1
For six weeks every summer I work in Saratoga, NY. I can deduct my meals on my taxes, so I eat breakfast every morning at The Horseshoe Inn. I've become friendly with the staff. I always rib the girl who waits on me, that their logo needs updating because none of the equines are playing guitar.
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2
Trying to stick to the style of the original, I sketched a more contemporary rockin' horse. He's got a mohawk, tattoos, piercings and a Les Paul. I had a potential customer contact me about doing a hoodie for her daughter. I don't stock this article of clothing, so I picked one up a flea market. She never got back to me, so I've got this stupid thing lying around. It's a size large, but thankfully, baggy clothes are fashionable... I'll never know why. So whichever waitress gives me the best service will be the recipient.
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3
I stretched the hoodie snug, but NOT tight. That can cause the image to be distorted once the shirt is taken off the mounting board. I put my reference shot in plain sight, for E-Z viewing.
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4
My hands aren't very steady anymore, so I cut out a guide for the horseshoe. I put registration strips of tape alongside and below the image. This way I can align the masks as I progress.
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5
Here's how it looks. After a quick spray of Golden transparent blue. The original has a black outline,and I tried to imitate that with blue, but it doesn't quite work.
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6
Although nothing ever lines up perfectly, shirts are very forgiving, so making slight corrections is not a problem.
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7
Here I went over the outline with shading gray, and start with the logo below.
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8
I did the western fade directly on the shirt, but the gray background kind of neutralized the colors, so I had to spray some white over 'em and then repeat the yellow, covered by orange fade. It's much more vivid now.
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9
I put the twin horseshoes in the oval and move on to the next step. I also did the nails in the corners of the sign.
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10
The original has a pink fade above and below the lettering, so I get that out of the way.
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11
Not wanting to spend the time cutting out letters, I freehand the "Bar & Grill", using only tape as a guide.
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12
The main lettering in the black crest is white. I was going to sketch the outlines and then fill in the black around the letters, but that would make them gray. I'm just going to try and freehand it much the same way I did the smaller letters.
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13
Here I did the "INN" but I'm having some trouble getting tight lines with that particular airbrush
It might be the white paint or it might be the gun.I'll switch to the gun I was doing the shading gray with, and see how that reacts. I don't want to be continuously touching up the blunders I'm bound to make at this stage. Learning to hide one's mistakes is a crucial aspect of airbrushing.
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14
In a desperate trade-off, I free-hand the lettering. I save time by not having to cut out tiny letters, but I spend that time trying to get them just right. The results from cut out letters are much sharper lines.
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15
You can see the variation in size of the letters. I could black them out and start over, but I don't gain much from that. I don't think whoever gets this garment will complain since the letters are about 3/4 of an inch tall.
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16
Here's the finished result. I'll take off the guide tape and then do some doctoring with the black to fix the boo boos.
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17
It doesn't look so bad now.
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18
This is what I've gotten done so far. While I had the black in the gun, I added the music notes up above.
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19
Now the part I've got the biggest doubts about...the rockin' horse. I start with his head, so I can scale everything else from there.
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20
I outline the edges to give that cartoony effect. I added some white and made him gritting his teeth. If you've ever watched guitarists while they play, they make all kinds of facial maneuvers to accompany their music.
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21
I plop on the shades, a tribal tattoo, a t-shirt with sawed-off sleeves, a stud thru his ear, then begin the Les Paul and the strap.
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22
After finishing the outline of the guitar, I start adding color.
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23
A guitarist without an amp is like a pin-up without boobs, so I put a stack behind him.
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24
...and the most important aspect...my signature. I can now call it "DONE"!
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