Hello all.... quick intro

A. Andrew Gonzalez

Double Actioner
Finally participating! I joined a while back, and lurking from time to time. Always discovering valuable info.

I'm writing from our little spot in the forest in Brittany, France (my wife Numa is a French citizen and I'm originally from San Antonio, Texas). Lots of fantasy illustrators in our region. Not doubt, attracted by the myth and magic of the area... with the legendary forest of Brocéliande and the ancient megaliths.

Anyways, I was first introduced to the airbrush by my artist father in 1977 when I was 13. His personal work is mostly realistic traditional oil paintings but at that time he was also working as an illustrator for the city. So having all the tools for work, he started playing around with the airbrush (Paasche H) and showed me how you can create futuristic looking figures... well, I was blown away. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. lol
I played around with it for a few years. My father bought me a couple of Badgers, the 150, 100. I didn't really start to take it seriously until the mid to late 80's when I began to develop my own style. During the 90's I did freelance mural work in homes and businesses. Painting just about anything imaginable, but on the side I continued to develop my personal work.
From the late 80's on, I worked exclusively with the Paasche V1 for most of my work, (and various spray guns for larger coverage in the mural work) I've played around with many different airbrush models over the years but always return to the V1. It' so perfect in my hand, it don't even feel it... and I'm used to it's little quirks and the mix and matching of head assemblies to get the perfect spray. A couple of years ago I bought an Iwata CM-SB (SM-K33 from Foxy Studio), the control is just amazing. So for the past couple of years, I used only the micron.
Recently, I repaired an old Paasche VJR that I never used (needed a new needle packing and the packing nut was stripped) .... and WOW. I found the perfect head assembly match and it was like coming home..lol I've been working on very small paintings and the VJR (with .15mm needle) is perfect for the tight details. So... I'm back to the Paasche. :) (but will definitely keep the micron as a back up)

A little detail on the airbrush and materials.
I prefer the older paasche V1 -VJR models with the line adjustment assembly dial. It's mostly just habit, but I like to set the spray to it's finest so it's easy just to press down for the fine line and pull back when I need. And I prefer the older shorter air caps so that the needle is more exposed (also feel the spray is a little better with the shorter cap) For years I used an Iwata .2mm needle in the V1 but for the past 6 years I've used the .15mm Harder and Steenbeck. I love the Version 2 of the .15mm, very long taper and doesn't bend as easily but it looks and feels not as polished so I do spend a little time carefully polishing the tips.
I work with very thin acrylic inks, mostly Aero Color, Com-Art and Golden High Flow (also have the Holbien inks, FW, Pro-color, Magic Color...)
I only work on Claybord panels or my own hand sanded gessoed panels. I learned to prepare my own boards from my father years before claybord . It's not easy to find the big claybord panels in Europe (expensive, but I was able to get a 30x40 inch from Foxy Studio). The smooth workable surface is perfect for my subtractive painting technique. I have a collection of rare typewriter erasers and common ones that I use to model the forms and details. It's very rare that I use any masking (although I've been experimenting with stencil patterns)... it's mostly all freehand and using the eraser to clean up overspray at the beginning (I start very thin and light so it's easy to clean up and build up the details of the image carefully)
I've been working on mostly small paintings recently, but I have just completed the underpainting on that 30x40 inch claybord (love working big!) I'll post photos in the gallery of the progress soon.

That's it for now . ;-)
Looking forward to participating more on the forum
Andrew
 
Glad you finally stepped out of the shadows.
Brittany sounds like a beautiful place and a great source of inspiration. Glad you found this place helpful along your way, everyones input is what makes this place so great so don't be shy if you wish to offer ideas/inspiration/ guidance :)
 
Hi Andrew, welcome to the forum from China (which is, admittedly, a much less mythic place than Brittany). I've seen your works a few months ago on various sites, and it's a great honor having you here on this forum! I love your angelic grisailles, and hope I could pick your brain once in a while if you decide to stick around. So excited you're here!
 
Back
Top