Einstein analog / digital portrait

 

This is a proverbial combined freehand airbrush / Affinity Photo portrait of One Stone a.k.a. as Einstein, the relativity bloke. The man that urged Roosevelt to develop nuclear arms, that the US used to bomb Japan (twice) when the outcome of WW-II was already decided. In a long lost past I used to take up the airbrush gun and spray paint on different kinds of surfaces. With one or two exceptions always worked freehand, i.e. without any masking. 

Today, I work in the digital realm mostly, because it is convenient, less of a hassle and - most importantly - corrections are relatively easy to make in less time than is the case with an analog airbrush. I do sometimes however pick up the trusted Iwata or Harder & Steenbeck airbrushes to get my mind off things I need the time to process in a proper way; the old way of airbrushing works better to do such a thing than the digital stuff.

I used the Iwata HP-BH airbrush to spray the Inspire H2O paint on an old piece of paper that I had laying around. Very low air pressure, thinly diluted paint and Chillhop music to drift away, but not too far to be unable to do anything useful. To be honest, I like the HP-BH more than the Custom Micron, probably because I like different things better than what commonly is considered to be the best of the best. I was forced to buy the HP-BH on an airbrush show, after one of the visitors had stolen my Paasche V1 - which was the best tool ever - when I took a break and left the V1 unattended on the easel.

I dropped the HP-BH on the floor and because I never use the back cover of airbrushes, the needle was driven into the nozzle quite hard. I had to get it out using a pliers, because it was firmly stuck. However, the HP-BH kept on spraying like it never happened and I used the same needle and nozzle for years after the incident without any problem. I would not recommend hammering the needle into the nozzle before use, but I became convinced of the high quality of Iwata airbrushes.

Being a senior geezer, when finding an old airbrush painting, I see mistakes I made and correct them in Affinity Photo - a digital photo editing program, that resembles Photoshop, but is much much cheaper and equally as good or better. Check out my pixel paintings and vector portraits in my VectorWhiz website that you find here. Most recent stage at the top, older ones in chronological order, below it.

Digitally edited in Affinity Photo

On my DIY vertical light table

Analog airbrushed with Iwata HP-BH

Analog airbrushed with Iwata HP-BH

Early stage

Airbrushing again - 2pac

After not having touched the airbrush gun for a long time, I picked it up again and started to spray a freehand airbrush portrait of 2pac. Used the Iwata HP-BH and Custom Micron SB, Inspire H2O paint on canvas. Below are the various stages - at this point (June 19 2020) it still is a work in progress. Oldest stage at the bottom, newest on top. Note: the difference in the hue and subtle shadows in the canvas' grooves structure is the result of the fact that some pictures were shot during the day while others were taken at night in artificial lighting.

Colour overlay 3D experiment on computer
to see the effect that I'll perhaps airbrush

Freehand airbrush portrait of Johan Cruijff

After a long time of not having touched an airbrush, I took up the tool again to make yet an other portrait of Johan Cruijff. He was one of soccer's all time great players along with Pele, Maradona and Messi. Off the pitch he was a warm blooded man, who was moved when seeing a disabled child playing near a swimming pool. In that moment he decided to help common young people and the disabled in particular. In my mind that sets him apart from many of his glamour seeking peers. Cruijff looked past the boundaries of the world of top level soccer and saw human beings who were in need of a little help that they were unable to obtain anywhere else.

Remarkable things happened during the airbrushing of this portrait. When I planned to set up the portrait, which is drawing the image of his face onto a blank canvas frame, I picked up my cellphone to see what time it was. It read: 00:14 hours. 14 is the number that Cruijff wore on his shirt... Two day later my daughter sms-ed me, I picked up my phone and it was 14:14 hours... This blew me away. I often have such synchronicities when creating portraits, but I felt in this case they were extraordinarily strong and clear. I suspect some artists to have had similar experiences.

Below you see a sequence of various stages of the portrait; the oldest at the bottom, the newest on top. I used the Iwata HP-BH and Custom Micron SB airbrushes and Inspire H2O paint. The original photo was a black and white picture and I decided to spray the portrait in monochrome, since the visual impact of the image was powerful, beautifully expressing Cruijff's mindset. At this point - May 9 2017 - it is a work in progress, advancing quite slow since I am having lower back discomfort. I will post significant updates when ready. Stay tuned and please be patient.

Update nov 26 2019
Becoming increasinly displeased with the result of the airbrush portrait, I edited this work (that no longer is in my possession) in Affinity Photo. You can view the result in this blog entry.

Dog airbrush portrait

I haven't airbrushed a lot of animal portraits. This is the second one of a beautiful dog. Tools used are the Iwata Custom SB and Inspire H2O paint. Surface is 30 x 40 cm canvas. This is a work in progress. Newest stage on top, oldest at the bottom.

Note:
In artificial light, which source is above the painting, the structure of the canvas is more visible than in the photos shot in daylight.

It's probably best to place the painting in a square frame with a passe partout in matching colors to suit the dimensions of the dog's head.

3D rendering of airbrush in virtual frame - II

3D rendering of airbrush in virtual frame - I

Daylight photo

An other Hazes portrait

Using the ideal combination (at least until I find something better): Shooting Inspire H2O waterborne paint, mixed with Createx 4012 reducer through an Iwata Custom SB onto Createx Yupo paper (45 x 32 cm). Until recently I favored the Iwata HP-BH airbrush, but the Createx 4012 reducer allows the H2O paint to snugly pass the Iwata Custom SB nozzle / needle combo, while NOT continuing to flow after hitting the paper. Yupo is a synthetic paper which has an extra smooth surface on which paint 'spiders' easily since there is a minimum of grip. But Createx seems to have solved the paradox of paint having difficulty to pass small size nozzle (0.18 mm) while making it stable immediately after hitting the paper.

The clusters of molecules of paint typically are ten times smaller than the nozzle opening, which may sound like a lot, but actually isn't since paint builds up on both the needle and inside of the nozzle, which rapidly narrows the surface through which paint has to pass. A good reducer somewhat reduces the size of the paint molecule clusters and keeps them afloat before the paint is exposed to air. After that it should allow the paint to adhere to the surface the paint is sprayed on. This is exactly what the Createx 4012 reducer does. This is of course asking a lot of the reducer medium. The price the artists pays, is being very alert on the sounds the airbrush makes; if it starts to whistle, immediately move it away from the paper, clean the needle tip or even take the needle out and clean the entire needle. Than blast a few pulses of air through it to remove clogs of paint.

Which all is very convenient, since this portrait is a rush job...

In 2.5 days from blank paper
to a virtually framed portrait

Apr 03 2016 - 20:00

Apr 01 2016 - 02:00

Apr 01 2016 - 01:00

Apr 1 2016 - 00:00

Mar 31 2016 - 22:00

Mar 31 2016 - 17:30

Mar 31 2016 - 11:30

Danny Trejo - freehand airbrush portrait

Freehand airbrush portrait of Danny Trejo, work in progress. Started using Vallejo Flow Improver with Inspire H2O. Mix ratio paint : reducer : flow improver = 4 : 12 : 2. The increased viscosity results in less tip dry and slightly longer drying time of the paint, which improve color blend fades. DO NOT use Flow Improver when spraying ultra-fine crisp lines, because the mentioned properties also cause the paint becomes too fluent  after it hits the paper and spreads in all directions, which airbrush artists call spidering. The dimensions of the head are approximately 28 x 28 cm. I used an Iwata HP-BH airbrush and Van Beek Graphic Art Supplies Retouche paper.

Oldest stage below, newest on top. By the way, if you click on one of the images, you will see them against a dark background (in Google's 'lightbox') and will be able to scroll through all photographs on a page by turning your mouse's scroll wheel on a PC or Mac. As usual, below the photos additional information concerning this portrait is presented.

In frame

Reworked in July 2022 in Affinity Photo

Mar 27 2016 - 14:00

Mar 3 2016 - 12:00

Feb 29 2016 - 13:30

Feb 29 2016 - 12:00

Feb 28 2016 - 21:00

Mix-ratio
It occurred to me that a mix-ratio paint : reducer over 1 : 3 doesn't work well with Inspire H2O. For ultra-fine lines 2 drops of reducer for each drop of paint works best. When the paint is diluted beyond the 1 : 3 ratio the paint skids all over the paper surface - the same thing occurs when spraying on canvas. I sprayed this one on wood and acid free smooth paper. It's probably worse on synthetic paper (which I haven't yet tested). But when you stick to the 1 : 2 ratio it is safe; the paint behaves fantastic.

Air pressure
I never look at the dial of the pressure gauge. I just blow air against my hand to find the proper pressure to spray with. I tend to lower the air pressure so that the paint is barely pushed out of the airbrush, but one has to be careful; at some point the airbrush starts to make stipple patterns (which is controllable with intense concentration) and with even lower pressures becomes unpredictable. Also at low pressures, the jet of paint takes a few seconds to stabilize. I keep a small piece of paper in my left hand (I hold the airbrush in my right hand) and after stabilizing 'jump' to the painting surface. I re-stabilize the jet of paint on the small piece of paper very regularly and make sure that the needle is cleaned as often as necessary by taking it out of the airbrush and wiping it clean. Inspire H2O Black Smoke paint stays stable longer than its Base Brown and causes less tip dry, I found out suring spraying.

Removing blots
When a spider forms, it can be removed by quickly dipping the spot with the hand that is not holding the airbrush. This trick leaves no unwanted residue as long as the hand motion is approximately perpendicular to the painting surface. Smearing motion will leave traces.... Mind you, this only works when spraying with very low air pressures that do not deposit a lot of paint on the surface per measure of time.

Working in layers
The master painters of old (dudes like Rembrandt and Vermeer) often used a technique called 'glacis', which means working in transparent layers on top of each other. They knew that working this way created the illusion of depth and allowed subtle color nuances to be achieved that can never be reached in one pass. These tricks that the old masters used, work with the airbrush as well. In fact, the Inspire H2O paints are excellently suited for them. They're transparent, but also have the proper pigment intensity to create great results when working in many layers. It is the exact opposite as T-shirt (speed) painting in which colors are blasted on the tissue in one or two passes at higher air pressures, because the T-shirt fabric absorbs the paint well and spiders will therefore be prevented. But if you like working in more subtle ways on harder and smoother surfaces like paper, airbrush board and canvas, spray in many layers (using a number of different colors).

This is what the cut-out will look like when framed.

Charles Bukowski - freehand airbrush portrait

I never read novels, except a few written by Bukowski. His life, for the greater part, has been a struggle - abusive father, severe acne, alcoholism, arrest by the FBI (on suspicion of draft evasion), death of a lover, shitty jobs, publishers that failed to recognize his talent as a writer and poet, divorce and leukemia (which killed him), basically all the type of crap that makes life thoroughly miserable. In some cases that results in interesting facial characteristics, a challenge to airbrush artists.

Newest phase on top, oldest at the bottom. Below the latter is some more text.

Update March 7 2021

Four years after I sprayed this portrait with an airbrush, an Iwata HP-BH airbrush gun and Inspire H2O paint on paper, I digitally reworked it in Affinity Photo. Bukowski had a nicely twisted mind, resulting from the life he was cast into on this planet, that drove him to write hard hitting, strange books and thereby gaining a considerable following of people that probably had strange aspects to their personality as well. Which they carefully hid of course in an attempt to inconspicuously participate in the imposing human society in this dimension.

Affinity Photo has all the tools to allow to apply subtle details to any image that take it to a more elevated level. Artists that got familiar with this type of functionality appreciate the efforts of the developers, who most likely are artists themselves, given the perceptive properties of the program's features.

August 21 2021 - Colour overlay
added in Affinity Photo

August 21 2021 - Halftone filter
added in Affinity Photo

August 21 2021 - digitally edited
in Affinity Photo

March 7 2021 - digitally edited
in Affinity Photo

Feb 10 2016 12:00 finished

Feb 8 2016 12:00
Almost done. Charles Bukowski freehand airbrush
portrait. Only white highlights on skin and hair (this
will reveal how well Inspire H2O Base White works)

Feb 7 2016 20:30

Feb 6 2016 12:30

Feb 5 2016 23:00

Feb 5 2016 17:00

Feb 5 2016 15:00

Feb 4 2016 16:30

Feb 3 2016 21:00

Feb 3 2016 18:00

Feb 3 2016 14:00

Learned a lot while making this portrait. Diluted the paint as follows: Inspire H20 : reducer = 1 : 6. But in order to avoid having to spray with white too much (highlights and hairs) it will have to be diluted even more. This makes it necessary to spray more layers, which will take more time, but also give the painting more depth while allowing me more control over the intensity of areas and lines. I asked the mega talented Italian airbrush artist Luca Roccaforte once how he (and Alberto) sprayed the fine hairs in a fur and he told me they spray around it... It requires a lot of focus, control and time (patience), but it probably is the only way to avoid spraying the highlights and hairs with white over previously sprayed colors in order to prevent the infamous and irritating blue hue.

The paint I used (obviously) is Inspire H2O, the airbrush Iwata HP-BH and paper Van Beek Retouche paper - image size just under 30 x 30 cm. It would be a lot easier to spray a larger image, but there's no challenge in that. Also using solvent based paint would allow spraying of finer lines and less clogging, but it's not recommended for indoor use.

Photographs are shot with Samsung S4 Mini cellphone cam. It explains the low quality of the images. There is a noticeable difference between photos shot in daylight and in artificial light. All the different settings in Samsung's standard cam app and an app called 'A better camera' were unable to produce decent photos.

A note on the dreaded blue hue when spraying with white on top of previously applied colors
Spray around the hairs as Luca explained as much as possible. Accurate spraying of the shadows on and below hairs, minimizes the covering of white over other colors. Things go wrong when the white fades on its edges. When spraying crisp, hard edged white lines, the result is not too bad. Spraying with white as a final process does give the extra accent that makes paintings (especially portraits) stand out. Inspire's H2O is the best I've encountered so far. Mix ratio paint : reducer = 1 : 3 Clean the brush often; the white has powerful adhesive qualities and opacity while allowing to spray ultra fine lines (provided it is cleaned properly and often). To clean the airbrush I used an environmentally friendly organic type cleaner - ASA airbrush cleaner (500cc) from Airbrush Services Almere.

And finally a nice quote from Mr. Bukowski. Those who have more than two properly functioning brain cells should think about his words real f*cking hard: