There's lots of chatter about how the use of stencils somehow gives an airbrush artist a great advantage, so much that some artists boast about not using stencils and airbrushing completely freehand. Stencils do offer an advantage, but not in the way most people think. Two types: Airbrush artists use two different types of stencils. One type is the proportional...
One of the biggest misconceptions about improving one's artistic skills is that all you need to do is practice. Many people tout the phrase "practice practice practice." However, I've come to the conclusion that artistic growth is not about doing the same exercise again and again until you become proficient, and artistic growth doesn't come from making 10,000 brush strokes. It comes...
There are lots of theories about how to reduce paint, with some artists promoting specific ratios, and others telling us to reduce paint to the consistency of milk. The problem is that ratios don't always work the same way for different types of paint and air pressure settings, and reducing to the consistency of milk isn't always appropriate either. In...
Since my last article, Ai has made huge leaps in quality, in many cases exceeding the reach of all but a few painters. This will become a problem for many artists, especially designers, who cannot match the speed and quality of Ai.While Ai cannot make a painting, it can produce amazing images (like these shown here) with limited resolution. However,...
What comes to mind when you think about the arts? Is it a work by Michelangelo or Monet? Or how about a book by Jane Austen like Pride and Prejudice? It might be a Beatles record. Whether we're discussing performance art, music, literature, or visual art, they all have one thing in common: they were all created by humans....
Artists have two major fears. The biggest fear is color. That fear is pretty much universal across all mediums. The reason artists fear color is that our perceptual faculties are subject to many influences, making our ability to judge and compare colors unreliable. For example, the "white" (or sclera) of the eye might actually be a dark brown under certain lighting conditions, but...
We all have our choice of airbrushes, and yet most of the top pros prefer the side cup Micron over the top-mounted C model. Why is this? I can't speak for other artists, but there are 8 reasons why I prefer the side feed over the top feed airbrush. 1. ease of cleaning. It's simple. The side cup is removable and can be cleaned...
We all know that edges in nature are not always perfectly sharp and crisp. On the other hand, not every edge is a big fuzzy blur. Oftentimes, edges (transitions) are between hard and soft. Freehand airbrushing will create edges that can be too soft, and stencils can create edges that are too sharp. We need an easy way to create intermediate edges. The...
Have you ever wondered why many great artists seem to be modest about their work, and less-competent artists tend to have over-inflated egos? You've probably noticed that some great artists don't recognize their high skill level. They are so focused on improving their work that all they see are the mistakes in their work. Never satisfied, they are constantly trying to overcome...
Where does ability come from? We've all seen the child prodigy who dazzles the world with a display of extraordinary skill, which we often refer to as talent. We imagine that this child emerged from the womb immediately able to amaze us. But is this ability a talent or is it a result of practice? Did the child's genes or their...
