Q & A With Airbrush Artist Marge Cameron
Q. What drives you to be an artist?
and context. I feel that even for the simplest jobs, color theory
A. The same thing that drives me to eat, drink, sleep and
is an important key to the success of a piece.
breathe. For me, being an artist isn’t something I DO, it’s
something I AM. Like having blue eyes or being a certain
Q. Is your artwork planned or spontaneous for the most
height, it’s a part of my overall composition.
part?
A. I have always admired those artists that are able to just pick
up a substrate, grab some paint and let their work take them
Q. How was it you first picked up an airbrush to use in
where it may. If it’s anything but figure drawing, I’m not one of
them. The vast majority of my art is definitely planned. I spend
your artwork?
a lot of time mentally painting before I ever pick up an airbrush
A. Most people see artwork done with an airbrush or someone
or lay down any tape. I often jot down a quick outline of the se-
using one and decide they want to learn. I was lured in an-
quence I’ll follow in preparation for most jobs, especially bikes.
other way. A guy in one of my oil painting classes in college had
It helps me ensure I’ll have all the materials I’ll need and really
learned how to airbrush the year before and offered to teach
cuts back on any procedural errors. If anything, I am probably
me. He and another guy I knew were going down to the Chica-
go area to shoot shirts for the summer at a major amusement
guilty of over planning!
park. Once I heard how much money you could make in a few
short months, I borrowed one of his old Paasche VL3’s and
practiced every day between classes. Prior to that, I’d never
even heard of an airbrush. And yes, I got lucky and got the job!
Q. Do you use a computer, plotter to help with design
ideas?
Q. How do you go about using color in your artwork?
A. Absolutely. Just like the airbrush, it’s another valuable tool
Mostly transparent or opaque colors used?
in my arsenal. It’s kind of funny, but when I first learned to
A. I think I probably approach color differently than most air-
airbrush, I was such a “purist”. I never used any kind of aid,
brush artists, especially for automotive work. I come from a
no masking, no stencils, no freehand shields when I painted.
fine art background that includes acrylic and oil painting, and
Everything was 100% freehand. The good thing was it really
work primarily with opaque colors. Although I have started us-
forced me to develop my skills. The bad thing was it took me
ing more transparent colors lately, I rarely build up color with
a lot longer than anyone else to finish a project. Now that I
layers. If I need a particular orange, for example, I mix it to be
own a computer and a Roland GX-24 cutter, I can use what-
what I need straight from the gun. I also rarely use a color right
ever it takes to get the job done quickly with the best results.
from the bottle. Nearly every color gets tweaked somehow.
I would probably die without my computer now. I can whip up
When choosing what colors to use, I still default to traditional
mockups using my Wacom tablet and a customer’s photo to
art theory: hue, saturation, contrast, harmony, temperature
solidify concepts when they’re not sure what they want. I can
issue26.indd 26 11/4/2009 9:34:30 AM
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32