“Fender Strat” by Ryan Caisse


My name is Ryan Caisse and I have been airbrushing since the summer of 1993. I enjoy working in the style of real- ism and I am very fond of fantasy art as well. As an illus- trator, I am approached to paint everything from people to pets and sometimes asked to render something outside of the ordinary. About a month ago I was contacted online by a local TV news anchor who needed a painting done of a guitar. She


left the criteria very open and she trusted my creative judg- ment. I was happy about this because it allowed my to have a little fun with the project. Well, that gives you a little background about the paint- ing. I have listed the steps below for you to follow along on how this piece was done. If you have any questions at the end of this article, please feel free to contact me at rdcaisse@yahoo.com.


Step 1 The Drawing It is really important to find a good reference for your sub- ject; I happened to find mine online. After viewing several pictures I chose this one because of the potential I thought it had. The image was transferred onto Bristol board using an overhead projector. I used a number 2 pencil to render the outline of the guitar. Once I had the out line completed I used a kneaded eraser to reduce the amount of graphite that was on the board. If your lines are too dark they will show up later. Be sure to erase lightly as you will need to have a starting point to render all of the detail. The overhead pro- jector is a great time saving tool, but you may need to fill in some areas by hand to ensure accuracy.


Step 2 Once the drawing was completed, I masked off the neck of the guitar with Frisket film which I cut using a new number 11 X-acto blade. I used additional masking material and tape to prevent overspray from reaching outside the area. With the masking completed I sprayed ComArt transparent Burnt Sienna to block in the tones and shadows I would need. Next, I mixed ComArt Burnt Umber with Burnt Si- enna and deepened the tones that were laid out with the first stage. Next I mixed ComArt transparent Smoke with the second mixture and further deepened the shadows. The third mixture was applied sparingly, and only in areas that required it. I didn’t worry about the frets because I knew I was going to use a brush to paint them in later. The frets are the silvery crosspieces on the neck of the guitar.


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