Who here has thought about airbrushing before and said to themselves, “hmm that’d be cool but it looks too complicated and I don’t know anything about art”? If that sounds familiar, then this is the perfect post for you. We’re going to show you 5 fun things you can airbrush without being artsy-fartsy! These are fun projects that you can bring your ideas to life with and let your creativity flow.
The only ‘rules’, per say, are being conscious of the materials you are airbrushing and which paints you will need in order to get the desired results, but we will go into specifics based on the item as we go.
So let’s get into it!
- Skateboards
If you grew up skating, you know decking out your board and making it your own is one of the best parts of skate culture. Around the 1970s, skateboarding wasn’t just a sport anymore but became a cultural community. Artists like Jeff Ho and Wes Hampton began to paint their boards with their own designs and soon enough graphics became a huge part of the culture, inspiring other skaters to express their creativity too.
Seeing your friends with new Plan B stickers or designs on the decks of their boards before you rode out was just part of the process! Typically, you either found cool graphic stickers, knew someone that could spray paint some design on your board, or you would have to buy a popular skater’s branded board from the store that came pre-designed.
Today, technology has changed a lot and we have more options when it comes to designs and art. If you ever had a design you wanted to put on your board- now is the time to do it! Airbrushing gives you the freedom and flexibility to try anything you want out, regardless of your skill level. The only thing you need to learn is how to work the airbrush and everything else is up to you! If you wanted concrete designs, you can just buy stencil outlines and brush over them to get perfect lines and shapes. Not only is it flexible, but it’s easy too. Just cover your trucks and wheels (or just remove them) and anything else you don’t want painted and get to brushing!
Rules:
If you want to brush or paint designs onto your deck, here are a few helpful hints:
- You don’t need to lay down a primer in order for the paint to stick, but it will look better if you have a background color that agrees with your color scheme when the design is finished.
- After you have brushed your desired design and graphics on the board, it is important to finish the board with a coat of Clear Coat Gloss. This will protect the designs on your deck from washing out, wear and tear, etc. (If you are skating often, expect that it will eventually wear off- in this case just sand the board down and start the process from the top)
- Guitars
Jazz, Blues an, Rock n Roll… All historic genres of music, defined by their expressive qualities and limitless boundaries. Another great way to get creative is custom painting your guitar to make it match your sound. Much like the culture with skateboarding, Eddi Van Halen first painted his guitar around the same time period (late 1979) – and after that, everyone took off with it. In an interview with a childhood friend, it was said that Van Halen was painting his guitar because everyone was copying the design he had and he wanted to make it his own and stand out and be different.
As a musician, your sound and your vibe define you- and your guitar is an extension of that. If you weren’t already letting your creativity flow through your music, custom designing and painting your guitar would be the crescendo. Again, feel free to get creative with it and find designs you like in stencil outlines if you don’t feel you are artistic. This is a DIY project, so do it how you like! You can even make your own stencil outline cut-outs from designs you find online if you print them out.
So what do you need to know as far as the painting process is concerned?
- Prepare your surface- remove all hardware from the face of the guitar, including the neck (if possible, if not then tape it up)
- Once the body of the guitar is isolated, you must sand it down to remove the previous varnish and paint (you may need to use a degreaser as well)
- Now that the surface is ready to receive paint, you must first lay down a primer to help adhesion between the guitar body and the paints
- Once the body has been primed, you are ready to airbrush! This is where you get to use your stencil outlines and paint your designs on the body
- After you have completed all the desired graphic designs, the final step is applying clear coat gloss to protect the paint
3. Fishing Lures
You may be a professional fisher looking for better results, a fishing charter who needs the right gear or perhaps an avid fisherman looking to make the perfect lure for a specific kind of fish. Either way, in your time spent at the tackle shops you’ve probably run into the issue of not being able to find the right lure for the job at hand.
If you find yourself in this situation often, then maybe making your own custom lures is your best bet. Will it take more time? Yes. Will it be more satisfying when you are out fishing and nailing the exact fish you’ve been trying to catch for a while? Definitely!
The fact of the matter is there are too many variables that can affect your fishing experience for one mass-market lure that is sold in every tackle shop around the country to do the job…
If you’re interested in making your own fishing lures, go over to The Fishing Lure Airbrush Buying Guide
for more information and watch an in-depth introductory video on the process and details you need to know.
- Body Art / Temporary Tattoos
One of the coolest and most well-known uses of airbrushing is for body art, but that’s not all you can do… Many are surprised to find out that you can also make cool temporary tattoos that can last up to a week!
Starting with body art, Hollywood has done a good job of showing us what is possible with airbrushing thanks to all the sci-fi movies that we’ve all seen at least one of by now. It’s almost surreal how vividly they are able to paint the actors and actresses to fit their fictional character profiles, and this is because of the natural-looking result that airbrushing leaves you with.
You can get crazy creative and really make some your wildest ideas literally come to life by having them airbrushed!
There are many areas where airbrush body art can be implemented but let’s introduce a few:
-Halloween
-Comic Cons / Cosplay
-theater/stage makeup
-music festivals
Picture from https://motorsportsbabe.com/
So you’ve probably heard of henna tattoos, but temporary tattoos are a little different and more versatile. Before anyone’s imagination runs off, there are no needles involved, it is airbrushed the same way the body art is applied. Temporary tattoos can also be used in a lot of the same ways as the body art we mentioned above but they last even longer. There is a mass-market appeal to temporary tattoos because they offer the exact opposite characteristic of a permanent tattoo…they are temporary… But this is good for artists because it appeals to an audience of all ages!
Children love temporary tattoos, who didn’t want that mean-looking ‘MOM’ biker tattoo when they were younger?! The great thing is, they don’t have to fight their parents on it and they feel like they got away with a real tattoo.
Even adults are game for temporary tattoos! Some people just aren’t fans of needles, ink, or the permanent part of the equation- and that’s okay… Why settle for one tattoo that you keep your whole life when you can get a new one every other week? 😉 Just kidding, we don’t expect anyone to get them that often, but the concept still applies- it’s a fun and non-binding alternative and allows everyone to be involved. If you want to learn more about how to get started with Body Art or Temporary Tattoos read more about it here.
- Cakes and Pastries
When it comes down to cooking and baking, the recipe is only half the battle. The deed is not done until the yummy dessert looks as good as it tastes!
If you are a professional, then you know that you need the right tools to get the right results. In a world where technology is disrupting traditional processes, it’s good to see what’s new and what’s possible as things change!
Airbrushing allows you a unique opportunity to try something new creatively and deliver a one-of-a-kind pastry. If you think about it, using an airbrush allows you to decorate without actually touching the baked goodies!
Here is one from https://www.instagram.com/sweetoccasionsuk/
You also have more wiggle room to play around with style and colors, every stroke is not final. Airbrushing releases a fine mist of color and applies it gradually over time as the color concentrates on the layer of your pastry or cake. If you see something you don’t like or want to change a pattern that you started, all you have to do is go over a few more times and you can work a new design in.
Airbrushing allows you much greater versatility in your work as well. Depending on the needle size you choose, you can get extremely fine and detailed in your brush strokes- if you feel uncertain about your creative abilities, you can even utilize stencil outlines to deliver amazing designs for cakes effortlessly.
Learn more about how you can take your desserts and cakes to the next level here!