my airbrush library
if you ever read anything about airbrushing on a technical level, you'll be told that it requires immense patience. there is nothing more truer in this world! it can be quite unforgiving and needs a lot of setup and cleanup, but the results are really beautiful and it's such a versatile tool. one of the things testing my patience with airbrush right now is that my compressor is leaking air from the drain valve. instead of shutting a window onto my neck about it, i figured to step away from the tank and show you my humble library of airbrush books. i've been collecting them for education, inspiration, and to feed my innate urge to buy used hardcover books that cover my somewhat niche and outdated hobbies.
air powered is a collection of small biographies of some of the more well-known illustrators using airbrush in the 70s. the book was written in 1979 and predicted that airbrush would completely evolve the advertising industry through the 80s. they did not see computers coming!!
i like how the inside cover shows the parts of a standard airbrush. there's no technical how-to content inside, though. also they only featured male artists. i figured the advertising/illustration world was male-dominated, but throughout the book they did show off some pieces by women but never acknowledged them beyond that. for example, they mention otis shepard a lot but never his wife, dorothy shepard, who worked with him at wrigley's (the gum company).
peter sato (above, left) is one of my favorite airbrushers. i would love to own a copy of his portfolio book without having to spend $100+ on it. the piece on the right is by judy markham. i am having a hard time finding any info about judy, quelle surprise!
i will give the book credit for not understating how important the influence of anna mae clift was on alberto vargas' work. you are probably familiar with his vargas girls - or varga girls, when he was being exploited (imho!) by esquire magazine.
radu vero's books are like the seminal handbooks for airbrushing, the most highly technical and recommended i've found. vero was originally from romania where he studied architecture, and then he ended up in new york as a faculty member of FIT and one of the most revered medical and scientific concept illustrators of his time.
like i said, these books are highly technical but not unapproachable. book one goes into what an airbrush does and how, materials, techniques, everything you really need to know to get started. he does a really great job at going into the math behind how and why an airbrush sprays the way it does, which could be very helpful if you're troubleshooting your work no matter what airbrush you're using.
book two goes really into the weeds on color mixtures and exercises on techniques building off of book one. i haven't finished book one yet, so i look through book two as more of an art book so not to intimidate myself. the page above is literally the draw an owl meme lmao!
in a past life i used to price and sell used books in montclair, and still i am very surprised at how affordable all these books are. i spent about $15 total on the vero books. shouts out to thriftbooks, but also please take that website away from me.
i recently got these two books, so i don't have much to say about them except i think that most airbrush illustrations that try to be photorealistic are hilarious. it's just constant uncanny valley through all the pages in this book and really any others that try to show you how to make a photorealistic illustration. i imagine that's why airbrush has been so embraced by sci-fi illustrators like h.r. giger.
when getting into airbrushing and studying its past, you have to be prepared to see the most ridiculous breasts and vaginas that make you wonder if men have seen a real woman naked before. the illustration above is actually very normal compared to some of the women you see in air powered. i've said this before, you can tell when an image of a woman was created by a man, and i'm rolling my eyes as i type that.
i'm looking forward to digging into the techniques book because they focus a lot on shapes and lettering, not bodies and faces. i definitely plan to work the airbrush into my figure work, but i've never been into photorealism. i love making spheres though, they're very easy!
my pal tasha got me this vintage, large paperback, iirc from a thrift store in chicago. this is my favorite of all the airbrush books i own because it's large and has really cool tutorials with a large focus on illustrative lettering. also, it was given to me by a dear friend and not, like the rest of the books, something i bought online while stoned - which i really need to stop lol but i won't.
the neon demonstration is my favorite, because it's my original work in bending glass for neon that got me into trying out the airbrush. unlike the neon studio, which is far away and sweltering from all the fire, my airbrush setup is right here at home and i don't sweat profusely while using it!
finally, here are a few paperbacks i found online and got myself for my birthday earlier this year. they're okay for self-published books, but i wouldn't recommend you seek them out. the airbrushing 101 has some good exercises that any intro book or video would walk you through. the stencil one is actually hilarious because it's literally just a book of black and white clip art. i have a hard time believing they had the rights to publish them but okay!
i hope you enjoy my little airbrush library. i'm very interested in finding more contemporary (as in, today) airbrush artists, especially other women. maybe once i get my compressor to stop leaking, i'll be able to finish some of my own work finally to share. 😫
xoxo jenn
