cube

Visualize a geometric cube. Place a small dot in each corner of the cube. This is a good practice for mastering "Targeting" with the airbrush. Try to maintain a consistent dot size. Once again, you can do this by placing the airbrush close to the surface and gradually pulling the trigger backwards. At the same time, push the trigger downwards to activate the air/paint mixture.

Use what was learned in the previous exercise and start connecting-the-dots. By practicing the small distances needed to connect-the-dots, this will prepare you for the next exercise in making "Straight Lines". Start by creating what I call a "Ghost Line". I call it a Ghost Line because very little paint is applied with the airbrush, giving a transparent look. This help get a feel for the direction, motion, distance and trigger control needed before tracing over the Ghost Line and applying enough paint to make a solid line.

Continue doing the lines that are applied in the same motion as the previous. This will help in gaining confidence and steady your hand. Place your "Pinky" finger on the surface to help as a guide in keeping the line straight. Concentrate on making the line the same width as the dot.

Once the horizontal lines are done, start doing the diagonal lines. Remember to continue with lines that follow the same direction. In this photo you can see my "Ghost Line" got a little wavy and needed to be corrected. Not a problem.....

........it can be corrected. In this photo you can see how the line is now straight after repeating the "Ghost Line" with a solid color pass over it. What you are trying to accomplish in the exercise is consistency. Work on creating lines that are equal in width. This is just another practice to help you achieve airbrush control that is required before moving onto illustrations.

Don't worry about how the cube looks at this time. This exercise is not intended for you to create a picture perfect illustration. The design is meant to look crude at first. By repeating this process, you will eventually begin to see progress as your skills develop.

Going back to the previous exercises, we are going to use the "Dots" to create equal size circles to turn the geometric cube into "Playing Dice". Start with a small dot and gradually bring the airbrush away from the surface to produce a larger size dot. Continue creating dots on each section of the cube to make the "Dice". This is yet another practice in targeting and maintain equal dot sizes. Concentrate on keeping the same distance away from the corners and edges with each dot.

Just for fun and so you don't fill the Cube with too much over-spray, darken the lines by going over them again. But, this time use a straight piece of paper as a freehand shield. Make several passes over one line at a time. This will also help in practicing airbrush control.

I know about now you're getting impatient and want to move on to the next lesson. With the Dice complete, try going in and adding some shading. These lesson will come down the road but it will give you something to play with for now.

Re-trace the steps to make thicker lines. The more practice in targeting the airbrush, the better. Add a drop-shadow to the bottom of the dice.

Once you feel comfortable with the motions of creating the first geometric cube, do a second cube with different angles. To help you get started Airbrushtech has provided a downloadable worksheet to assist you. Practice filling in the dots by getting the correct size with the distance from the surface and the air/paint mixture controlled by the trigger. Do not move the airbrush in circular motions to fill the dots.

For this next excersise we are going to take what was learned so far with the Connect-The-Dots lesson and continue by creating a geometric cube.

Steven Craig is the owner and head painter of SKC CUSTOMZ in Lake Havasu City, AZ. In the past Steven has won the House of Kolor Prestigeous Painter Award and was a 1st Place winner of Dupont's Hot Hues Awards. He most recently was awarded the Matrix System's FX Grand Prize Award. Steve paints a wide range
of jobs from guitars to large off shore boats. Visit his web site at

Airbrush : Iwata HP-BH, Custom Micron B
Spray Guns: Iwata LPH400 and Iwata LPH300
Paint Media: PPG, Xotic Colours, Dupont and Matrix Systems
Surface Media: Everything I can get paint to stick to.
Masking : R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes
Projector: Artograph
Lighting : Natural and Florescent. Spray-Line and Spray King Paint Booths