Share your cheap tricks and special effects!

[colourshift]

Clouds 101

Many of you may be already of this technique. It's an oldie but a goodie.

Items needed are:
Polyester Quilt batting (high loft works great)

For colour I used:
ComArt Opaque Cobalt Blue
ComArt Opaque Phthalo Blue
ComArt Opaque White
ComArt Transparent Smoke
ComArt Transparent Violet

Pic one, taped off a piece of bristol board (Painters post it tape works great).
Pic two, started laying in a saturated fade of the Cobalt.
Pic three, increased the intensity of the blue at the top with Phthalo Blue.

[colourshift]

Take the batting, and stretch it till you get uneven holes & gaps, something you like. (see first pic)

Spray with white, through the batting, here and there...being careful not to hose it down...you want to alternate paint and air so it dries, and you don't get unwelcome surprises when you lift the batting. (second pic reveals what sort of result you get with only a little paint)

I went back in again with white and the batting, lifting occasionally to see the result. A little freehand work was done to intensify the whites here and there.

[colourshift]

I went in with a smoke/violet/airbrush medium mix (5/1 with the smoke to violet) for a little shadow underneath the clouds. (first pic)

Didn't like the formation, and went back in with white and batting, creating more of a mass... reshadowed....and the reveal. (second pic)

My apologies for the quality of the pics, I'm still learning what's what with the format....

[colourshift]

De nada, posting leather tomorrow... sometime. I gotta remember how to do it first...
Just don't get the cotton batting, it doesn't spread apart like the poly does.
WalMart 3.50 for a small roll of batting. Will last you ages.
This method has been used on Trick my Truck, by Ryno...so it's urethanes approved.

[zackarybancroft]

Very cool how-to! Thanks for posting it!:)

[GrossGraphix]

sweet way to make clouds. I will have to rember that.

[sharonsstudio]

If you use uros with the bating doesn't it stick?

[colourshift]

I've seen Ryno doing it with Urethanes, but he's going very light, and moving it around a lot. He's not pressing it down to the surface, either, holding it just above.
Not an issue for me, personally, I only (so far) use AutoAir.

[Whit]

Thanks for the lil "Trick" here,,,
sure to come in very handy !!!:partyalone:

[jerseycrazee]

i like it !
as everything in my mornings are cloudy :cheers:
thanks for posting the tricks

[Ladypainter]

Yep, I tried the clouds with Uros on a TEST panel....
Batting was not cotton so it STUCK to the paint surface.

Let's just say I took a different approach :banghead:

[colourshift]

Good to know...but again, when I saw him do it...he was holding the batting away from the panel. (okkkkk, maybe he was using auto air? He didn't specify...and I gotta wonder, can you mix auto air and uro's when you're doing graphics?)
The cotton you could try...but it'll have a totally different look, as the cotton does not separate like the poly does.

[Maxx]

and I gotta wonder, can you mix auto air and uro's when you're doing graphics?Up front and brutal, no you can't. Ultimately, yes you can. It's just tricky and you have to be very careful. Most I've seen always use an intercoat clear before moving on to uros. And sometimes, if you spray a very light coat of uro you can get a way with it. But it will more then likely wrinkle your AA if you don't take much caution.

[colourshift]

AHHHH. thanks MAXX! Always good to know.

[colourshift]

Update with quilt batting and Uro's...I talked to Ryno a couple of weeks ago, and got a chance to ask him if he uses something special for a batting replacement.... nope. Quilt batting, or fibrefill. He says he keeps it slightly away from the surface and moves it around a lot.

[twinclaire]

Hi all, another way of getting a cload affect is to screw up some kitchen roll in your hand, move your hand across your painting and chase it with your airbrush, you get real nice affects.
Melanie

[Maxx]

He Mel, can you clarify "screwing up a kitchen roll" please? :threesome:

[twinclaire]

Yes maxx.

If you tear off a strip of the tissue just screw the paper up in your hand so you get a wrinkles shape to it chase it back with a soft white
Melanie

[twinclaire]

Another tip ?

I now someone who opened up a tin of house paint she droped the tin on her large canvas, the way it droped it left a pattern on the canvas she took it to a gallery and sold it for £2000 what luck.

Melanie

[blinddog 99]

Another tip ?

I now someone who opened up a tin of house paint she droped the tin on her large canvas, the way it droped it left a pattern on the canvas she took it to a gallery and sold it for £2000 what luck.

Melanie

Mel, there is a famous American abstract impressionist artist, Jackson Pollack, who did just his in several of his "periods". He dropped house paint from a ladder onto canvases, used turkey basters, dried paint brushes, and threw the cans themselves.

His best sold for hmmm, $ 140 million. Here is a pic. The funny thing is, he used a lot of Sears latex paint, and curators and conservationists are freaking out because the paintings are beginning to disintegrate, and they have no preservation solution. This painting was in 1948 I think, and is titled lol, #5!

[corey]

great tip

[Bob Coker]

Lynne,
Someone turned me onto this tecnique years ago and I blew it. Looking back, I was too heavy-handed. (Operator error) You've given me the inspiration to try again.
Gracias.
-Bob

[Maxx]

Mel, there is a famous American abstract impressionist artist, Jackson Pollack, who did just his in several of his "periods". He dropped house paint from a ladder onto canvases, used turkey basters, dried paint brushes, and threw the cans themselves.

His best sold for hmmm, $ 140 million. Here is a pic. The funny thing is, he used a lot of Sears latex paint, and curators and conservationists are freaking out because the paintings are beginning to disintegrate, and they have no preservation solution. This painting was in 1948 I think, and is titled lol, #5!

I know, to each his own and art is in the eye of the beholder, but in my opinion...what crap!! It just proves that some people have more money then they know how to spend. Just think what $140million would do for the homeless, or to fight cancer, or some other such great cause.

[Maxx]

For tees and cloth.

Airbrush bright circles of colors in rings withing rings. Twist the cloth and spray black all over the twist. Loosen and tighten the twist if needed to get the desired effect.

That's awesome! Kinda like airbrush tie dye.

[colourshift]

Bet you could go with almost a batik look with it too, depending on how you rouched the fabric, etc...

[redanner]

Thanks Lynne great how-to!

[AirTodd]

Tip for the day.Don't do what I do you.Your work will not improve.

[boneyard.se]

I did´nt read the hole thread here but here is a tip for cheating fine line.

Loosen up the needle and pull it back just a little bit and adjust with the pressure on till you are happy with the fine line, the negative side is you might get paint where you dont want it...

My Iwata HP-CS cant delliver the same fine line as my CM-C, I did this a few times and it worked... and you save some money at the same time

// Tomas

[redanner]

Hey y'all we are looking for good tips and tricks that have been posted to the board to add to the AirbrushTECH website.

Show us your tips and tricks by adding the links to this thread as you run across the good ones.

Don't be bashful! Show us your tips and tricks!

I don't have any tips and I don't turn tricks! LOL But I would like to share a web site I ran across! This artist is phenomenal! http://www.katewerk.com/index.html