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After all these years of e-mails asking how to use my stencilsystems, I want to assure you that only 80-percent of yourcries fell on deaf ears.

Just kidding.Even with the Skullmastervideo, there have been a

number of questions floating around on how to use these

suckers. And while I dont profess tobe an expert on stencils, since I diddesign these I think I can be of someassistance.

Lets first eliminate all the nonsensesurrounding stencil use. I have comeacross many an airbrush artist whobelieves stencils are for babies orbeginners. It may be true thatsomeone who possesses no freehand

skills is a remedial airbrush artist, butat least stencils can get a greenhorngoing and help him produce asellable product. The stencilsimportance lies in the time it saves,time that can be used to practicefreehand skills, or time that can bespent making money. When you haveto paint 1,000 skulls in the backgroundflames on a tractor-trailer, and youhave no stencil or freehand shield, youare out of business.

The stencil or freehand shield is atool, pure and simple. Its neither good nor evil, smart norstupid. It reflects the abilities and creativity of its user. Im afreehand fanatic, yet not a week goes by when I dont find ause for a stencil of one type or another. It might be that I likethem so much because I like taping and cutting my ownartwork even less. I still hand-cut my own custom stencils, aswell as use the laser-cut stencils by Artool.

For the premiere of this column, I will introduce the latestinstallment of the Skullmaster series, The Return of Skullmaster.This video was created in direct response to comments madeby consumers like you, people who liked the originalSkullmaster set but had questions or suggestions concerningindividual stencils. In this tutorial, Ill cover Frontal IIand thenew Lucky 13. The Frontal IIis a remake of the original, and

remains the most popular of all the stencils. The originalforward-facing skull stencil is pretty basic, but people wantedmore options, and a larger size. And you know what theysay...the customer is always right.

Step 1: Starting with the Frontal II stencil, mask off the areaaround the main skull shape to prevent overspray. Using anIwata Micron-CH, spray a reduced mixture of BC-25 House ofKolor black. You probably dont need an airbrush as fine asthe Micron for this job, but i t helps in the final detailing, and

the new built-in air regulator allows you to drop the pressurepretty low at the gun to keep the stencil from lifting.

Lucky 13

Frontal II

PART 1

ARTOOL INSTRUCTOR SERIES:

MASTERING RETURN OF SKULLMASTEREverything you wanted to know about your new stencils ... but were afraid to ask.

By Craig Fraser

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Step 2: Carefullypulling thestencil back,you can see theimage you justtransferred. Anysmall amounts ofoverspray can be

removed with arag and somepre-cleaner, butif you held thestencil steady,you should havea fairly cleanimage.

Step 3: For thebottom jaw,use the closedversion on thestencil. Frontal IIcomes with twojaw images;one closed, one

open. Youll needto mask off theareas around ittoo. A littlemasking tape willsave you a lot ofgrief in the longrun. Plus, the tapehelps hold downthe stencil whenspraying.

Step 4: Afterremoving the jawstencil, you willneed to do alittle repair workwith the airbrush.This is notbecause youmade a mistake;all stencils willleave open areasin the design.You need toconnect the dots.

Step 5: This iswhere youshow off yourfreehand skillsby shading andshadowing thedesign itself. Youreally want yourstenciled designto not lookstenciled.Remember,your final pieceshould showcase

your art, not ashopping list ofthe techniquesand tools used.

Step 6: You canmake a numberof different skullsfrom the samestencil. Here, usethe same Frontal

II as before, butmask off the eyesas well as theoverspray areas.

Step 7: You cannotice somethingis missing...notto worry. Wewill come in withanother set of

eyes instead.Freehand themif you want;you shouldexplore whatyou can modifywith stencils,rather than feelrestricted bytheir design.

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Step 8: The hasanother set ofeyes, with anose, just belowthe main skulland between thetwo jaw cutouts.This other set of

eyes is angrieran evil Mr.Potato Head.

Step 9: Going tothe jaw step,mask out theone not usedyetthe open-jaw cutout. Thebottom of thejaw is more

rounded, and ina position thatlooks morecorrect whenplaced open.

Step 10: As withthe first skull,time to come inwith a fewcorrections. Youmight find moreflaws the moreyou have toreposition or usethe stencil. Dontworry; theairbrush waspracticallyinvented to hide

human error.

Step 11: A fewdagger strokesmore andyou have arespectable skullthat no longerlooks like asprayed-onstencil. Itsamazing what alittle freehandwork can do.

Step 12: For thelast skull, use thesame outline,and continue toleave the eyesmasked. You

can make drasticchanges to thelook of a skull bysimply playingwith the eyes.Experiment.Have fun. Youraccidents mayturn out to beyour best effects.

Step 13: OK, theyare not eyes,but Maltesecrosses (or, forskater punks,Independent

Truk logos) cansometimes lookbetter than eyes.You dont haveto use this partof the stencil foreyes; you canuse them asreoccurringpearled patternsin graphics.Youre limitedonly byyour own

imagination.

28 AIRBRUSH ACTION / JULY-AUGUST 2004Part 2 will be continued in the next issue.