coloringbook

Aerose Artistry, Airbrush Art By Denise
Denise Thurston, Grand Prairie, Tx
has been airbrushing professionally
since 1991 in the Dallas/ Fort Worth
Metroplex. Among her accomplishments
are many "Best Mural" awards with the
top being the "Best Mural" award for
the "Lowrider Of The Year". Her work
has been seen in feature articles and
as show winners in Lowrider, Lowrider
Euro and Chevy Truckin'. Denise's experience encompasses many forms of airbrushing. See Denise's artwork at her website

Airbrushes: Iwata Eclipse BCS, HP-C, HP-C Plus, Custom Micron CM-C Plus, Paasche VL
Media: Sherwin Williams Ultra 7000, Planet Colors, Xotic Colours, Createx, Fine Artists Acrylics
Surface Media: Anything that gets put in my face that paint will stick to.
Transfer Media: Dritz Red Transfer Pencils
Masking : R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes when required
Lighting: Natural, Incandescent and Florescent.
Projector: Artograph AG100
Compressor : 1 1/2 HP 3 Gal Puma Direct Drive

The Concept Of Practicing With Coloring Books
As children we all had our fun and exercised our artistic expressions coloring with crayons in coloring books. When we grow to adulthood we give coloring books to our children to color in. For children it is an experience to learn to control their coordination in preparation for learning how to write.

We started out scribbling. Coloring every which way because we had no control over what we were doing. We didn't know any better. This is the same in airbrushing. We don't really know what we are doing till we learn control. When we learn control a whole new world opens before us.

Our coloring books become mini art galleries that our parents cherish. We write better as well as color better. Before we know it we are grown and we leave our coloring books behind and go on to bigger and better art such as airbrushing. There is no reason that we can't use the same coloring books to learn how to airbrush and to also learn the usage of color in paints.

Re-Forming Our Concept Of Coloring
When first using our new airbrush it is a normal action to try to airbrush like we learned how to color. We end up with scribbles and blobs that is reminiscent of our early years coloring. We try to fill areas with the airbrush like we would a pencil, pen or crayon. What we haven't learned yet is how to remove everything we learned about crayon application without losing the rest. Airbrushing is about creating shapes with color not using lines of color to fill shapes. Controlling the air flow is another crucial factor in learning to airbrush. We can create spiders and freak drops by staying in one place too long, being too slow with too much air flow. By airbrushing on paper we learn how to control our air flow and fluid output.
Coloring books provide us with line art. It is up to us what colors we choose to use. We aren't confined by the limits that are placed upon us by copying the colors from a reference. We have the freedom to make our own choices of color selections.

When we begin to get our hand eye coordination into a more perfect state we also begin to learn the use of color and how to control color usage. Learning what colors to use and how to use them. What colors go good together and which colors don't. How to use the colors to shade and form shapes which gives an appearance of three dimensionality to our coloring.

Coloring books can be found everywhere in retail stores. Dollar stores have coloring books for $1 or 2. It's not a great amount of money to spend on a superb learning tool. Coloring books are made of newsprint or papers similar to newsprint which many of us use to practice our Dots and Daggers. The designs are already drawn for us all we have to do is to color them in. We can learn control of the airbrush as well as highlighting and shading techniques without the worry of having to copy, trace or sketch a design.

Blotchiness is caused by the overlapping of strokes and inconsistent spray. Practicing dots and daggers help us to control our air, paint flow and strokes. The forms in the coloring book helps us to create shapes with fluid motion of the airbrush.

One misconception to a beginner is the use of black for shadowing and shading. Black is rarely seen in nature but we tend to grab the black instead of another color to produce our shadows. We think of black as being the color of shadows.
Another tendancy to a beginner is outlining the design with a color which we think will create the background and enhance the design. In a coloring book the tendancy is to color the page naturally. If the scene is of characters outdoors with trees we will color the background with a sky instead of making blue, red or purple auras around the characters.

White can be over done. Learning how to airbrush the shapes and forms helps us to learn how to save our paper/support color as highlights of our designs or as a color in our designs.
Many beginners wanting to airbrush t-shirts have preconcieved notions on how t-shirts are airbrushed from seeing other artists designs. Some designs are enhanced by sparkles and stars. Others are not. Using the coloring book it gives the beginner a chance to find out what looks good as a background surrounding the characters used in design.

Airbrushing A Page In A Coloring Book
Coloring books already have our design waiting for us ready to fill in but how do we fill it? We have to look at the object or figure that we want to paint and picture it in our minds what it will be like when it is in full color. The blue arrows on the mama bear is showing the shape of the figure and how the figure will be curved.

We also have to learn how to create shadows and shade our designs. Using lights and darks is how we create a more dramatic three dimensional figure. Light sources hit objects and create shadows and highlights. Highlights are reflections of the light. Shadows are the absence of light. The green on the Daddy Bear shows where the shadows would be if the light was coming from the top left. We have to create with color the illusion of light and 3 dimensionality.

To begin learning how to color your coloring book it is best to select a coloring book that is more for preschool children with large uncomplicated designs. The more control you gain using the airbrush the more complicated the coloring can be.

I am removing, with a razor, the page I have selected from my coloring book to paint. Leaving it in the book would mean having to flatten it out so it wouldn't curve on you. The paint may also seep through the page getting the underlying pages damp.

I am taping my page to a shirt board on my easel which has a poster board sheet over it. The board is dark and covered with old paint. I don't want anything behind the page interfering with the design on the page.

Painting The Page From The Coloring Book
I tend to use a lot of color to shape the objects in my designs. In other words I don't just paint something "Red". Red will be many colors from Pink to red to burgandy for example. I am using Createx in Paasche VL #3 airbrushes. I begin with a slight spray of Florescent Yellow on the areas of the leaves and caterpillar that I think will be the lightest.

I use Florescent Blue in the areas of the leaves that I know will have shadows. I add the blue to the caterpillar's eyes and to the top of his teeth under the nose.

I use Florescent red to add color to the caterpillars cheeks and to his tongue. I use Transparent Golden Yellow on parts of the leaves to mute the green color. I also use it on the body of the caterpillar. So far I am spraying very lightly. With the light spray the paper is not becoming too damp.

I use Florescent Green on the leaves very lightly in the high spots of the leaves. I use Transparent Pthalo Green to define the ribs and veins of the leaves. I also use it to begin the shadows of the leaves. The paper is becoming very damp in spots. Pthalo Green has always been thing and difficult to control. It is THE color that likes to puddle on me.

I use Transparent Tropical Green to continue to define the roundness of the leaves. I create the shadows of the hands on the leaves. I add a few curly vines in the blank spaces between the leaves to make it cuter. The page must be continually dried now with air only from the airbrush. I use the airbrush in a sweeping motion to hit all areas of the page. The greens of the leaves are becoming alive and the forms are taking shape.

I use Florescent Orange to add a little glow to my caterpillar. I switch to Transparent Orange and use this color to define my shadows in the caterpillar and create his final body shape.

I change back to Florescent Blue and spray in my background adding drop shadows to my leaves and the vines just for fun. I change to Transparent Pthalo Blue to color in the eyes of the caterpillar keeping the darker blue at the edges leaving the lighter blue in the center showing. I also use the darker blue very lightly in the whites of the eyes along the edges to give the illusion of roundness.

I spray tiny amounts very lightly of Transparent Violet at the bottoms of the pupils in the eyes to create shadows on them coming from the nose. Very very lightly I define the shadows on the caterpillar's orange body with the Violet under the chin, under the nose on the teeth, between the fingers, the pecks on the chest, on the arms beside the body and between the leaves where the body disappears.

I use Opaque White to fog in a few highlights on the leaves. I add a dot of white to each eye for sparkle. I spray white in between the blue outer edge of the eye and the pupil. A little white highlight on the cheeks, on the chest, on the edge of a leaf , on the teeth and my coloring book page is done.
No black was used in this page except the for the ink that was made to print it. The background fits the character in the design.