Snuff's School of Flames

Hello and welcome to Snuff's School of Flames.
I must apologize to everyone who asked me to do this. I promised it several weeks ago and got so busy I couldn't find the time.
Anyhoo I have the time now so lets burn the place down.

First base your thoughts on these premise:

An airbrush can lay even opaque colors in a transparent manner. So this can be done with opaque colors.

Fire is constantly moving ....Always up.....sometimes sideways....and toward and away from the viewer. It is not orderly .....it is kaos.

Black is the easiest background to paint flames on, although it can be done on any background....but more care is needed.

Background flame is loose and fuzzier...... foreground flames are tight and well defined.

And an expensive airbrush is not necessary to do this.



To start off .....the equipment used is:
1 Iwata hp-bcs
1 Iwata hp-cs
Both inexpensive but very capable brushes.
An assortment of shields shown in the first pic. (not all are necessary)
All paints are Createx opaques unless otherwise specified.
1 large piece of corugated cardboard.

Now to actually start painting.
Prep the cardboard by shooting the first side black. Next using MOLLY ORANGE
we begin building the fire, simple freehand double ended daggers are all that is used here.
I mixed this from red & yellow to match a Liquidtex color chart.
I am using very simple shapes here and NO SHIELDS YET. This progression of pics will not look like much at first but follow along and you'll see where its going.
When the basic shapes of the flame are complete the whole thing gets a coat of transparent red.

At this point it looks pretty crappy and sad, but this is only the background flame and it will get better. You will also notice as we progress that the splochy streaky look will contribute to the flame later on.

BTW if anyone feels like folowing along, post some stuff and we'll work on it together.

Yes that's me in the pics ........It's my best side ..dont ya think?

[Diaz Dezine]

Good to see you back again Snuff! Keepin that skull of yours warm?!
Ya got to in that part of the country!
BTW, my nieces are cute lil' girls, but your right, they aint near as ugly as me!lol! No pride here!
Oh and one last thing...GO RAVENS!!!! Big D will explain.
Good to see you back!
DIAZ

[erikgeist]

Originally Posted by Snuff

Erik'
I found a way to resize the pics.
Look at your last posted pic........you can follow the yellow layer from bottom to top. Very common thing to do when ya first start.
Think of the curve that you want to do then shoot one using a shield then instead of tying it to the next curve, skip a space and shoot another this will get the lick moving front to back. when the tangerine is applied afterward you'll see the movement and it will get rid of the spagetti look.

Cindy and Joyce this is what i was trying to tell ya before I disappeared.

hope this helps.

Thankyou Snuff I will try this out and send new pics this weekend.

[Snuff]

Originally Posted by Diaz Dezine

Good to see you back again Snuff! Keepin that skull of yours warm?!
Ya got to in that part of the country!
BTW, my nieces are cute lil' girls, but your right, they aint near as ugly as me!lol! No pride here!
Oh and one last thing...GO RAVENS!!!! Big D will explain.
Good to see you back!
DIAZ

Lee I used to like you.............
go ravens????????? Those shitbirds are gonna get thier asses kicked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Go STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:

[erikgeist]

Hi Snuff,

I have tried again and I think it is looking better, but I still have too much flame. It is less than before and I tried different directions with the curve stencil.

I couldn't find the pictures on the site but I had some saved to my computer but some are thumbnail size and when I try to enlarge them they get blurry.

Anyway here is my homework assignment #2.

[Snuff]

Erik'
Much improved! What you need now is to work on your fade coming away from the shield.
Right now it's too abrupt and too thick. Shoot for an even fade from well defined....but not solid.....to a complete fade out. You will also want to vary the width of the fade from a sharp point to a blunt wide one. This will define how sharp the turn is.
Then work on thin freehand daggers. A few of these here and there will really add character to your work.

Good work bud.... keep it up!

[erikgeist]

Thankyou Snuff,
I will work on it and post by next weekend.

[Snuff]

Hey Tom, and Lee,

Need I say it!!



GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[customhog]

hey snuff thanks for the comments on my first flames i came to the school but having trouble reading it and doin it i am new to airbrushing are there any pics to go along with it again thanks

[Snuff]

'Sup 'Hog,
The pic's are start on page 1. If you can see 'em in the post click on one to enlarge. If the site won't let you enlarge them, right click one and open in a new window.

Let me know if there's any probs and I'll report it to Don.

[customhog]

hiya snuff still dont see any pics on your post might be me am new here not sure

[Snuff]

'Hog
I reported the prob to Don last week. Are you still having the same problems?
If so check your comp's security settings if they're too tight that might be the prob.

[don johnson]

When we had the attachment problems the other week the only way I could fix it was to delete some old attachments from older posts. Older posts might have missing attachments. Sorry but there was no way around it. Things are fixed now so that should not happen again. Sorry for the inconvenance of this, do my best to see it does not happen again.

[Snuff]

Thanks much Don.

[don johnson]

No worries and again I'm sorry we couldn't find a better solutuion to the problem.

I'll do my best to see it doesn't happen again.

[Snuff]

WOW !!!
All of the Pics are gone !
I'll have to redo and post when I get a chance.
Sorry folks!

[customhog]

still tryin n gettin better but still not there

[Snuff]

'Hog,

The shapes look good. You gotta lay down the oranges and reds first though to give you a good foundation.

Keep on tryin.....you are getting better.

[customhog]

well snuff third round as always please comment the victim was my bike lol

[Snuff]

I hate to be negative but on this one, the look is too stenciled.
All the same shapes. You gotta vary them and use some freehand in there to get the real look.
Although it does have merit. Look at the background shapes they're good.
They have good shape, they're not all the same and they have good motion.
Try using different parts of the shield to give a more realistic look.
Then you gotta put some oranges and yellows in to get the depth.

Keep trying Brother.

[customhog]

ok snuff i.ll keep at it and i sure do thank ya for the help see ya with the next one

[customhog]

well snuff heres another try

[Snuff]

'Hog
This is a good base. But the edges are a little rough.
I got your pic, and I'm gonne try AB'ing over it with photoshop to give you a better idea how to use the stencils better.
I'll try to post this evening.

[customhog]

sounds good snuff thanks

[Snuff]

'Hog,
Sorry I havn't got to it yet. I'm fixing a major plumbing problem in the house.
I'll get it as soon as I can.

[customhog]

not a prob bro when ya can go for it for now keep your feet dry cya

[Zwin]

Well. I, for one would like to see this topic revived.

[Snuff]

It is ....... just no one has posted in it for a while.

[Scrogg]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see any photos in Snuffs original post to follow along with. I would love to try my hand at but I'm from the south, I like the books with the pretty pictures

[don johnson]

If you follow the thread you'll see I posted we had a Mysql problem with the forum a while back and lost a lot of attachments (pictures) on the forum that where over a year old. It could not be avoided unfortunately but steps have been taken so it does not happen again.
Sorry we lost them but it could not be avoided at the time.

[Zwin]

Yeah, i read about this problem in one of the posts. But in the interest of reviving this thread maby we could convince Snuff to repost the pics?

Just for the newbs, like me.

-Zwin

[Scrogg]

Yeah, I saw a different post that referred to the database crash after I had posted my reply. But like Zwin said, it would be great if Snuff still had those pics to upload.

I do realize that he did this out of the kindness of his heart and in his spare time so if it's not possible then that's cool too.

[Snuff]

I went bach and checked all of the computers and to my dismay they are on the one with the crashed disk.

So what I will try to do is redo them (spare time) and re post.

They might not follow the original posting perfectly but they should give you the idea.

[GregerLMacleod]

Well, it's taken a long time since I posted on this thread last December. I guess I just wasn't ready to give it a go back then. However, several weeks ago I got the FIRE BUG again and did some practice trials, then shot a panel and last week I made a post on my first try at flames here on ABTforum.

I'll put up one pick from that, and one from a couple licks I did today with HOK Tangerine on white paper.

This learning to do true fire is a true testicle torturing event or a ball buster. LOL Which ever you prefer....... But I think I'm starting to get the flames down by trying to disconect the detail oriented controling side of my befuddled by true fire mind. LOL Fire is not logical.......

[Scrogg]

Originally Posted by Snuff

I went bach and checked all of the computers and to my dismay they are on the one with the crashed disk.

So what I will try to do is redo them (spare time) and re post.

They might not follow the original posting perfectly but they should give you the idea.

Awesome Snuff you rock!

[Zwin]

Originally Posted by Scrogg

Awesome Snuff you rock!

I second that! I'm looking forward to it.

Greg>> Great work

[Snuff]

Guys I must apologize for the delay. But heres another one, I was just commisioned to paint the entire inside of the maze at the haunted house that I do work for. This is about 4 to 500 yards of surface and 8 feet tall. I dont know how long its going to take. I figure about 8 months. Since this pays big bucks I cant turn it down.

Lee if your'e in the area I could use some help, this is right up your alley. Its going to be one big giant morph from skulls, to monsters to biomech to whatever else my sick little mind can come up with.

I will not forget about reposting , Keep in mind though that I have to redo everything from scratch.

Sorry for the constant delays. I'll post some stuff as it progresses.

[GregerLMacleod]

WOW SNUFF! That's HUGE! The whole maze, what a dream job. How do you even contemplate that much painting for a bid on something like that? LOL Congratulations on landing this one.
Can't wait to check out progress pic on this one.
Greger

[don johnson]

snuff congrats on landing that job
love to see some pic's as you progress

[Snuff]

Originally Posted by GregerLMacleod

WOW SNUFF! That's HUGE! The whole maze, what a dream job. How do you even contemplate that much painting for a bid on something like that? LOL Congratulations on landing this one.
Can't wait to check out progress pic on this one.
Greger

Thanks for the congrats Gregor.
Didn't have to bid it he made me a great offer and I took it. He'll buy the paint as I need it too. So I get everything as PROFIT!!!!!
I went back thru my sketchbook and showed him some ideas already and he's going banannas for them.

[Snuff]

Originally Posted by don johnson

snuff congrats on landing that job
love to see some pic's as you progress

Thanks Don this is a huge thing for me. It could get some nationwide recognition too.
I'll be posting a lot.

[ralph]

Congrats Snuff!!, be looking forward to the pics

[Neder/Brit]

Snuff man congrats on the job I,m sure this is going to be one mind blowing expirience and it is so cool that you are trying to get Lee in on this one I,m sure that together you will make an awesome team, good luck bro and keep us posted.

[Snuff]

Thanx guys.

Hey I need some advise. At least part of this needs to be done in day glo or flouescent colors.
Does anyone know of a product that won't fade in the sun? Ive tried before and even when cleared with a UV resistant clear they still fade to some degree. any help would be appreciated

[Trublu]

Snuff, congrats on landing a great job. Etac makes a line of fluorescents in the private stock paints and they also have a bunch of additives like pearls, pearl metallic, pearl gold, iridescents, etc. that can be added to the regular private stock paints to create special effects. Etac private stock is used on automotive applications and I'm pretty sure they are very UV resistant. Bill at Etac is a wealth of knowledge and can advise you if the private stock paints are good for your application. Please post some pics when you get a chance.