Fine Art Airbrush Project:
Cherries

(The original photo was purchased from (c) www.istockphotos.com/onyxrain and is a copyrighted photo therefore it can only be used for demonstration purposes and not sold as original art)

For this project you will need the following:

• your airbrush equipment
• a selection of paints
• painting surface (illustration board, canvas, or something similar
• thin marker
• pencil
• transfer paper (or drawing skills)
• frisket
• exacto knife
• white pencil crayon or water color pencil
• eraser
• scrap white paper

NOTE: It may seem like 32 steps to paint a couple of cherries is a lot... and I agree... but I am trying to be as thorough as possible as not to leave anyone behind :)

Scroll down when you are ready to start!

Step 1

Cut a piece of illustration board (or canvas, or whatever you are going to paint on) to about the same size as the reference photo.

Step 2

Using the thin marker, outline the the image. Now divide the image into color groupings.... that is, mark the locations where the colors change. For these cherries, I marked the darkest areas, and the lightest areas

Step 3

Place a piece of transfer paper on the illustration board and then place the photo on top. Make sure to lightly tape everything in place so it doesn't shift around on you. use the pencil to go over the lines you made with the marker (you may have to press firmly to ensure the transfer works)

Step 4

When you're done tracing it should look like this. If the lines are really dark (like mine) use an eraser to lighten them up.

Step 5

Lay a piece of frisket over the illustration board and use the exacto knife to lightly cut all the way around the cherries, the stems, the top of the stem and the highlights in the cherry.

(Basically, cut everything but the color divisions)

Step 6

All right! Now it is time to get to the painting!

For this airbrush project, I am going to paint opaque (i.e. full strength paint). When painting opaque you must start with the lightest colors first.

So here on the photo reference I have indicated the lightest of the color. This is the color that I am going to mix and apply first.

Step 7

Mixing colors is not easy! It takes practice! I have been doing this quite a while and you can see here that it took me 4 tries to get it right. I have indicated beside each try the paint combination used - not because I want to give you the formula for the right color (because formulas don't work) but instead to give you a "jumping off" point.

Step 8

This is just a close up of the color match. Surprising how light the color is isn't it? Our eyes and brains play tricks on us and try to tell us colors are different than they actually are!

Step 9

Remove the frisket covering the fruit part of the cherries. Use the point of the exacto knife to lift a small corner to get it started.

Step 10

Spray the paint in the areas of the cherries that were marked as light. Don't worry about staying in the lines or being neat.... just spray it in. Make sure that you spray full strength.... that is spray the color in till it is full saturated.

Step 11

To keep things neat and tidy, use your finger nail to lightly scrape the paint that oversprayed onto the frisket.

Step 12

Here is what it looks like cleaned up.... I will continue to do this for each step but won't bore you with pictures of it.

Step 13

Now I am ready for the second lightest color as marked with the #2 on the reference photo.

Step 14

Mix the color trying to get as close a match as possible. Again be patient with this part... i got it in two tries (yay me!) but it may take you more. Just keep trying.

Step 15

Apply the newly mixed color in the areas marked using the lines from your tracing as a guide. Don't worry too much about going out of the lines...and don't worry that it looks so, um, wierd, at this point. It will all come together in the end.

Step 16

Now on the the third color. Six tries for me this time.

Step 17

Once you have the color mixed start spraying in the areas indicated by the tracing markings.

WARNING: This is often the point where people give up because they think they have ruined it. It is not ruined... it is the ugly phase!

This is why the ugly phase happens.... when you spray dark colors and you have not sprayed them to full saturation yet they give off the strangest colors... in this case a ghastly orange. The orange will go away - just keep spraying and trust that you mixed the color correctly....and most importantly, trust yourself.

Step 18

See....now that it is fully saturated it looks a lot better.

Step 19

One more color to mix and we're done with the cherries. This is the darkest color.

Step 20

Spray the darkest color in the area remaining. Be careful not to obliterate your lighter colors with overspray.

Step 21

Remove the small pieces of frisket covering the highlights.

Overall, the cherries are a little flat.

They need detail. Use the tip of your exacto knife to scrape in the little highlights around the larger highlights.

Step 22

You can also use a white pencil crayon to add the little flecks of light color into the skin of the cherries. If the white marks show up to bright, knock them back by dusting lightly with your airbrush.

Step 23

OK! On to the stems.

Replace the frisket you removed from the cherries. This is done to protect the work that you have done, so replace it carefully - you don't want any gaps. Also be sure to cover up the holes where the highlights are (where I used tape).

Remove the frisket from the stems and spray yellow paint at the tops and bottoms.

Step 24

Now mix a light green color. There are two colors of green in the stems but the area is too small to mix multiple colors for....so what we are going to do instead is airbrush in light green paint and then use a transparent green to darken it up in areas.

Step 25

Spray the light green with your airbrush fading it into the yellow areas.

Step 26

Now put green transparent airbrush paint into your well (I used moss green) and darken areas of the stems that are slightly darker.

HINT: If you are worried about spraying too much too fast, water down the green transparent paint... it will allow you to apply the paint slower without requiring fine airbrush skills.

Step 27

Once happy with the stems, I replaced the bits of frisket and remove the piece of frisket covering the connection point of the stems.

For this little bit, I am going to use only transparent paint to airbrush it in. First I used a brown watercolor pencil to indicated the darkest areas.... this is optional as it doesn't add much to the overall look.

Step 28

Then I smudged the brown watercolor with some water.

Step 29

Here I sprayed the entire "knob" with burnt sienna transparent airbrush paint to get the browny-orange color in.

Then, to add a little more dimension, I used a torn piece of paper and some transparent burnt umber to add the details.

Step 30

ALL DONE!! Remove all the frisket and compare to the reference!