the brightest areas of the fur, teeth
and the highlights in the eyes.
a drop of Wicked detail cobalt blue. Blue is the com-
pliment of orange and will desaturate it making it
more brown. I spray out this color on a strip of white
paper to see how I like it. Since this is a transparent
color it will get darker the more color you spray so
I spray it out from light to dark to determine the
best color match on the strip and how dark the color
will get at full saturation. I had to make some ad-
justments adding a bit more yellow and red until I
achieved the orange-brown color I’m looking for. create the darker and lighter areas with this col-
or. Again don’t just hose on this color. Spray less
Prior to airbrushing the color I taped off the right paint where the color is lighter and more where
side of the tiger to keep it white. I used ¼” FBS fine the color is darker. I then added some color to the
line tape from the center of the nose to the cen- eyes using Wicked Detail yellow for the left side
ter of the head. The FBS fine line tape maintains and cobalt blue for the right side. Yes the customer
a nice clean line with no under spray. I then used wanted the eyes two different colors. In the eighth
paper transfer tape to cover the rest of the right photo you can see the three strips of paper I used
side of the tiger’s head to protect it from overspray. to spray out the paint to compare it with the refer-
Keeping my airbrush close to the surface of the ence color. The ninth photo shows the tiger after
hood I sprayed the orange-brown color. Still us- the orange color was applied.
ing dagger strokes and looking at my reference to

For the nose and tongue, again I mixed a custom color. Start-
ing with the Wicked Driscoll Flesh tone, I added some vio-
let, yellow and red until I matched the color of the nose. Af-
ter I airbrushed this color on the nose, I added a few more
drops of red to better match the color of the tongue, and then
airbrushed the tongue. Using Wicked yellow ochre very re-
duced, I added some of this tone to the teeth so they would
look more natural and not like he just had his teeth whitened.
The tenth photo shows the tiger after the color is added.

27
 I airbrush the tiger’s claws by first cutting and remov-
ing the clear transfer tape covering them. Using the
same over reduced Wicked white, I airbrush the fur
with dagger strokes and the nails with soft shading. I
come back in with black to darken the nails, but leave
some light areas to give the appearance of reflected
light shining off nails. The eleventh photograph
shows the completed claws with the metal rips and
tears around them. Things look rather messy here
because the clear masking is still in place, but every-
thing will come together once the tape is removed.

Now its time to create the illusion of ripped/torn

metal. I use four colors for this: a medium gray, a
light gray, black and white. Using a black Sharpie
marker, I draw the shape of the metal tears directly
on the clear transfer tape. Next, using yellow Frog
tape, I back mask the area inside the torn metal, then
cut out the transparent transfer tape to expose what
will be the tear. I start with the medium gray and
spray it on to cover the base coat. Next, I use the light
gray to start mapping each tear so it starts to look
like ripped metal. I airbrush this light gray only on
the areas that will be the raised portions of each tear.
Using the black, I airbrush the portion of the tear
that curves away from the viewer. Then I go in with
the white to airbrush the very highlighted portions
of the tears. This next photo shows the airbrushed
metal tears. Again, with all the masking in place, the
tears look like a mess, but once the tape is removed,
it will all come together.

After airbrushing all the ripped metal tears, I add the whis-
kers by using a liner brush instead of an airbrush. A con-
ventional artists brush enables me to paint in well defined
whiskers, which adds more realism to the piece. Using
some unreduced Wicked white, I carefully add the whis-
kers. I also add a few black whiskers here and there with
the same liner brush and some Wicked detail black. I did
use the airbrush to add some shading on the white whis-
kers where they they originate from the tiger’s face. This
makes the whiskers look more three dimensional.

Now its time to remove all the masking material and unveil
our finished tiger ripping through the hood. Once all the

28

Once again I had the privilege of attending the
KKBO in the UK, this is the 4th year that the
show has been in existence and for 3 of them I
have been present and have witnessed each year
a steady growth in attendance. This unique event
attracts a multitude of styles from Hotrods, Cus-
tom cars, Bikes, Airbrushers, Pinstripers, Lifestyle
Traders, Tattooists, and not forgetting, Burlesque
Dancers, & Music.
I am in a fortunate position at the show as I get to
roam around the whole weekend taking pics and
http://vimeo.com/74575031
Interview with Micky Harris at KKBO
tape is removed, I go over the painting with a
tack cloth to remove any overspray, in prepara-
tion for clear coating. The hood then gets clear
coated, polished and reattached to the car. Here
are some photos of the final result.
Thanks for taking the time to read this article.
If you have any questions, you can email me at
jtairbrushart@aol.com. To see more of my work,
you can check out my web site atwww.jtairbrush.
com and my Facebook page at www.facebook.
com/JTairbrushart.
talking to artists and visitors’ alike and one of the
things that struck me was the amount of car and
bike clubs that have now put the KKBO on their
annual ride list. Even though the show in reality
is still in it’s infancy it is fast becoming a place of
yearly pilgrimage. And I for one cannot wait for
KKBO #5 to get my yearly dose of medicine. So
a big thanks to P&KG and their team of volun-
teers’ for their outstanding work. If you have not
attended the show then take a tip from me check
it out www.kustomkultreblastoff.com .
http://vimeo.com/74577932
Interview with Horny Mike at KKBO
29
Prepared by MagCloud for Roberto Savoia. Get more at airbrushmagazine.magcloud.com.