Some Like It Hot

Some Like It Hot!
by Mike Ellwood

reprinted courtesy Airbrush Technique Magazine

Mike Ellwood owns Twisted Designs air brush studio located in Pasco, WA. Step by step article covering airbrushing the ever popular realistic fire.
You can check out more of Mike’s work at www.twisteddesigns.biz .





Step #1.
Our canvas for this project is a powder coated aluminum hood. Mike started by wiping it down with PPG DX330, then it was scuffed with grey MIRLON Mirka scuff pad to assure good adhesion. This was followed up by a second application of DX330 and a thorough drying.









Step #2.
With the hood sufficiently prepped, Mike applied two coats of PPG DMD1683 Black Base Coat, using a SATA NR2000 DIGITAL2.









Step #3.
After allowing the base coat sufficient time to flash off, Mike sprays some Molly Orange with a SATAgraph 3, lightly dusting the negative portion of the skull and crossbones included in the Quick Shields 2 set from Beyond 6 Productions.









Step #4.
Next Mike starts by free handing in some loose flame structures. It is important to keep these loose and random at this point to avoid an overly structured design, remember that fire is chaotic. Use good reference photos, i.e.; camp fire, fire place.









Step #5.
After free handing in the basic shape of the first layer of fire, Mike started detailing the skull using a combination of free handing and shield work using the positive image of the skull.









Step #6.
With the first layer of Molly Orange done, Mike mixed some PPG Radiance Candy Dye into DBC 500 and reduced it with DT870. Using a SATAminijet 4, Mike puts down a good even coat of red candy.









Step #7.
Once Mike got a loose basic fire going he came back with a shield to sharpen up some edges. Mike selected one of the medium multiple curve templates out of the Quick Shield 2 set.











Step #8.
After allowing the candy mid coat sufficient time to flash off, Mike returns to building the image with Molly Orange. This was followed by an application of candy tangerine.









Step #9.
After working back and forth with Molly Orange and the candy colors, Mike moved to the next layer. Although the detail looks white, it is actually light yellow. He started to freehand details onto the skull.









Step #10.
Mike started adding another layer of flames using the light yellow using a combination of free hand and shields. Mike grabbed the positive skull and used it to protect the detail while lightening the area.









Step #11.
After Mike was happy with the layer of opaque light yellow, he applied a layer of candy yellow of it.









Step #12.
After allowing the yellow time to flash off, Mike used the candy tangerine to add depth and shadow to the recessed areas of the skull and inner curves of the flames.









Step #13.
This picture shows the completed application of the candy tangerine.









Step #14.
Happy with the overall proportions and depth, Mike used the light yellow to bring out detail and push the design forward. He did this by using negative shield to protect the surrounding area.









Step #15.
After pulling the details out, Mike gave the entire design a coat of candy yellow to blend the layers together.









Step # 16.
Mike repeats the previous process a couple of times, careful not to overwork the design.









Step #17.
Satisfied with the design, Mike used a shield to protect the design while using the original base coat color to erase over spray.









Step #18.
After allowing base coat sufficient time to flash, the panel was tacked and then cleared using PPG3000 sprayed with a SATAjet RP 1.3




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