smokingskull

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

I sketched this skull design for my friend Steven Craig one morning when he was needing a skull smoking a cigar fast. I had offered to skull him to death and he took me up on it. Later that day, I made this shirt to send to him to show him how I would paint it using the flame background of another skull with a cigar that he had painted on a dragster. This is the collection of photos I took as I airbrushed his shirt. The shirt and photos were made while cleaning airbrushes and changing needles and tips because I had left them unused for 2 days prior to doing the shirt. The airbrushes were spitting on me uncontrollably and reeking havoc and it shows in the first few photos. This is a good reason to paint every day to keep up or to increase your skills and to keep your airbrushes working properly.

I have printed out Steven's flaming smoking skull on the dragster and I am using it for reference pinning it to the corner of the shirt board out of the way. I use soft vine charcoal to lightly sketch the flames in around the skull. If the charcoal goes on to dark I blow it off with an airbrush. The vine charcoal blows off easily from the fabric but does not all blow off so be careful how dark you make your sketch.

This photo is very difficult to see. The red lines are more visible to the right. Using a hot iron on cotton setting with no steam, I iron the paper very slowly lifting the edge carefully to see if the transfer is on the shirt dark enough to see the lines. An iron has hot spots so I do this to see if all the design is being ironed on and none is being missed or too light to see. The transfer may also be by placing the shirt on the table of a heat press at 350 degrees and laying the design on top with the red outline down. Place a sheet of paper on top of the transfer to keep the top of the heat press clean. Close the heat press. Wait 30 seconds and open. Place the shirt on a shirt board. I iron the shirt to lower the nap. Ironing the fabric on the masonite shirt board adhere's the shirt and lessens the overspray

I enlarged the line art to 16" to fit well on an x-large Jerzees Super T shirt. I halved the enlargement and printed both halves out on my printer. I cut off the edge of one sheet to the end of the drawing center. I taped the two sheets together. I taped the sheets on to a window, face down, where the sun would shine through the paper to show the drawing better. This is a method for a quickie light table. I drew the design on the back of the paper using a seamstresses red transfer pencil available at most fabric stores used for transfering embroidery designs on to fabrics. I taped the transfer on to the shirt, on the shirt board, centering it and placing it at the height I wanted it to be. I placed it higher close to the collar in case the shirt will be tucked in

I outline the skull and the cigar in Createx Transparent Dark Brown shading in some of the areas I want to push back to give it depth. I use Createx Florescent Blue to airbrush in the rising smoke from the cigar. With Createx Transparent Red I outline and fillin in the sections of the flames where i want to have more redness. I also add red to the end of the cigar. This is where the red is not working well.

Using Createx Flesh I spray the skull leaving the eye sockets. I lightly airbrush the molars fading forward to the front of the teeth. I also airbrush Flesh into the cigar. Using Createx Florescent Yellow I spray lightly around the edge of the skull and inside the edges between the teeth and the jaw bone. I airbrush lightly around the center of the skull moving outwards to the outside edges and around the nose. I airbrush more heavily on the jaw bone underneath the cheek bones down towards the chin. I airbrush more heavily parts of the flames, cigar and the ember where I want the color to glow. I want to build my color slowly and not drench the fabric.

Using Createx Golden Yellow I have worked around the skull adding more definition and movement to the flames. I airbrush around the edges of the skull filling in the bacground more heavily. I airbrush Yellow into the cigar and into the ember. I touch with a light spray around the skulls's crown, above and on the brows, bridge of the nose and the molar areas. I change to Createx Florescent Blue and airbrush in the eye sockets and the nose. I also use a very fine mist to hit the teeth spraying more heavily as I airbrush towards the molars. I airbrush lightly along the bottom of the chin, along the side of the nose spraying heavier on the rightside where I will be making more of a shadow to define my light source. I very lightly have airbrushed along the top of the brows curing the strokes to follow the curve of the skull. I add blue for shading behind the eye ridges and to the lower jaw underneath the cheek bones. I do this in order to bring a play of color across the skull and to create depth through the layering of colors

In this step I have airbrushed Createx Transparent Red into the background bringing it around the skull, into the areas between the jawbone and teeth fading into the flames. I have airbrushed a very fine mist at the sides of the cheek bones and on the lower jaw to push back those areas to give it more depth. The airbrushing this way will give the impression of a red reflection from the flames onto the skull.

Using Createx Transparent Deep Red I airbrush the lower sections of the flame tongues fading up into the tops. I darken the area around the skull following along the scallops of the flames. I airbrush the background around the skull blending it into the Transparent Red as you would a halo. Using Createx Beige and Light Brown to fill in the cigar leaving the wrapper white. I define the skull lightly airbrushing in ridges and adding shadows to the teeth under and around the crown and forehead, brow ridges, sides of nose, the cheek bones and jaw shadows rounding out the skull using more in the deeper areas fading out into skulls center line. I change to Createx Transparent Violet and airbrush around the skull and teeth I define the scallops of flame around the skull pushing those areas and creating more depth. I airbrush the burgandy into the eye sockets, nose cavity of the skull. I lightly spray the areas of the cheek bones to the side of the nose fading down from the lower edge of the eye sockets and on the jaw bone below the cheek bones. I add a little curve to the lower left of the burning ember, to the edges of the cigar and along the right side top of the cigar to make them look circular. Very lightly I airbrush the shadowy areas of the jaws above the teeth with light strokes to show the ridges. I spray around the teeth tops not attempting to outline them but to shadow each tooth edge. I break up the surface of the cheek bones, jaw and around the eye sockets with shadowy ridges. I add difinition to the brow bone to make it look more sinister by curving the shadows up around the sides of the skull from the tops of the brow bones at the outer edges of the eye sockets. I deepen the area between the eyes underneath the brow ridges that protrude over the nose cavity and blend downward toward the crown of the nose.

Using Createx Transparent Burgandy I darken the background around the skull and airbrush into the flames. I spray lightly under the cheek bones on the lower jaw, under the brow bone, along the bridge of the nose down to the molars, and on the sides of the skull. I add burgandy to the eye sockets and nose cavity the sides of the cigar and the lower left of the burning ember. Changing to Createx Opaque Black I darken the eye sockets fading the inner socket corners towards the bridge of the nose under the brow. I deepen the grooves around the teeth, The sides and the lower left of the end of the cigar.

Createx Opaque White is used to punch out the high areas of the skull and flames. I airbrush white to the top of the nose cavity and along the edges of the nose and eye sockets. I raise the ridges above the teeth and the teeth themselves keeping to the left side. I spray white onto the high areas of the cheek bones, forehead, lower jaw and chin. White is used to delineate the top edge of the skull. I run curved dagger strokes throught the flame tongues. I add white to the top of the cigar and the cigar band. Dots and squiggles are added to the ember of the cigar to make it look lumpy. White is used along the edges of the ember. The smoke is airbrushed in curving and following along the blue trail I sprayed in Step 6

Switching once again to Createx Opaque Black, I airbrush around the skull bringing it into the flames. I airbrush Black into the areas between the teeth and the jaw bone. I once again spray into the eye sockets and into the nose cavity to define the edges. I deepen the lower left portion of the cigar ember. With very fine strokes I add cracks into the skull. Using Createx Florescent Blue, I airbrush into the smoke to add color. Very lightly I spray the white along the edges of the skull, the eye socket, nose and molars. Switching to Createx Transparent Pthalo Blue I airbrush lightly to deepen the curves in the smoke.

Createx Florescent Red is airbrushed around the skull and into the flames to give them shape. Createx Golden Yellow is then used once again around the skull moving outwards to the outer edges of the design to produce a high glowing effect. Golden Yellow is airbrushed into the cigar band. Switching back to Createx Transparent Red I fog in a ring around the outside edge of the Golden Yellow along the edge of the design and to once again go over portions of the flames to punch out the color. Createx Opaque White is used to highlight the skull's most prominent areas, a few of the flame edges, to bring out a shine in the cigar band and to define the smoke rising from the cigar.