How would you start this: Stormtrooper Helmet

I am a huge Star Wars geek. As such I want to paint the attached helmet with a jet black background. So the helmet really stands out. It will be slightly off centre with the canvas laid out in a landscape style.

I have several copies of the picture which I have cut alignment marks into to use as stencils. I e cut the white bits out of one, and the black bits out of another to use as positive and negative stencils.

I’m thinking to layout the stencils with the white bits but out onto a blank canvas and just start spraying. Then fill in the black bits and shadows with black.

I’m sure there are several ways to approach this and I’d really like to hear how a more experienced hand would approach this before I start ruining canvas.

Thanks

PS. I had to remove the image, as a friend had sent me the image, and I realized that it was from a photo stock website, but had not been 'purchased' if you know what I mean. I'm going to find an image that I am comfortable using, maybe the same one, but pay for it.

In any case, the theoretical question still stands, how would you approach this?

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Cut your stencils as you’ve described, use a crisp white substrate and preserve (mask) white areas.
Spray every other colour except white, white on a dark background results in colour shift (tints your white) most noticeable on Black and you get a blue shift

Painting on white you will only need to mask off the bits that need so stay 100% white and/or sharp.

Here ya go Gordo!! This is a free tutorial from Dcott Mackay at Thinair Grafx. He has used a plotter to cut the mask, but the concept is that same if cutting by hand. This also has some great advice for how and where to shade a Storm Trooper helmet. Although it may not be the same reference picture, the idea of how to shade and where would be similar for most photos of their Helmet.
Hope it helps.



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This is great, thank you, all.

SiRoxx said:

Here ya go Gordo!! This is a free tutorial from Dcott Mackay at Thinair Grafx. He has used a plotter to cut the mask, but the concept is that same if cutting by hand. This also has some great advice for how and where to shade a Storm Trooper helmet. Although it may not be the same reference picture, the idea of how to shade and where would be similar for most photos of their Helmet.
Hope it helps.

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This is great. I've searched through YouTube several times for stormtrooper helmet airbrushing, and this one never came up. So glad you posted it here.

Gordon Read said:

This is great, thank you, all.

This is great. I've searched through YouTube several times for stormtrooper helmet airbrushing, and this one never came up. So glad you posted it here.

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Not a problem Buddy. This is what we do, I wouldn’t know half of what I’ve learned we’re it not for the good folks here posting videos and advice, this is me paying it forward that’s all. I’m glad it helped and be sure to check out Scott’s other tutorials as they’re really great.


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SiRoxx said:

Not a problem Buddy. This is what we do, I wouldn’t know half of what I’ve learned we’re it not for the good folks here posting videos and advice, this is me paying it forward that’s all. I’m glad it helped and be sure to check out Scott’s other tutorials as they’re really great.


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I definitely. Thank you.


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So here is my first attempt at the storm trooper helmet.



I would like feedback. I know the breathing vents in the front are missing. I need to sort out a texture template for those.

I’m mostly interested in thoughts on shading and shadow placement.

Thank you.


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Gordon Read said:

So here is my first attempt at the storm trooper helmet.

I would like feedback. I know the breathing vents in the front are missing. I need to sort out a texture template for those.

I’m mostly interested in thoughts on shading and shadow placement.

Thank you.


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I think you’ve done a good job on this one Gordo! In terms of the shadow placement, it looks pretty good to me but there Are some more experienced folks who might offer some more advice. The main thing I can see is the most common advice, don’t get too dark too quickly. Using black is pretty unforgiving and while it’s totally the right colour for a StormTrooper, it’s a harsh colour. There is the option of adding Transparent Base to blacks to increase the transparency and avoid them going too dark too quickly. But you’re absolutely headed in the right direction.


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Another piece of advice would be to post the reference pic too, that way we can give specific advice on any area. You should be pleased with your progress Gordo!


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Thanks guys. I will post the reference picture tonight. I'm going to be picking up some new Illustration Black tonight. The stuff I have is a cheap airbrush paint form Michael's and I had a heck of time with tip drying, and clogging and just couldn't get a good light atomization off of it. I will also check into the Transparent Base idea when I'm at the store tonight. I'm sure Maple Airbrush supplies will have some.

I will be having another go at the trooper helmet tonight.

I'm going to try a couple more times on paper, then put it on gessoed canvas and see how that works. Never sprayed on a gessoed surface before. Can I use eraser techniques on that?

Looking good so far! Donna/Maple art will definitely be able to help you with all things airbrush.

Yes you can use a gesso surface but because the surface is absorbent you may get paint soaking in in quite deep so your erasing may not be quite as sharp as a synthetic surface...

The shadows can be hard if you are doing it out of your head but you need to remember where the light source would be and then adjust accordingly

you have a reference so it won’t be quite so hard, just paint what you see