How to Airbrush Realistic Wood Grain by Jeff Simon
by Jeff Simon
I’ve seen many different techniques on airbrushing the look of wood grain, but I wanted to develop a process that is easy, yet produces a very realistic looking wood effect. For this exercise, I used a 12”x18” white, aluminum panel, Auto Air transparent yellow ochre, transparent root beer, transpar- ent black, transparent white and transparent yellow. I used Vega 2000 and Iwata HP-CS airbrushes. You will also need a throw away 2” paint brush and some Etac Conditionair or glycerin. This technique requires a stencil to create realistic and distinct wood grain patterns. The creation of these distinct grain patterns is what makes this technique more realistic
Step 1 The first step is to scuff the panel with a red scotch brite pad until completely dull, clean with wax and grease remover and then use a tack cloth to remove any remaining dust. Remember, good surface preparation is very important and you don’t want to cut any corners during this process.
looking. The first time I did this wood grain technique, I used a stencil I purchased from Airsick Stencils. I have quite a few of their stencils and they are good quality and priced right. Even though the Airsick stencil worked decently, I found there were some design changes that would work better for this technique, so I designed and cut my own stencil. I drew out my wood grain pattern on paper, then laid one of those flexible cutting mats on top of the paper, traced the design using a sharpie marker and cut out the stencil using a razor blade. I will admit this was a tedious and time consuming process, but the results were worth the effort.
Step 2 Using my Vega 2000 siphon feed airbrush, I base coated the entire panel with Auto Air transparent yellow ochre mixed with about 10% 4011 reducer. A mini HVLP spray gun would have probably done this base coating more ef- ficiently, but I don’t have one and the Vega 2000 puts out a nice wide spray for an airbrush. Apply five or six light coats and dry between coats with a hair dryer. When using water based paints, patience is key don’t try and rush it and apply heavy coats, thin coats work out much better. After the final coat heat set the paint with a heat gun until the panel is very hot to the touch.
Step 3 and 3A Now we’re going to create the under painting of the wood grain. This step produces an overall background graining effect. Using yellow ochre, spray it on nice and heavy and then immediately take a red scotch brite pad and wipe this paint in one direction, creat- ing small lines and scratches in the paint. You have to do this fast while the paint is still wet to get the best results. You can repeat this step to make the graining as subtle or severe as you want.
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