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In this how to you will learn the advanced techniques of adding color to a black and white painting on black fabric. This design begins with a yellow chalk outline of the highlights.

I like to begin with the brightest areas that are the easiest to paint. In this portrait it would be the stomach region. When applying the white Createx paint, the psi is set to 25 and the airbrush is 1 to three inches away from the surface depending on the amount of detail.

Follow Step 3 with the bright white area of her hair. When painting an edge, stay close to the surface and use a fine line. The more you move in from the edge use slightly wider spray and more distance from the shirt. Keep in mind that detail at this point in the portrait is important.

After painting the bright areas of the shirt, I like to piece together the main subject with the surrounding white. This includes the bright areas in her face, waist and arm.

I’ve also filled in some of the neck and hair. Once again, since these areas do not contain a lot of detail, they help to build from.

Here I have brightened the arm by layering the white paint. Layering is important because the surface absorbs the paint and to get white to be bright, layering it allows the white to build on the surface.

Now that the white is complete, I’ve switched into my black airbrush. I use three different airbrushes for designs like this. One dedicated to white, one for Black and one for color. If the design uses many different colors, using a fourth airbrush would be a good idea. The two color airbrushes can be interchanged with colors that are similar. For example, if yellow were used in an airbrush, switching to other cold colors (orange, red, pink, etc.) would be good. Switching to warm colors (blue, purple, etc.) in the same brush isn’t always good. That is what I use of the second color airbrush is for.

With the black, I start with the background and cut into all the white overspray. This allows the design to become more precise and increases the contrast. Notice it seems like I am painting out a lot of the white. There will be another white step later to achieve a good balance.

It is important not to use too much black in the areas where there will be color. If too much black is used, the colors will turn out to be muddied. This will be very unpleasing to the eye.

On to my third airbrush, I am using a mixture of Createx Flesh Tone, Extender and a couple drops of brown. The Flesh Tone is a little pink for my liking.

I use this color carefully over all her skin to create a good base to work with. The Extender in the paint makes it more transparent keeping the quality of the work below.

The previous step was done in two layers. Now I’ve added Createx Yellow to the hair just outside the face but inside the bright white areas.

This color is too yellow (I ran out of Golden Yellow) so I will tone it down with some of the Flesh Tone mixture I used on her skin.

The colors in her hair are not agreeing with me so I’ve decided to cover it a bit with white. It will make a good base for the final layering of paint in this area.

Now the hair is sprayed again with White and Black to build the contrast to increase the depth. Light amounts of black have been added to establish better shading in the stomach and face.

Normally in a color painting using black to shade isn’t always a good idea. It works well with this portrait because it is very similar to a Black and White painting and the color is more of an addition.

Now the face is complete and all the shading is to my liking, I’ve sprayed all the highlights again to give it that stand out bling. This stage is time consuming and must be done carefully. Going back and fixing something that was good to begin with is never fun.

In these final stages I have used a slight bit of shading with the Flesh Tone in the hair one final time to get the faded golden glow I was looking for.

After pulling the tape off, the area outside the design needs to be sprayed with black all the way to the edges of the shirt. I usually only spray to the seam near the sleeves

I'd like to publish a How To book or DVD to share my technique of painting on black. Almost everything I know about airbrushing came from the bookstore. Support your local airbrush artist and tell them I said "Hello from Arizona. " I encourage you to pick up and airbrush and give it a whirl. It has been the most exciting roller coaster I've ever ridden.

Airbrush : Iwata HP-BH, Custom Micron B
Spray Guns: n/a
Paint Media: Createx
Surface Media: T-Shirts
Masking : R-Tape and 3M Masking Tapes
Projector: Artograph
Lighting : Natural and Florescent.