Airbrush

Airbrushing has been with us since a water-color artist, almost a hundred years ago, invented a way to achieve a smooth, even wash. An airbrush works on the same principle as a spray gun, but with far less air pressure and smaller amounts of color.

The background of this sign was airbrushed, from a photograph of a nearby hill, and the letters were then painted over it.

Almost any medium that may be applied with a brush or roller—watercolor, ink, enamel, lacquer—may be run through an airbrush (when thinned sufficiently). But with its fine control of spray width and density, an airbrush offers effects that can’t be achieved with brushes or rollers (or with spray guns).

Letters may have a fountain effect—be colored in even gradations from top to bottom, or even side to side—or letters and images may be rendered three-dimensionally, with shadows.

For this rainbow, I masked off the Brilliant Blue 1-Shot background with low-tack frisket material, cutting with an Xacto knife. Repeated arcing passes with the airbrush, loaded with a succession of colors thinned with lacquer thinner, created the fountain effect. After removing the mask, I outlined the letters with White.

Right: For this bed & sign I painted the underlying ‘foundation’ with an airbrush to achieve gradation in the sky and softness in the clouds. I then painted over the foreground and mountain areas with an artist’s bristle brush to get the texture of the trees and grass. Finally, the letters and numbers were painted with a sign painter’s quills. The result is a landscape that serves as a sign; needless to say, the client was very happy with the finished product.

Airbrushing is also effective in finishing sandblast or router signs.

Back to Scott Leslie Signs page