Basic Airbrush Lesson:
Six Color, Color Wheel

In this airbrush lesson, I'll show you step-by-step how to make the color wheel shown above using six colors.

For this airbrush lesson you will need the following:

• your airbrush equipment
• something round to trace a circle (bigger is better for this exercise
• a pencil
• exacto knife
• fisket (sticky back transparent film)
• red transparent paint
• blue transparent paint
• yellow transparent paint
• purple (or violet) transparent paint
• orange transparent paint
• green transparent paint
• white paper

This particular lesson is going to be pretty prescriptive ... and it's on purpose... it took me SIX tries to get the colors to over lap properly!! So follow the steps and remember to have fun!!

A word on color theory

I know I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. Knowing your colors is important.... it is the single most important part of colored paintings because poor color choices cheapen the results.

Remember that very few things in the real world are the color of paints that come directly out of the bottle.

Scroll down when you are ready!

Step 1

Trace a circle onto the frisket and use the exacto knife to cut out the area. Place the outside of the frisket (the piece with the hole) on to a piece of white paper.

Mark the circle from 1 to 12, just like a clock face.

Step 2

Mark the 12 o'clock position as Red.

Mark the 2 o'clock position as Purple.

Mark the 4 o'clock position as Blue.

Mark the 6 o'clock position as Green.

Mark the 8 o'clock position as Yellow.

Mark the 10 o'clock position as Orange.

Mark the 12 o'clock position as Red.

Step 3

Ok... here is where the airbrush lesson gets a little, um, anal. Just bare with me ;)

Load your airbrush up with yellow transparent paint and spray the paint from 6:30 to 9:30 as shown.

Step 4

Clean out your airbrush really well.

Load up the brush with blue transparent paint and spray the blue from 2:30 to 5:30.

Step 5

Clean out your airbrush really well.

Load up the brush with red transparent paint and spray the blue from 10:30 to 1:30.

Step 6

Clean out your airbrush really well.

Load up the brush with orange transparent paint and spray the orange from 8:30 to 11:30.

Step 7

Two steps in one here....

Clean out your airbrush really well.

Load up the brush with purple (or violet) transparent paint and spray the purple from 12:30 to 3:30.

Clean out your airbrush really well.

Load up the brush with green transparent paint and spray the green from 5:30 to 7:30.

Step 8

Remove the fisket and ... voila! A great color wheel.

Use a pencil to mark the colors on the wheel. Notice that you created new colors including:

• red violet
• blue violet
• blue-green
• green-yellow
• orange-yellow
• red-orange

Also notice how the center of your circle is BLACK! That's right. Transparent colors when all mixed together make black.

This black color is very useful. Black right out of the bottle in paintings is often really obvious - too black - often a better solution is to mix a "muddy" black-ish color by mixing transparent paints.

Bonus Info

The three photos shown below explain a very confusing color theory secret.

Colors that are opposite of one another on the color wheel dull each other

So that red you mixed too red? Add some green to tone it down.

That yellow too lemony? Add some purple.

That orange too orange? Add a little blue.

Do you see where I am going? Good!