03/19 E AIRBRUSH STEP BY STEP 5924
Establishing the grisaille
Like the first painting, I de-
velop my grisaille, or monochromatic
underpainting in a similar manner. I
started on a Neutral Grey 5 base and I
step out my values accordingly in both
directions toward light and dark. For
this particular painting I have utilized
masking products from FBS tapes and
distributers primarily using their “Le
bleu” masking tape of which I cut out
from my plotter.
25
Blue approach
Similar to my reference examp-
le and first step using the CMYK Cyan
illustration color found in my paint kit,
I apply the color using the guide above.
Also similar to the first painting I begin
to pull forward my mid-tone values and
highlights using my neutral gray paint
predominantly the values number six
through nine. I may go back-and-forth
between my cyan blue and my gray va-
lues several times here. Again it will
be different from person to person asit is still meant to be treated as a pain-
ting in a traditional manner – just with
a modernized approach to color.26
Magenta stepping in
In this step you can see the
magenta starting to be applied accor-
ding to the reference model at the
beginning. I’m concentrating solely on
the face and it’s immediate surround-
ing area so that you can see the tran-
sition between the cyan blue and the
magenta.27
Intuition or mathematics
In the step I have fully realized
my magenta application and have be-
gun pulling forward some of my mid-
tone and mid-tone highlight areas simi-
lar to step four. I also revisit areas with
my cyan blue and continue to darken
some of the recesses and shallow are-
as with this color. This is where I allow
intuition to coincide with a more ma-
thematical approach. I find the synergy
of both knowledge and intuition to be
upmost important when painting an
image with neither taking precedence
over the other.
28
Yellow
In correspondence with my co-
lor break down model in the beginning,
I continue with my color passages, this
time with the CMYK yellow illustrati-
on paint. I also revisit my magenta and
cyan blue prior to again pulling some
of my lighter values forward.29
Fine-tuning
In this step I begin to really
fine-tune some of my details. Focusing
mostly on my mid-tone highlights and
highlight areas.