Airbrushing Bullet Holes

By Don Johnson
Airbrush Technique Magazine

The ever popular bullet hole is very easy to airbrush and with this how to article I'll show you just how easy it is. If you have practiced the basic airbrush lessons here on howtoairbrush.com you have no problem airbrushing a bullet hole. What I used for this how to article: double action airbrush, House of Kolor base colors black, white, orion silver, transfer tape, hobby knife. You certain can use water based or water born paint for this if you like.

I'm actually killing two birds with one stone with this as I actually have to do two bullet holes for a customer. I had this helicopter pilot helmet done when the customer decided he wanted two bullet holes in the visor so here we are doing bullet holes. pictured above.

After wet sanding the visor with 600 grit sand paper I applied transfer tape as my masking on the visor for the bullet hole. As you can see I've drawn my bullets holes and cut them out of the transfer tape.

I used transfer tape as the surface I'm airbrushing the bullet holes onto is curved and I will achieve harder edges on the bullet hole than trying to use a stencil. Pictured above is a bullet stencil I cut out of card board; if you are applying bullet holes to a flat surface it would work well but not on a curved surface.

Now onto the fun part, spraying paint; first we'll apply our base coat of orion silver. Be careful not to use a lot of paint here as you do not want a big ridge of paint out lining the bullet hole when you pull the masking off.

Now with our next color which will be reduced black we'll mark the center of our bullet hole for reference. To help us with the next two steps.

Now with the transparent black we'll add a shadow area at the top of the bullet hole. With a very transparent white we'll add a high lighted area to the bottom of the bullet hole.

Center a hole template on your bullet hole dot and airbrush some black into that area. There you have it pull the masking off and you should have completed bullet hole.

Pictured above are the two bullet holes I just airbrushed, pretty easy stuff isn't it. I just need to clear coat the visor and it's a done deal. I hope you found this short how to helpful and can put it to use in your next airbrush project. Please book mark this site and come back soon to see what I've added to the site.

I hope you found this article helpful.
Two more great resources to learn more about airbrushing, kustom painting are my airbrush, kustom painting magazines. Check them out via the links below. Until next time "It's just paint" have fun.

Airbrush Technique Magazine

Airbrush Artist Magazine

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