When I first started painting as a full-time professional Artist, the greatest majority of the work I created was Textile/Wearable Art painted on denim. As a rule all the design ideas first took form as Wearable Art on denim and were later refined as Fine Art subjects.
After an almost two year hiatus from airbrushing all together, sixteen years later things are coming full circle as I find myself creating a piece of Wearable Art that found its origins as Fine Art first and then as a reference for this step by step demonstration...
This is my studio environment - note the ventilator fan setup on the right-hand side on the table. Proper precautions must always be taken with regard to the over-spray that is a natural byproduct of airbrushing. Regardless of the fact that the paints may say; “Non-toxic” on the label, this does not mean they are safe to breathe in an atomized form. ANY paint in your lungs, whether it is “AP Non-toxic” or not is still a “foreign body” and you need to avoid it. In conjunction with the ventilator setup, we also use masks when painting.
The “shirt-board” used for painting the Wearable Art is homemade - it is a half-inch piece of plywood cut to roughly 28 inches high by 20 inches wide with the upper corners rounded off to better facilitate any garments stretched over it. This board is quite sturdy and will hold the heaviest garment quite taut when properly stretched.
I’ve stretched the jacket over the shirt-board and pulled it as taut as possible using standard spring clamps.
At this point the jacket has been masked off using a generic brand, 2-inch masking tape. I’ve used several different types of tape over the years and all have worked well with denim.
The image above combines two steps - First, once the jacket was masked off leaving only the area I wished to paint, I covered it with a Beige color known as Titan Buff. I used this color as a substrate to simulate the illusion of painting on a gessoed canvas. Second, using a projector, I transfered the line drawing of my subject using a piece of vine charcoal.
Using Burnt Umber Light, I reinforce the key lines of my line drawing...
Each Artist has their own way of creating a painting - some work on the subject first and add the background later, I like to work from the furtherest point and graduate forward, so I start with the background first. To create the under-painting that I will build my background on I start with Diarylide Yellow and Raw Sienna.
To recreate the painterly effect of the background of the original painting, I decided to apply the background colors with a brush. I find a ‘butcher’s pan’ makes for a good impromptu palette
Colors used here were; Bone Black, Payne’s Gray, Burnt Sienna, Yellow Oxide & Yellow Ochre.
At this point the background is complete. I’ve allowed the background to overlap the edges of the fur at this point as I intend bring the fur back over those areas later to help create the perception of dimension and depth.
Using Titanium White, I go ahead and define the white areas for balance - switching to Payne’s Gray,
I add in some of the shadow values as well.
In this step, using Bone Black, my darkest and lightest areas are now defined and the appropriate shadow values added to help visualize dimension. I’m using a copy of one of our LImited Edition prints of “Fox shows the way” as a painting reference.
Beginning with Yellow Oxide, I start ‘stroking’ in the fur - with each successive color change I take the color values from a Yellow into a reddish Brown - first: Yellow Oxide, then Raw Sienna and finally Burnt Sienna.
In this step, I continue to build my color intensity by adding Burnt Sienna and then Red Oxide. I’m using short, deliberate strokes that follow the natural lay of the fur to help build the perception of fur.
So far I’ve been pretty loose in my detail, concentrating mainly on blocking in my color. At this point using a bit of Payne’s Gray and some Burnt Umber and used these to refine some of the detail like the area around the muzzle that was a bit off...
Also using a mix of Diarylide Yellow and Zinc White mixed on a 1:1 ratio, I starting to add some highlights and reclaim some of those areas that I originally allowed the background to overlap.
Mixing Nickel Azo Yellow with Quinacridone Burnt Orange, I continue to darken the fur as is appropriate to those areas that require it... Using Burnt Umber mixed with Permanent Violet Dark and a drop or two of Carbon Black, I’m beginning to add the finer line details in the fur, such as individual strands of hair and further detail around the eyes and muzzle.
Mixing Violet Oxide, Burnt Umber & a few drops of Carbon Black, I continue to add more detail in the darker areas. I have also taken Titan Buff and started to add some contrasting strokes in the areas of White fur, like the ears, muzzle and tail to create the perception of clumped fur as opposed to one light mass.
In this step I have mixed just a couple drops of Diarylide Yellow with a fair amount of Zinc White to create a very bright, but pale Yellow - I filled the eyes with this mix to make them really stand out and also added a few strokes here and there to reflect strands of hair picking up the ambient light as represented in the background.
This is the point in the process where the refinements become more subtle - each step from this point on is more controlled... I’ve mixed Quinacridone Burnt Orange with a very small amount of Quinacridone Gold, and sprayed that on lightly in key areas to intensify the overall hue. This makes the face come more to the fore, puts the legs in proper perspective and adds ‘bushiness’ to the tail.
I’m not a big fan of using straight Black out of the bottle - the perception is too flat, so I usually mix Carbon Black with a small amount of Dioxazine Purple and just a bit of Quinacridone Gold to make it more perceptually rich... Using my mix of Black I reinforce some of the darkest areas of this painting; the eyes, ears, front legs & rear legs and individual strands of hair for depth perception.
This jacket is almost finished - Using Titanium White mixed Payne’s Gray I add a bit more depth to the fur under the muzzle, inside the ears and a bit of shading around the eyes and above them - With straight Titanium White I add the whitest of my highlights on the muzzle, ears and tail, and finally I take a bit of my “mixed Black” and knock down and over-spray from the Titanium White - done! (not yet...)
Using Titanium White I add some whiskers and a highlight in the eyes.
To totally recreate the same vibe as the original painting I need to add a feather in the upper right hand corner of the background. Using a White piece of chalk and a small feather as a reference, I freehand and outline approximating the size of the feather in the reference.
Now I add my little ‘Shaman” signature and make it official...
“Fox shows the way” - Wearable Art on Denim
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To inquire about commissions, or request more information,
please contact: jw@wolfsongstudio.com
