Sampling - Paul Wright - Large Piece

As Paul Wright does I took inspiration from everyday artwork and popular culture. Using the artwork from the band Gorrilaz I set about creating a large airbrushed portrait of band member Russell. 

To start with I drew out the design on a large A2 sheet

Then using tracing paper I created a set of stencils for each basic colour. 

Using the stencils each colour was added and left to dry. Acrylic paints watered down were used. Due to the nature of the original image there wasn't much perspective for shading using the brush. A small amount was done around his face by applying more paint to areas building up the tone. from here I will look at doing a portrait of a real picture where a lot more shading is necessary.

Sampling - Paul Wright - Getting To Grips With Airbrushing

To start to make samples based on Paul Wrights Work I first had to learn how to use an airbrush. This collection of images show me getting to grips with it. Once I knew the basics I started experimenting with stencils and shading, Starting with simple things like rolls of tape and lengths of timber

Before moving on to more complex stencils cut from paper

Then learning to use the airbrush in different positions and varying the paint flow to add details in darker shades 

Before Attempting a basic portrait without the use of a refrence image getting use to shading using a single colour.

Throughout all these samples I learnt the most important part of airbrushing how to maintain and clean the airbrush.

Photoshoot - Paul Wright

This photo shoot was devised from two separate trips, one to the Great Dorset Steam Fair where the night time shots were acquired, some of which are much better quality than others. And one to Nottingham Goose fair where I captured some more artistic shots with cropping and view points along with detailed photos of airbrushed artwork.

Really Crisp Night Shot

Some of the most detailed airbrushing

Cropping/Borders

Motion Shot

Artist Research - Paul Wright

Paul Wright is a Fairground decorator best known for his airbrush artwork that can be seen on many the rides travelling around the UK. Wright's first pieces in the 80's weren't airbrushed instead being brush painted in very bright colours with portraits of celebrities of the time. A great example of this is on his first paint job of Albert Evans Waltzer 'Atmosphere Creator' which was brilliant pink with huge murals of popular musicians of the time such as Kiss and Adam Ant. His more recent work is drastically different such as the second paint job of Atmosphere Creator from 1994 which is adorned in airbrushed portraits of popular sci-fi characters. The work is so detailed and well done you could easily mistake some of the work for printed vinyl graphics. It is notable that Wright focuses much more on sci-fi style designs than miami beach scenes with hot girls and bright colours popular with many ride operators.

A well known piece by Wright, The Hulk on one of the cars off Atmosphere Creator

Wrights work portrays popular interests of the time and the way that his style and subject has changed over time demonstrates how good he is at his chosen art form to stay in vogue throughout his career. 

His pieces start of as a sketch often influenced by the ride owner and images from comic books and magazines. This is then drawn up to scale on large sheets of paper before being transferred using blue chalk in a pounce bag to the rides boards. The airbrushing then begins building up the different layers of colour creating shadows and details before adding effects such as day-glo powder which makes certain areas glow in the dark bringing the ride to life. Most of Wrights work is done in Enamel paints thinned down, due to the use of thinners and Wrights health he has now retired from airbrushing and creates vinyl designs for round stalls and small rides in a style similar to Fred Fowle's work.

Sampling - Fred Fowle - Rounding Boards Part 2

I now want to bring together everything I have sampled and experimented with in a large piece and you cant get much larger than a rounding board with most measuring 30-40ft wide and up to 12ft high. Due to size restraints this will be a smaller scale measuring 7ft by 3ft. To start with I created a sketch to figure out the basic shape, details and proportions.

This then became a more detailed sketch highlighting the samples I wanted to include. These were: Flamboyant lettering on a gold leaf base making up the 'WALTZER', this section will also use airbrushing to attempt to blend two colours along a line. 

Classic Sign writing with an Aluminium leaf border

A variety of different pieces of scroll work and pin-striping

Figurative paintings of Mercury flying out of the piece

Intricate Pattern work

This was then drawn up on the board and the yellow enamel outlines were painted in first with a sign writers brush. All paintwork is done in enamel for its durability and glossy shine. This highlighted a major problem that I would just have to work around which was the uneven texture of the board making it harder to use the brushes and paint than in my previous experiments on a flat surface.

Following that I laid the gold leaf for the 'WALTZER' lettering. This was done by masking out the letters and applying spray adhesive, then laying and smoothing the leaf before removing the masking tape. This was fixed using gloss varnish.

I then added the yellow base for some of the scroll work. Followed up by adding in the sides of the 3D lettering and starting the traditional sign writing.

Black outlining was then applied around all the yellow parts and the two Mercury's drawn in before being painted.

Sampling - Fred Fowle - Rounding Boards Part 1

So far I have sampled specific areas of Fowles work, a particular design or method using a particular medium. I now want to start to bring all these new skills together in a single piece. Rounding boards are the piece of artwork that sit above the entrance to a ride, they often feature the rides most grand artwork along with the proprietors name and sometimes the name of the ride, though this is more common with modern rides To start with I have replicated some existing ride fronts. To create these small designs I have used a wide array of mediums but largely focused on pencil based ones such as colouring pencils, pastles and crayons.

The first design is of an art deco inspired rounding board. Pastle Pencils were used for the entire design. A number of fowles trade mark pieces feature such as the cinematic art deco letters made famous by Emil Kosa Jr with his design of the 20th Cenetury Fox logo. There is also the popular red and yellow lightning and scroll work along with an adaptation of Mercury wings. This is all encapsulated in the sleek sharp art deco pillars and stone work which would have had a marble effect on the real piece.

The second board is less like Fowles work, appearing more to resemble the work of scenic artists such as Sid Howell or Edwin Hall. The Scroll and ribbon border is done in oil pastel to create the blending of two different colours along the same line. The complexity of the ribbon work wows the viewer making it seem more impressive than it actually is. At the top is the rides name done n pencil in a very traditional sign written style. The large board centre displays an adaptation of early chariot and speedway scenes. Race cars of the time are shown along with motorbike speed way racers. Aeroplanes, synonymous with speed at the time, also feature. These are done in pencil crayon.

I will now increase the size and start to use mediums found on the real rides.

Sampling - Fred Fowle - Large Scale Gold Leaf Piece

Once i felt confident in using gold leaf I laid an entire sheet of A3 paper with leaf and sealed it using fixative. Then using household gloss paint thinned with standard thinners I painted on a decorative motif similar to what Fowle paints. The design encompasses scroll work which dates back to the early Victorian style of sign writing and lightning patterns synonymous with the pop culture of the 60's and the space race era. The design was painted using long bristled sign writers brushes which allow for long smooth continuous lines to be created. Final the design was picked out with a black outline which in Fowle's words 'really make it POP'

Sampling - Fred Fowle - Working with Gold Leaf

Once I had the basic skills to use gold leaf I began sampling in the style of my artist

The first sample was created by using gold size and a long bristled brush to paint out a scroll type leaf pattern favored by Fowle. Leaf is then layed and excess brushed off. A black line is then drawn  around the entire thing. This line makes the entire design really stand out, an important factor in fairground design. The gold leaf on this piece hasn't adhered well.

A similar piece but this time the gold size was left longer to go more tacky and allowed for a better but not perfect adhesion. An improvement in the outlining can also be seen.

For this sample I created a stencil and used it to apply spray adhesive. The stencil is then removed and leaf layed. This has given a much better adhesion than the gold size.

Sampling - Fred Fowle - Gold Leaf a Learning Curve

A vast majority of Fowle's work is done by working over a layer of metal leaf with Flamboyant paint. Flamboyant paint is a translucent paint that when applied over the leaf allows the reflective shine of the leaf to show through and adds a bit of sparkle to the design 

First attempts at laying Gold leaf, spray adhesive was applied to paper and the leaf laid on top while still in the paper book, then by rubbing the back of the tissue paper that the leaf comes on it is smoothed out. As can be seen it was difficult to get it to lie smooth using this method. 

For the second attempt I repeated the process but after initially using the tissue paper to smooth it I used a general brush to smooth it out some more. This was effective but the bristles were too stiff and pulled the leaf up in certain areas no matter how light a touch was used.

As a third attempt I bought a very soft bristled brush to smooth out the leaf but the initial laying could have been better.

As well as the brush I purchased some gold size, this is an acrylic based adhesive that can be brushed or sprayed on and stays tacky for up to 24 hrs. I experimented with it by using sign writers brushes to paint the letter J and then laying the leaf. The leaf can then be brushed smooth and anywhere that leaf wasn't applied to it will just brush off. The size should have been left long as it would have allowed the brush marks to settle and therefore a smoother finish.

First experiments with sealing and painting on top of leaf. The leaf must be sealed first or the slightest scrape will make it peel off. Here I have used enamel and acrylic paints both straight out of the pot and thinned down. This allowed me to see what would stick and whether it was possible to create a flamboyant effect without using expensive flamboyant paints. Watered down acrylic paints were the closest to flamboyant but lack the initial gloss shine.