Airbrush Books

The Ultimate Airbrush Handbook (Crafts Highlights)

Pamela Shanteau

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Watson-Guptill Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $11.09

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Ultimate Airbrush Handbook 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Excellent. As the title states the "ultimate". Should be the first book purchased, borrowed or stolen for the enthusiast.

Comprehensive Excellence!! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 10 people found this review helpful.

The "Ultimate Airbrush Handbook" is exactly what it's title says is! No hyperbole in the title. It covers all aspects of airbrushing, useful to everyone, including newbies like myself. Well worth the money spent!

great info 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I gave this book to my husband along with a new airbrush & it's been a great help to him, includes info that even the airbrush didn't company give.

pretty close to 'Ultimate' 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book does a great job of going over almost all the facets of starting and airbrushing. One of the most complete books I've seen.

My review 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

It's chock full of different tutorial types. From model building to fingernail airbrushing. It has become VERY useful.

How to Master Airbrush Painting Techniques (Motorbooks Workshop)

JoAnn Bortles

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Motorbooks Amazon Marketplace: 25 new & used starting at $15.44

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

This book is a great buy! 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I'll start off by saying I keep picking up this book over and over. The Troubleshooting chapter is so detailed. It covers nearly every problem I have ever had with an airbrush. I have other airbrush books and none of them have this much "fix it" info. That one chapter has saved me so much time and stress.
The rest of the book is great also. One of the learning chapters has a really fun exercise that was so easy but gave me really cool results.
The book is very easy to follow and the examples in the book can be applied to almost any airbrush project. She uses a common sense approach that takes away the complications that come up when I'm trying to learn a new technique.
And unlike my other airbrush books, it has lots of photos. The example chapters have many photos that cover each little step.
It also tells how to get great ideas to airbrush.
And I really appricated the way she also tells how to deal with how to not get discouraged when things go wrong. How to deal with the stress that comes from trying to be be artistic.
I have another of JoAnn's books and while I enjoyed that one, I like this one better.
It is also a large book with nearly 200 pages. I feel this book was a great buy.

Editorial Review:

Airbrush painting is an art like any other, requiring talent and skill; but it is also a technology that, more than other art forms, calls for technical mastery of equipment used in the process. JoAnn Bortles, one of the top airbrush artists in the United States, has developed a teaching curriculum for mastering both the technology and techniques needed to be a successful airbrush artist-an approach that frees her students to develop their own airbrush art. How to Master Airbrush Painting Techniques presents this curriculum in a logical, step-by-step fashion. Along with guiding readers through a series of projects, Bortles also provides all the knowledge needed for developing projects. Not only does her book explain what to do in a clear, easy-to-follow way, it explains why.

Drawing: The Head (HT197)

Andrew Loomis

Amazon Price: $8.95 List Price: $8.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Walter Foster Amazon Marketplace: 17 new & used starting at $3.89

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

walter foster publishing ruins what they touch 1 out of 5 stars.
30 of 30 people found this review helpful.

I held Andrew Loomis's books in the highest esteem. Then walter foster came along and decided to cut cost by publishing every third page and discarding everything in between. Think this statement is absurd! Compare Andrew Loomis's books BEFORE and AFTER walter foster got his hands on them.

A popular standard in learning to draw heads from memory... 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

...for beginners & intermediates in ability. It's 32 pages taken from several of his original books- easily my favorite Loomis collection!

In recent decades there have been 3 main teachers in learning to draw heads from memory. For cube-based construction we have George Bridgman. For ball/sphere-based construction we have Andrew Loomis. And for oval/ellipse-based construction, we have the famous teacher of the Dynamic Drawing series- comicbook artist Burne Hogarth. Many of today's Japanese animation & comicbook instructionals are using these very same principles, along with some of the teachings by the Famous Artists School. My current interest is in oval & cube-based construction, but it's Loomis' famous *ball/sphere-based* construction here that many people consider to be the BEST. All artists, from beginners to even professionals(!), could easily benefit in learning these 3 popular standards.
In any case, this is a great work *in pencil* on heads of all kinds. All popular aspects of construction are covered: men, women, children, teens, elderly, fashion-models, proportions, rythmic lines, planes, anatomy, bone structure, simple lines & shapes, perspective, common actions, expressions, clear line drawings, and even full-blown tonal studies (whew!). That's a lot in just 32 pages. It's all done in a classic mid-20th century style, similar to Jack Hamm's excellent Drawing The Head And Figure. My favorite pages here are p.26, p.27, and p.30, because these are his clearest & most detailed pure line drawings- exceedingly great to copy & learn from. A tremendous help for anyone interested in learning to draw from memory- get this great book today!

P.S. ...just so you know: this reviews page is shared by 2 Loomis books. The 1st is his slim & tall, 32-page Walter Foster paperback collection currently entitled Drawing: The Head (HT197). This HT197 guide was also known as Heads/2. My review is for this Walter Foster collection. The 2nd book this reviews page is linked to is Loomis' original hardcover called Drawing the Head and Hands; a full-blown book- more than 32 pages. At this writing, this 2nd book is out of print. The real reason these 2 books share these reviews is that the shorter, Walter Foster collection takes a few pages from several books, including pages from this full-blown Drawing the Head and Hands.
As I understand it, Loomis actually *created* ball/sphere-based construction for heads, printed in Fun With A Pencil circa 1939- and I see no evidence to contradict this. And today it's one of the most popular methods around. His books being out of print confuses many! That's why I give this 5 stars: instead of slamming Walter Foster's publications for their lack of completeness, we should thank them for keeping Loomis' name alive(!). If it weren't for this Drawing: The Head collection, I might never have given his Figure Drawing For All It's Worth a chance. Now I have both- thank goodness!

Editorial Review:

Here is an essential guide that is head and shoulders above the rest! In The Head, expert Andrew Loomis teaches you the basics of drawing the human head, including detailed drawings of a variety of male and female models in different poses. First he covers the basic proportions of the head and the proper placement of facial features. Then he shows you how to render light and shadow, as well as exploring simple techniques for capturing an array of facial expressions and depicting differences in type and character. This comprehensive guide is a welcome addition to any artistÆs drawing reference library!

Airbrushing Basics

Jeff Wilson

Amazon Price: $7.95 List Price: $7.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: KAL - Model: KAL12430 Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $3.92

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• Kalmbach Airbrushing Basics - 12430
• KAL

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An excellent choice for a beginner in airbrushing 4 out of 5 stars.
11 of 11 people found this review helpful.

At eight chapters in nineteen pages, this is a very slim little volume. That turns out to be a virtue in this booklet intended for the absolute beginner in airbrushing. Having purchased but never actually used an airbrush, I had a number of concerns about proper handling and, especially, cleaning. This book systematically and with no wasted words addressed all my initial questions. The chapters include choosing, cleaning and handling an airbrush; recognizing common paint problems and how to correct them, the varieties of paint and the proper thinners for each, and solvent safety issues--including some solid advice on proper installation of your spray booth. The final few pages illustrate the airbrushing of a Liberty ship model, with some very useful tips on dealing with small parts. Overall, an excellent and efficient introduction to the subject and an entirely worthwhile purchase.

Editorial Review:

"This is the FineScale Modeler® Book ""Airbrushing Basics"" from Kalmbach Publishing Company. FEATURES: An excellent staple bound

Airbrush Painting Techniques (Modelling Manuals)

Amazon Price: $13.46 List Price: $17.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Osprey Publishing - Model: OSPMAN006 Amazon Marketplace: 39 new & used starting at $4.24

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Scale Modelers View 1 out of 5 stars.
104 of 107 people found this review helpful.

The book is the regular Osprey size paperback with Beautiful full color Pictures Each chapter is mostly step-by-step pictures with some text.

One chapter shows an airbrush being disassembled. Another is step-by-step on how to build your own silent compressor. One chapter has to do with mixing your own colors.

The book seems to be more aim at general airbrush user instead of the scale model builder. I would have preferred more on thinning paints and setting pressures.

I do not recommend it.

The Testor's manual on plastic model building is more useful. It has a great chapter on troubleshooting and how to tell if the paint is too thick or thin, or if the pressure is too high or too low.

I think the Kalmbach Books' Painting and Finishing Scale Models is the best value on how to paint.

I'm still looking for a book that will help me become a better airbrusher.

Airbrushing 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

The book has some good basic knowledge about airbrushing. I highly recommend it to any beginners like me that don't know how to use an airbrush.

Editorial Review:

Airbrush Painting Techniques

Pinstriping Masters Techniques,Tricks,and Special F/X for Laying Down the Line

Craig Fraser

Amazon Price: $21.86 List Price: $29.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Airbrush Action, Inc Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $14.71

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Great! just that!! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

If you are interested in pinstripping, go get this book!!! I'm just starting in the field, but this book contains excelent information, nice step by step tutorials, and great pictures. Maybe it doesn't have too much patterns, but who cares? if you understand the technics, you have to start pushing yourself in making some designs on your own.

Very detailed! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Great how-to! From supplies to techniques this book covers it all for beginners. Nice photos and format, can't recommend it enough!

Great book, a must for the craft 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful full of inspiration and how-to's if you are interested in doing a bit of artwork that requires concentration and patience you can envision just about anything and pay homage to the past and present on just about anything even surfboards.

Editorial Review:

Learn some exceptional pinstriping tricks and special effects from author Craig Fraser and 20 of the top American and international pinstripers. This one-of-a-kind collection features numerous how-to projects from Bob Bond, Ron Beam, Von Franco and Jimmy C., Blaster, Mokoto, and others. Every project includes step-by-step instructions and sequential color photographs of each step for easy re-creation of the techniques demonstrated.

Fabric Painting and Dyeing for the Theatre

Deborah Dryden

Amazon Price: $28.60 List Price: $34.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Heinemann Drama Amazon Marketplace: 11 new & used starting at $25.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Valuable resource on dyes and fabric paints 4 out of 5 stars.
37 of 38 people found this review helpful.

The name turned me away at first, as I am not dyeing for the theater. That was a mistake. While I don't need the chapters on how to set up a dye shop for a theatre, other information provided in this book is hard to come by elsewhere. Covers fiber reactive dyes, acid dyes, 1:2 metal complex dyes, direct dyes, basic dyes for acrylics, disperse dyes, metallics, textile paints, screen printing, 4 different discharge dyeing pastes, batik, blue printing and brown printing on fabric (or whole garments) using light, marbling, airbrush. Much more thorough treatment of potential hazards than any other dyeing book I've seen. Lists of carcinogenic dyes to avoid. Actual test results of fabric feel and fastness of many different textile paints, each on six different fibers. Good index.

Editorial Review:

Features of this book include sections on:

• Setting Up a Dye Shop
• Types of Dyes
• Painting Mediums
• Painting the Fabric
• Aging and Distressing
• Dye Shop Equipment
• Dyers and Designers
• Glossary
• A selected bibliography and a list of suppliers
• Over 100 black and white photos, and an eight page color insert
• and much more!

Advanced Airbrush Art: How to Secrets From the Masters

Timothy Remus

Amazon Price: $16.47 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Wolfgang Publications, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $5.60

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not for beginners. 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This book has some good techniques for someone who has some knowledge, but does not have any step-by-step projects for beginners. The step-by-step projects it has are for someone who has some knowledge and experience of painting and airbrushing. It seems nice for this purpose though. I wanted a book for an absolute beginners such as myself. I will keep the book and probably will use it after I learn some about airbrushing. I know some about painting so I can see how this would benefit someone with some skill and knowledge. It shows procedures and tips for painting gas tanks for motorcycles.

Editorial Review:

A series of step-by step painting sequences done with a group of the country's best and best-known airbrush artists. Each sequence moves from the concept to the planning, layout, and execution. The discussion and captions cover each artist's personal choice for tools, paints, and materials. Subjects include everything from life-like pin-ups to abstract flags painted on custom motorcycles, hot rods, and shirts.

All About Techniques in Airbrush

Parramon's Editorial Team, Parramon's Editorial Team

Amazon Price: $19.79 List Price: $29.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Barron''s Educational Series Amazon Marketplace: 24 new & used starting at $7.00

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great Book on Airbrushing 5 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

I am new to Airbrushing have taken 2 10 week classes, but this book started at the begining and went on to the very advanced and made many things clearer. I would recomend it to anyone who had an interest in Airbrushing.

All About Techniques in Airbrush 5 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

Great book especially for beginners. How to lessons and step by step guides are very didactic. I also find "Imitating Textures" part fantastic :) I'm just a beginner and learned too many things from this book. Thank you. I appreciate for buying this.

Editorial Review:

Books in this instructive series are written mainly for advanced art students, teachers, and ambitious art hobbyists. Instruction is comprehensive, intended to guide learners in creating highly finished artworks of professional quality. Step-by-step instructions are presented with helpful photos, as well as illustrations of works-in-progress. The airbrush is a favorite tool of commercial artists and fine artists to produce photo-like effects. This manual demonstrates its use with many examples. Illustrated throughout in color.

Airbrush: The Complete Studio Handbook (Practical Art Books)

Radu Vero

Amazon Price: $24.95 List Price: $24.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Watson-Guptill Amazon Marketplace: 32 new & used starting at $13.40

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Airbrush:The Complete Studio Handbook 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Excellent book however as the title states relates mainly to studio applications and technical details. Not really applicable to air brush enthusiasts wanting to style cars or helmets etc.

If you only buy one airbrush book, this is the one! 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I hate to gush but this is, imho, the single best book on airbrushing that I've seen. It covers technique from beginner to advanced. The instructions are straight forward. I suppose they could seem boring if you're an advanced artist. Since I learn from even a rehash of what I already new, I wasn't bored.

Unlike other reviewers, I wasn't disappointed because it doesn't cover painting motorcycles or helmets. The title is fairly straightforward and a good clue to what the book covers. If you're only interested in painting motorcycles, try How to Custom Paint Graphics here on Amazon.

If on the other hand, you see an airbrush as another tool in expressing yourself through art, get this book. Vero is a master at solidifying visualization. He introduced the use of shields and the book contains a template for his design for one of the most versatile shields around.

When you aren't using it for reference, I recommend putting it on the coffee table. People who drop by my apartment are instantly drawn to the cover which features an illustration of Vero's "Study of a Girl". Instant conversation starter!

Rado Vero is recognized as one of the greatest illustrators who ever lived. Reading his thoughts on airbrush and different ways to create are as invaluable as reading Da Vinci's ideas on creating perspective. It didn't bother me that it was first printed in 1983. Nothing in this book has been outmoded. In fact, many of his ideas, such as use of shields, are now the standard in art schools. I expect it to be equally as valid in 2083.

I have bought multiple copies of this book and given them to friends who are just getting into airbrushing. I expect that I will buy quite a few more before it's over.