Honing his skills through high school helped him realize his passion to paint. Mike attended Edinboro State University majoring in Corporate Arts and Illustration. While in college another of Mike's passions, music, took hold and he left after his third year to pursue a career in rock and roll. To support his life as a lead guitarist, he worked in body shops in the Erie, PA area where he grew up. He learned about fabrication and prepping and was given the opportunity to paint murals and graphics on his friends' cars. He spent a good deal of time modifying Sportsters, old Triumphs and other types of abandoned British motorcycles. Mike was coming to the realization that his life would somehow need to find direction that would feed his passions for airbrush, fabrication and music.
After many years in PA, starving, and often undercutting his own efforts in order to survive, Mike decided to take the opportunity to move to Arizona and work at a small paint and body shop. For the next nine years (with a short stint starting the paint department for Titan Motorcycle Co. of America) Mike worked with Dean Calderwood and helped build his small 3-man operation to the business people know today. Thousands of bikes were painted at his shop for companies such as Titan, Bourget Bike Works and Jim Nasi Customs, just to mention a few. Many well-known customers came through the doors to have Mike add his artistic touch to their bikes, street rods and anything else they wanted to give an award winning design.
Mike Learn Airbrush and Design was founded in 2002 in a 600 sq ft shop on the back of our property in Tempe, AZ. Over the first year we quickly gained an expanding client base and we hired my sister Darla to help handle the business. By the beginning of 2003 it was obvious that he needed more space, so he leased a large shop and set to work promoting the business. Mike’s core clients were sending more bikes than he could handle, and referrals were quickly coming in. New employees were hired to speed up the turn around process, but soon, Mike knew he would need some help with the paint and artwork. In August he brought Krash on board to help with the huge workload.
Belly Guns
Mike and Diana decided to create a line of merchandise to take to the art industry with the flagship product, Mike's Precision Airbrush, the MOJO leading the way. They filmed 3 instructional DVDs and nurtured a SEM Color Horizon's endorsement to R & D some new, exciting and top-of-the-line paints created especially for the custom painter. They created a strong alliance with ROLAND, and added stencils and vector design CDs to the product mix. This coupled with thier educational web site LearnAirbrush.com, completed the retail part of the plan. In February of 2006, Darla took a turn for the worse, and ultimately lost her battle with Leukemia on April 30th.
"So now here we are, full circle, back to working out of a shop on the back of the property", explains Diana, "However both are considerably larger than the 2002 version. Mike and I have a renewed passion for our business. The product line is booming with a total of 9 instructional DVDs and dozens of other items. We have our own Magazine. Mike is painting bikes, guitars, album covers and the occasional vehicle."
MIKE LEARN BIOGRAPHY
MIKE LEARN INTERVIEW
#1 What made you become an artist?
I found that when I was young, art was a great way to occupy myself.
I loved creating stories and comics.
I knew from the very first day of kindergarten that I wanted to be an artist, I just did not know what kind.
In Jr High I got an airbrush to paint models.
I had no idea what it could do at that time.
Then one Christmas Season I saw a guy airbrushing Tshirts at a mall.
I watched him for hours and I was hooked.
That is when I knew I wanted to be an airbrush artist.
#2 Who are the artists that you think were a key to your artistic development?
They arrived at a crossroad. With one chapter of thier lives closing, they thought maybe a geographic change may help renew the spirit and aid in healing. "We took a vacation to Colorado for a friend's 40th birthday, and for "fun" looked around at some properties.", says Diana, "The night before we were to leave to
#3 What inspires you to paint and how do you keep motivated?
I am inspired by science fiction, music and the never ending sequence of demented visions I have in my head. What motivates me right now is the fact that I have 3 mortgages to pay. ha ha ha. But on a consistent basis I try to bust up my day. I am a one-man operation so I do not airbrush all the time. That gives me the opportunity to put more creative focus and strength into each project. I do not have to jump from one creative project immediately into another, which as we all know can easily cause creative block and burn out. I enjoy the freedom that Jackson/Charvel gives me. They allow me to get creatively crazy on each individual piece and do not give me much in the way of guidelines. That type of job is always fun and keeps me interested. I am also motivated by my constant efforts to bring together an intangible world. I strive to give the imagery in my head a perceptible emotion and real story.
#4 What technique do you use in your work?
I am primarily a freehand artist. I use a lot of loose shielding and I mix computer masking in quite often for both efficiency and for added dimension. A lot of my physical technique as far as the unique way I hold the airbrush and work the trigger is based on comfort and the need to continue to airbrush for long periods of time.
#5 What is your favorite medium and how does it influence your creativity?
#6 Do you plan out your work, or do you tend to work spontaneously?
A little bit of both. I like to work initially from a sketch, but I do not lock it down at that point in time. I allow the painting to grow and I give myself room to play with things as I go. I use the sketch primarily for layout and composition and leave the details to flow spontaneously.
#7 Are there any special tools or brushes that you reach for most often?
Without sounding like and advertising plug, I use my Richpen MOJO exclusively. This brush has enabled me to reach another level of detail. It had tightened my creative resolution. I never thought I would ever find a brush that I could put my name on. I always had to tweak and tune my brushes to suit my need. The MOJO has been a godsend.
In addition to my airbrush, I use loose hand shields that I generally cut out of spray out cards, a stabilo chalk pencil, CorelDRAW and a Roland GX-24. I swear by SEM’s white and kandy colors.
#9 Tell us about your use of color. Do you have any preference for any color, if so, why?
I prefer to use transparent kandies for my color. I like the richness and vibrance and I like the interaction of the secondary colors that you get from mixing the kandies together.
#10 What advice would you give to an artist just starting out? Don’t do it for the money. Keep your interest in what it is you love to do artistically. Don’t worry about what other people say about your art. Do what it takes to motivate you. And don’t get lost feeling like you have to be someone else artistically.
#11 If someone has a gift of art, should they go to art school and why?
I am torn on that. Art school has very little to offer the airbrush artist. If you go to school you should go for a general education. Business and marketing would be useful if you want to be a professional artist. From my own past experience, my artistic education was a waste in compared to the experience of getting out and doing it. In my opinion, you learn a lot more from your failures than you can learn in school.
#12 How have you handled the business side of being an artist?
Terribly. I hate it. I hate being involved in the business aspects of being an artist. I really enjoy the teaching, but knowing how much I need to make, need to charge or need to collect, along with all the other mundane business aspects, does nothing but whittle away at my creativity. I enjoy talking to customers about ideas, but that is it. My wife takes care of the business.
#14 What are your immediate and future goals?
My immediate goals are to stay creative, keep the passion and continue to create diverse learning tools. My long term goal is to eventually be able to do nothing but fine art, sell prints, teach and paint what selective few other projects I would want to do.
#13 What is your most important dream as an artist that has yet to be fulfilled?
To have my art appreciated and respected amongst the other forms of media out there, without being looked down upon because I use an airbrush to create my work
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#15 Are you doing anything now that is helping you to establish yourself as an artist in the world?
I think that my web site, my exposure with international musicians and record labels and working with Jackson/Charvel is bringing me to an international market. At LearnAirbrush.com we have quite a large international following and membership.
#16 How would you describe yourself to us? (and please don't be modest.:)
I am just an artist who is constantly growing – mentally more than physically. I have battled a long road of politics with passion. I think my strengths lie in my imagination and my creativity and my weaknesses are in dealing with stress. I really do not care if anyone does not like my work or disapproves of it. I have a need to get things out of my head and on to media. Sometimes what I do visually is not acceptable to others, but I am not curbed by worries about how someone is going to react to my artwork.
#17 In what ways do you think the Internet affects your art in todays world or in the future?
The internet has been fabulous for my business. My portfolio site has allowed my paintwork to be viewed by people all over the world and my airbrush community site has allowed me to take our products to market internationally and interact with and mentor artists from anywhere. On the downside it has made my imagery very available for copying and for other people to turn into tangible products illegally.
#18 Do you think that the fine artist will survive as technology replaces our skills?
That is a tough one to predict. There will always be a certain amount of renaissance appeal to artists working with their hands and paints and brushes. I think that as artists we should look at technology as a tool to enable and enhance what we can do with our hands therefore making it that much more difficult for a computer to take over what it is we do.
#20 Is there anything that you'd like to add for our readers?
I am an artist and I will do whatever it takes to survive as an artist. It does not necessarily mean that it will involve my paintwork. It may involve something I don’t even know about yet. But I am willing to do whatever it takes. I know that diversity is the key to success and we have met that need with learning aids, DVDs and our airbrush products. As we watch future trends and encounter new opportunities, my business will change and adapt as necessary.
#19 What other interests do you have (besides painting)?
I love building and playing guitars. I play in a Band here in Colorado, called Citizen Pain, that is getting regular gigs. I also enjoy working with metal doing fabrication and sculpture. I have an air-cooled VW fetish and I enjoy action-packed internet gaming
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Mike Learn has been a top name in the Kustom Paint industry for many years. His work is recognized throughout the world for excellence and ingenuity. Mike, along with his wife Diana, are undoubtedly the hardest working couple in the field of Automotive Art and Airbrushing. They have dedicated their lives to creating unique artworks and promoting the growth of the
"Don’t worry about what other people say about your art. Do what it takes to motivate you." - Mike Learn
Kustom Kulture. Mike spends the majority of his time painting, designing and doing instructional classes, Diana runs the business side. She operates the their well known website, www.learnairbrush.com, is the editor of AB Mag and on occasion, even gets her hands dirty painting.
come home, an ad in a local magazine caught our eye. A large property for sale that had both a house and a very large shop on it. On the way out of town, we swung by the listing. One look at the 3600 sq ft shop, complete with paint booth, and I think we both knew that we would be moving to Colorado, though it took us several days to admit it to each other."
#8 Would you please describe your process for our readers?
I like to work on black or dark surfaces and I like to bring the light out of the darkness.
I generally start by creating a wide range of values using contrast and tension in a painting to create focus. I strive to make the painting complete with the white. I like to feel as though if something happened to me before I got to color, the painting would stand on its own merit. I think good composition and use of dramatic lighting and contrast are of the utmost importance. Once I am happy with my underpainting I will move on to color washes, then start in with detail work to re-establish the darker areas. I will finish up with final highlights.
Belly Guns is a lot of things. But first and foremost, it is a new artists' tool developed by Mike Learn. Born out of the need to help his students paint the human form. Belly Guns is a masking system for painting pin-up style art. You will no longer have to spend hours on line or looking through magazines for reference photos or worry about copyright infringements.
Editorial by Steven Craig and Diana Learn
An Indepth Interview With Kustom
Paint Master and Entrepreneur
"Mike Learn"