Airbrush

Airbrush Occupation #2:  Kustom Painting

Kustom painting is a term used to describe the decoration of automobiles, motorcycles, trucks and vans with images painted primarily with an airbrush.  Although kustom painting has enjoyed a heyday for the last decade, it has its roots in the 1960’s hippiedom development of van painting.  Today, though, not only have the images changed, but the techniques have become more sophisticated and a multitude of products have been developed specifically for this application.  Many of the top kustom painters have come out of other airbrush disciplines such as illustration, T-shirt painting and fine art, etc.

The popularity of kustom painting has been enhanced by TV shows such as “American Chopper” on TLC and by visibility at trade shows such as the annual SEMA Show held in Las Vegas.  This year at SEMA, as in past years, Iwata-Medea/Artool drew thousands of attendees to their exhibit booth by having some of the top airbrush kustom painters in the world collectively paint a mural for the duration of the show.  These included Craig Fraser, Pamela Shanteau, Mike LaValle, Steve Driscoll, Fonzie, Gerald Mendez, Deb Mahan and Ron Gibbs, who not only demonstrated their painting finesse, but answered questions posed by attendees as well.  Another popular booth at SEMA was House of Kolor, which also provided exciting live demos to attendees.

Kustom painting has developed its own aesthetic movement with a particular look that is extremely hip and created primarily with freehand airbrushing in conjunction with templates and stencils.  The images used—whether realistic flames, skulls, tiki idols or palm trees—are being utilized above and beyond automotive painting but with the same skill and techniques in the decoration of guitars, surf/skate/snowboards, helmets, appliances and painting in general on metal and plastic surfaces.  This expands the market, as well as the incomes, of kustom airbrush painters.

To get started, there are many workshops offered around the country by top educators in the airbrush field. For those wishing to learn on their own, there are books by Pamela Shanteau and Craig Fraser as well as DVD’s by a multitude of artists available that teach such necessities as the dagger stroke, how to mix and thin appropriate paints, how to prepare surfaces for painting, the importance of clear coating and much more.

With all airbrush applications, the most important thing is getting started and practicing.  Kustom painting now extends to any object on which automotive painting techniques can be applied, thus expanding the horizon of the kustom painting occupation.

FREE New Airbrush Newsletter – Go to www.airbrushtalk.com for the new issue of AirbrushTalk.  Check out Holiday Vest in Deco-Denim by Janean S. Thompson, The Business of Custom Airbrushing by Donn “Too Tall” Shanteau, Chariot of Fire:  Ghost Flames on a 2004 Corvette by Thomas Adams, New Products for the Airbrusher and Airbrush Workshops.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 19 No. 2 — December 2008