Airbrush Step by Step Magazine - January - February - March 2024

In this issue

In English language, you got these two words: COLOR and PAINT. „Color“ describes the optical color tone, i.e. blue, green, red, etc., whereas „paint“ refers to the liquid that is applied with an airbrush or paint brush. In many other languages such as French and Spanish it’s similar – except German. Can you imagine that in German, we have only one word, having both meanings? „Farbe“ – quite imprecise, isn’t it? But however, „paint“ and „color“ are of course closely linked in art and especially in airbrushing, it may be significant to choose the right PAINT for the requested COLOR.
This issue is focussing on both aspects: It is bringing up artworks with a special color effect, such as the cosmic pyramid illustration by the Venezuelan artist Irán Caro, which literally shines out at us. As well as Lorena Straffi's butterfly, coming to life from a cloud of color. Of course, there are reasons for this enormous brilliance: While Irán Caro works with fluorescent paints, his Italian colleague Lorena Straffi relies on a pearlescent base coat.
The cover art work by American artist Joshua A. Zarambo even makes color and paint the central pictorial element - and here, too, the special use of glitter and flakes enhances the effect of the already bright colors. Another special feature of this work: Zarambo uses the AI image generator Midjourney to find designs and is explaining this approach to you.
Of course, all artists have been using paint and color(s) for painting for hundreds and thousands of years. Around the year 1503, Leonardo da Vinci used oil paints on poplar wood for his famous Mona Lisa painting. What if you use synthetic paper, Createx Illustration paint and an airbrush for this artwork? Australian Paul MacDonald was brave enough to try this – and didn’t just focus on the famous smile, but also on the cracks in the 500 year old wood to make it look authentic….