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Learn the fundamentals of airbrushing for bird carving in this instructional video with acclaimed carver Floyd Scholz. Discover the history and basic principles behind airbrushing, including the differences between single-action and double-action airbrushes and how each tool controls air and paint flow. Floyd also discusses choosing airbrush equipment, the importance of keeping your tools clean, and the advantages of airbrushing for blending, shading, countershading, and other painting techniques. With an emphasis on practice, patience, and using the airbrush as a complement to traditional brushwork, this video provides a helpful introduction to incorporating airbrushing into your carved bird painting process.
Transcript
When it comes to applying paint pigment to the surface of a carved wooden bird or a painter’s easel, the traditional way of applying paint has always been thought using a bristle brush. Of course, the Chinese thousands of years ago developed that concept of attaching hog bristle to a section of bamboo and they would apply their glazes to some of their beautiful pottery and ceramic pieces using this method. In the late nineteen seventies, in the bird carving world, certain artists began incorporating the use of an airbrush to achieve certain effects with the color and blending of their carvings. This was met with a little bit of disdain from some of the quote unquote traditionalist who felt that the that this certainly flew in the face of the traditional art of decoy carving as it was incorporating new fangled techniques and tools. Little did they know that the applying of pigments to a surface using air or any type of air stream predates bristle brushing by many thousands of years.
Seven to ten thousand years ago in the caves in southern France, there are murals that still exist showing hunting scenes and animals long since extinct that were painted by the Cro Magnon and the Neanderthals that used that basic principle of forced air and applying an atomized pigment into it. And in essence, they airbrushed murals all over the cave walls by using a hollowed out reed and a little bit of a soot ash from the fire, perhaps some blood from a recently killed animal, crushed berries to give them certain pigments, and even handprints showed up on the cave walls and they would just basically take their straw, put it in the pigment, cover it with their thumb, and then they would introduce the airstream and the pigments and it would atomize that pigment distributed on the surface.
This method of applying paint predates bristle painting by many thousands of years. Airbrushing is a very simplistic beautiful way to apply color, but it has its drawbacks. It could be very seductive.
There are two types of airbrushes that we’re going to be discussing.
Airbrushes could be broken down into two distinct styles: single action and double action.
Simply stated, single action airbrushes require simply pressing down on a nozzle. The harder you press, the more forceful the air or the pressurized propellant comes out of the nozzle and more paint is introduced. A good example of a single action airbrush is a simple can of commercially available spray paint that you can buy in any hardware or home improvement store. You press down, the harder you press, the more pigment and the more force comes out, hence the more application of color.
A double action airbrush gives you infinitely more control because when you press down, you are introducing just compressed air into the tool itself. And then when you pull back on the trigger, you’re introducing pigment into that airstream in various increments and it atomizes the pigments and giving you a very subtle distribution of that paint pigment. It’s a magnificent way of achieving certain effects, but it is not an end all. Now, caution you.
I’m gonna be demonstrating a lot of airbrush techniques in the following demonstrations. It’s a very seductive tool. The more confidence you get with an airbrush and the better you get with it, it’s going to begin calling you in to use it more and more. You have to resist the temptation of over airbrushing your birds.
What I say is you want to avoid the velvet Elvis painting trap. You know, from a distance, oh, it looks great, beautiful and soft, but as you get closer, it lacks painterly integrity, which can only be achieved through the use of a detailing with a fine bristle brush. But there are certain phases of the painting of a carved bird where there is a nothing does as good a job as an airbrush. And believe me, I’ve tried them all.
Wet on wet techniques, blending counter shading, but there’s an airbrush tool that really seems to do the trick for just about everything.
Just like when you’re painting, when you’re airbrushing, you want to keep it simple. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment or tools, but you do want to invest in the best possible equipment that you can. My recommendation for a compressor would be any of the better compressors available from some of the current suppliers. Iwata makes a good one, Badger. Many of these companies that specialize in these tools make very good products. So invest a little bit more.
When it comes to airbrushes, there are an infinite variety of airbrushes on the market. All of them are good, and it’s a matter of personal preference.
My personal preference for airbrushing is a very simple little plastic airbrush designed for model making.
It’s made by the testers company, it’s called an Aztec system.
In essence, it’s just a plastic airbrush with a very easy to remove nozzle for cleaning because one of the key aspects to airbrushing effectively is to keep your tools clean. You can take the nozzle right out, take it apart and clean it, put it right back into the main body of the airbrush and you’re ready to go. The cup comes off, it can be set up for left or right hand configuration. It’s just a great little brush.
I like it, it’s lightweight, it’s very simplistic, it’s inexpensive and it stands up to a lot of abuse. Believe me, in my studio and during the course of my seminars, my tools get used quite heavily. And this is a little workhorse. It works very, very well.
So in the ensuing instructions, we’re gonna talk about airbrush setup, how to keep it clean and certain things about the troubleshooting of an airbrush. Like any tool, it requires practice, patience and stick to itiveness. And it’s with that type of persistence that you will gradually get a little bit better with this tool.