An Article on Painting, by Louise Pitt, 2005

www.hollywoodhopefuls.co.uk

This is not an article dictating to you how to paint, but to share with you some ideas and techniques that work for me.

I handpainted for about 11 years, but after a 2 year break from the hobby to have my baby girl, I found that the hobby was demanding perfection, so I started airbrushing. I emailed a number of artists to ask their advice on equipment, supplies and techniques. Only one replied – Kate Schick of Tuscany Studios (www.tuscanystudios.com) and not only did she reply, but she was so helpful and forthcoming with ideas and advice even though she was extremely busy with her own painting business. Without Kate’s help, I would have been stuck as to where to go with my painting.

Kate recommended I start with an Iwata Eclipse HP-BCS airbrush, and so I bought one, complete with Iwata Sprint Jet compressor, from Paul Craven of Angelart Airbrushing (ollieozboy on Ebay - much cheaper than shops, etc) and he has been fantastic with advice online and over the phone, when I started up with the airbrush and when I have needed help troubleshooting, as well as buying new supplies for my airbrush, servicing it, new parts, etc as well as providing paint. I am more than happy to recommend him to anyone interested in buying an airbrush. He also sells other airbrushes, from Iwata and other makes, of varying prices to suit every pocket. A quick note about your airbrush, try to clean it after every use or in between colour changes, but if you cannot do this, try to take it apart once a week or so, and thoroughly clean it. They really are quite straight forward, and as long as you remember where everything goes after cleaning, it is a quick and easy, but essential, job. After I finish using my airbrush, I turn the compressor off, and expel any air and paint left in the airbrush, as this helps to prevent build up of paint in airbrush in between cleaning. Regularly check that everything is nice and tight, as sometimes a slight air leak will not stop the airbrush working, but can cause some ‘splatting’ in the paint finish.

Lots of articles on the Internet about painting recommended Jo Sonya Acrylic Gouache paints, and so did Kate Schick, so I decided to give them a go. I found a UK supplier called Auscraft (www.folkart.com) who were extremely helpful, and also sold a number of other Jo Sonya products, like the Flow Medium for thinning the Acrylic paints (don’t use the Acrylic paints straight from the tube in your Airbrush, it is too thick. Water works well too, if you have no Flow Medium) and Sealer.

Before I continue, I want to share with you something a friend said to me – my “pride and joy” fell over and had a scrape in her paintwork, so I asked my friend to mend her for me. My friend asked why I didn’t do it myself, and I said I was worried of ruining the horse further. She said to me “it’s already broken, it can’t get any worse!” Every time I see something going “a bit wrong” when I am painting, that sentence pops into my head. It is true – if the model turns out awful, you can always strip the paint/re-prime it and start again! To a certain extent, you can remove Acrylic paint with nail varnish remover – I use a cotton ear-bud. If you do see that things are starting to go wrong, stop, put the airbrush/paintbrush/etc down, and take a “time out”. Grab a drink and sit down with a magazine, or do something else – in fact, that’s what I am doing now while I write this! Leave it half an hour or so (longer if you are working with a slow drying medium, like oils) then go back and re-evaluate the problem. You may see that now the paint has dried, you can simply lightly sand the area and paint it again, or see some other way of rectifying the problem. The key is to not panic, and keep at it hoping to make it come right – you will probably end up totally ruining it. You can go back to most dry mistakes and rectify them. It is very easy to become impatient/carried away but don’t try to paint a horse in one go. Even with an airbrush, the wet layers build up and drips and/or pools of paint form. Lots of thin layers are best, and leave each layer to dry thoroughly. I usually have a few horses on the ‘go’ at the same time, so I will do one coat on one horse, then leave it to dry while I start on another horse.

Try to keep all your equipment handy – tissues/paper towels, cups of water, brushes, paint, etc. I have a jug of clean water for adding to paint (I like to use the handles of brushes to mix the paint and water) and a cup of water for washing my brushes in.

I usually start with 3 or 4 jars of paint (if you can’t afford spare airbrush jars, empty clean yogurt pots are brilliant, with a clingfilm lid. I try to keep one jar for white, and jars/yogurt pots for all the other colours, and one jar for sealer – unless you are going to use an aerosol can sealer like Testor’s Dull Cote) with one being the lightest colour and one the darkest, then the other 2 being shades in between – these can be as gradual or drastic as you like – I prefer subtle shading but this is very individual – some dramatically shaded horses can look stunning, while others can look unrealistic. Anything from 3 to 6 shades can work well, from my experience. Try to clean the jars/pots regularly. I have a large pot with a lid that I use just for ‘waste’ paint – when there is not much of a colour left, and I am finished with it.

If using 3 shades, I start with the lightest shade, and ensure it covers the horse well – especially in all those little crevices between bones and muscles, and under the jaw and tail. Then I gradually work up the shades to the darkest shade, applying them where they would occur on a real horse, e.g. the ‘saddle’ area, and in the crevices between muscles and bones – reference photos/pictures from a book are essential for a realistic outcome. You can try to paint creating a ‘highlighting’ effect on the muscles, or using a sweeping method, sweeping the shades across the horse. Try out both, and see what you prefer – or try combining both methods in different areas on the horse. When it comes to the muzzle, I like to add a bit of the body colour into the black and white mix. Remember that any white markings that go lower than the line of the nostrils will be pinky/fleshy colour, and you may wish to use a slightly creamy or pinky flesh ‘off white’ colour in specific areas, such as the genitals, behind the heels, etc – again, reference pictures should be used. You may

Try to retain a good amount of each shade used, or write down how you created each shade, in case you need to repair/repaint any areas of the horse. Try to make sure each shade is fully opaque before moving to the next shade.

For white markings, there are two options – masking and overlaying. I prefer the former, especially for pintos, appaloosa’s and horses with excessive white. Starting with a fully prepped and primed horse (NOTE: thorough, smooth prepping is essential – many beautiful paintjobs are ruined by lumps and bumps. I use a standard white car primer, Hycote or Plastikote works for me, but see what is on offer at your local Halfords!) and then I spray over the primer with Testor’s Dull Cote sealer (now available from www.horsingaround.co.uk. NOTE: You can paint over cured layers of Testor’s Dull Cote) to seal and protect the primer. If you didn’t want the white to be so stark, you could paint the horse with an off white, then seal as above. I then use masking tape (painter’s blue tape works too) to cover the areas I want to retain white, and then paint the horse as usual. Though avoiding the taped areas you do need to paint up them, but don’t worry if the colour is slightly fainter near the edges of the tape as you will need to ‘map’ the markings when you remove the tape anyhow. You may wish to use a masking fluid under the tape, or wax paper, as this can make it easier to remove. I use Windsor and Newton Colorless Masking Fluid. Use an old brush to apply the masking fluid, as it will ruin the brush. I like to use the masking fluid by itself for smaller areas, such as stars, snips, spots, etc. After the horse is painted, I seal with Testor’s Dull Cote sealer, leave to cure, and then carefully remove the masking tape with an Xacto knife. I find that this method is easier and quicker than hand painting the white markings using the overlaying method. Remember when you ‘map’ the white markings that you are blending the white and body colour, not creating a third colour again. Research the pattern when ‘mapping’ patterns – tobianos are usually lacey and almost roaned, whereas most overos are crisp edged.

Overlaying is painting a number of thin layers of white paint over the finished body colour. I thin the Jo Sonya Acrylic Gouache white paint as if I was going to use them in the airbrush, but I also add a powder called Pearl Ex (thanks to Kate for that tip!) which makes the white go opaque quicker. You will need to apply the paint smoothly for a good result. It may take a good number of layers to cover a dark body colour, but remember to leave each layer to dry. If you start to form brush marks, try to gently sand them down with a very fine sandpaper before painting the next layer.

For the mane and tail, you can use the airbrush, or hand paint. This may depend upon your skill with the airbrush, as well as the effect you want to create. If I am painting a flaxen mane and tail on a chestnut horse, I like to hand paint, using a number of different colours and trying to paint individual hairs in the different shades, as this occurs in real flaxen manes and tails. A lot of mane and tails in real horses have at least 2 shades in them, even black hair is often intertwined with dark brown, sometimes slightly reddish, either throughout the mane or tail, or towards the ends of the hair.

Then the details need to be put in, like eyes, hooves, chestnuts, etc – again, good reference pictures are essential. Decide upon what the horse will be used for – an American Saddlebred is likely to be a show horse, with well sanded and polished hooves, whereas a Shire may have patchy, dirty workman hooves, maybe even a few scars on his body!

I like to use coloured pencils for detail work – I recommend Prismacolor, Derwent and Sandsford which I usually buy from www.jerrysartarma.com . I advise you use a fixative in-between layers of pencil work, as they can smudge – I use Krylon Workable Fixative. Pencils are not opaque, so you can see the colours underneath them – this is great for creating depth and shading, but they are not forgiving of mistakes. I would recommend them for dappling and also creating the growth rings, etc on hooves.

I use coloured pencils for creating dapples over an airbrushed base body colour, but you can try to create dapples with an airbrushing, using either a honeycombe or spotting technique. The former is painting a honeycombe (figure of 8) over a lighter colour with a darker colour – you will need to use a very thin line with your airbrush, and I find working in figure’s of 8 helps. Spotting is applying spots of lighter colour on top of a darker colour. Remember to keep your dapples irregular in size and shape, but use reference pictures because believe it or not, there is a pattern to the way dapples occur.

I finish most horses with a few coats of Testor’s Dull Cote sealer, as I like the matt finish it gives, and it makes the paintwork more durable, though I am starting to use the Krylon Matte Sealer as it gives a slightly more durable and slightly satin finish. I then apply a gloss varnish to the eyes, inside the nostrils and on the hooves (if applicable) – any hobby/craft varnish is ok, I usually get whatever is on offer!

As with most things in life, the right tools and know-how make a big difference, but don’t be disheartened if you struggle at first, remember the big name artists have been painting for years. You need to practise, practise, practise!! Don’t be afraid to experiment with your painting – I have a big stock of cheap plastic Breyer bodies that I use to try out new ideas and techniques.

I have just given you a overview of how I paint – you may wish to look into other media/techniques, such as oils or pastels. I found a couple of Technical Booklets from the Realistic Equine Sculpture Society (www.ress.org) invaluable – they are packed with info and articles on all things model painting/sculpting by top artists/sculptors. Oh, and in case you were wondering, I haven’t been paid to mention any of the above names/companies!!

The key is to do your research and to have fun painting – a piece always looks that much more alive and you can tell an artist enjoyed painting it! I hope I have inspired you to pick up a paintbrush/airbrush – even if you are a total novice, give it a go. I always have greater satisfaction showing a horse I painted, than one I bought from someone else. Happy painting!!