Articles

Surfaces for Airbrushing
By Jürek

Illustration Boards

There are several Illustration Boards available on the market today. One of my favored one is Frisk's CS-10. It can be use as is or gessoed with several coats for improved brush work. Like most of illustration boards, CS-10 is made with a peelable surface layer. Purpose for that is simple - the surface can be peeled off of the main core to be scanned on drum scanners. So if you work on Art to be scanned and printed, that can be your choice. Otherwise use other boards ad art papers to eliminate danger of peeling the artwork from the board. In very humid climates, peeling will occur simultaneously. List of manufactures: Letraset USA, Strathmore Paper Co., Crescent Cardboard Co., Canson, Frisk, Multimedia Art Boards

Scratch Boards

On Old World method of eliminating layers of coloured (traditionally Black) surface to expose white underlayment. You scratch Clayboard Black with precision tools . ampersandart.com has it all. Once exposed, white can be easily coloured with transparent inks or paints only. You can continue this process by scratching and spraying colours. Protect final art with Ampersand Fixative for Matte finish, or appropriate varnish for Gloss finish. There are other boards on the market as well: Paris Artist's Scratchboard, Scraper Board by Essdee from England.

Textured Canvas or Panels

Purist Airbrush Painters prefer very smooth perfect surface. I have noticed Artists in Europe experimenting with textures as added feature in their Art. Fear of overspray mess can be controled by using lower pressure and fine Airbrushes, i.e. Micron medea-artool.com Texture in Airbrush Art was used since Stone Age cave paintings in Lascaux, France and similarly in Spain. We are constantly learning from the deeds of our fathers, why not here. Mix Acrylic Medium with clean sifted sand, pumice or marble dust. If you use sand or clays, make sure to eliminate any organic matter by "cooking" it in the oven. You can use ready made Pumice Gel from Golden Acrylic. In fact Gels are great! Apply them with spatulas, knives, sponges and stiff brushes. Deep structures are possible. Most Impasto Gels are transparent, colours and texture are added for desirable effects.

Fabrics

Popular area for Pop Art and some Fine Art as well. Ways of decorating fabric with specifically designed textile paints. Can be use to paint garments, fabric yardage or unprimed canvas. Garments made of cotton - spray mixture of 50% clear base(medium) and water over entire area to be painted. Heat press it or iron to get rid of overspray caused by lint. Use Medea Textile Colours by Jüre iwata-medea.com Silk - wash before painting with Woolite . Silk, dyes, paints by jacquardproducts.com Unprimed Canvas, Hemp - spray mixture of 50% clear base(medium) and water over entire canvas, Put small baggy over your hand and wipe it along the weave of given fabric while wet. Repeat if nessesary.

Good luck and have fun experimenting. Be creative and keep learning. Peace Jürek