Review Airbrush Workshop with Raffaele Picca

Hello everyone,

over one year has passed since I wrote the last time in my blog...I wrote about a workshop.
You might guess what I will write about now: well of course another workshop!

Even though my Alice is still not finished I took part in Raffa's Airbrush Workshop as I own my airbrush quite a long time now ... but I was always afraid of using it for more than priming (with zenithal light).

TIME TO CHANGE THIS!

The workshop took place at the Harder&Steenbeck Headquarter in Norderstedt near Hamburg (not too far away from "Wu Dao" where quite a lot of the Massive Voodoo workshops happened). Harder & Steenbeck kindly let us use their luxury equipment consisting of an "Infinity" airbrush with a 0.2mm nozzle and an evolution with a sprinkle cap. Free water and coffee included  (...not as paint)!
I took my own "Evolution" to the course...which was a wise decision as it was quite damaged and I bought some replacement parts to get it back to work.

Christian and Christian...suprise! 

I visited my friend Christian who was kind enough to let me sleep on his couch for this weekend.

After a journey of about 1.5h from Christian to Harder&Steenbeck via train and bus I arrived at the workshop location in the industrial area and I instantly recognized some well known faces. Although the weather was very nice and not too warm, it was pretty hot inside the factory due to the corrugated iron roof.
Leaving the work behind after the first day Christian joined the group and we had a nice dinner at the Panthera Rodizio.

Full of motivation the second day was a blast as all the students improved the previously learned skills.

Some impressions of Raffa and his eight (?) students throughout the course:

The painting table at Harder & Steenbeck

Raffa teaching...

... and intense training everywhere else!

Heiko tries so levitate the color with his awesome Kung-Fu powers...

...and Lutz shows off his true skills!

At the end of day two final photos had been taken...but first a proper background had to be built.

I didn´t shoot a photo at every stage of progession of the Miniature "Romero, the Cat"(sculpted by Raffa, more pictures: FeR Miniatures)...

Artwork of "Romero, the Cat"

...but I want to show you the overall change from "zero to hero" in the following photographs. But before I want to briefly sum up what we did during the workshop (for a more detailed explanation I suggest taking part in one of the following airbrush courses from Raffa):

Day 1:

1. Removing moldlines...wait...there is only small moldline at the back. 2 Minutes later the work is done.
2. Basic usage of an airbrush
3. Discussion of typical problems (which of course happen at the beginning)
4. Airbrush: priming with 2 colors (with respect to zenithal lightning). Due to the more precise nature of an airbrush compared to a priming can we were able to pick up important areas much better.
5. Airbrushing base color for the face (several steps with additional detailing using the traditional brush)
6. Summary

Day 2:

1. Finishing the face (brush)
2. Airbrushing the cape (several steps, detailing using the brush)
3. Starting the chest area (not finished at the end of the workshop)
4. Summary & End

So here are some random pics from my unfinished "Romero":

Airbrush basics and sprinkles ... a lot of sprinkles!

Naked Romero (gnihi!)

Primed Romero (Airbrush)

Basic skin tone (airbrush) + brushwork + airbrush sprinkles

Intended exaggerated highlights after airbrushing... we should call them "ultrahighlites"...

Ultrahighlites (different view)

Skin improved with airbrush and eyes finished

Different view

Group shot at the end of the workshop...all busts turned out really well as you can see.

All the work from day 2...finishing touches (all leather, knives, correction of eye position...) coming soon.

I had a lot of fun at this workshop and I´m really satisfied with the result.

Raffa did a really great job at teaching us both the basics of using an airbrush and the advanced usage of different techniques like using sprinkles and translucency and reminded us that some simple techniques like using washes yield great results too if done properly.

He also tought us which colors and thinners work together and recommended us good brands...good bye "trial and error" :-)

Do I recommend this course to you? Yes (at least if you own or plan to own an airbrush).

Greetings,

Christian