Jord's Log

jord001

Air-Valve Autobot!
Ok where do I start. At the beginning I suppose.
Maybe a little background about me?

FYI Any OLD pics I have were taken over the last 20 years as I didn't have access to a camera and smartphones didn't exist Sadly I lost a lot of my artwork that was in books and in folders, don't know what it went.

I started drawing as a kid, playing D&D started me off drawing dungeon layouts for games and the odd pic of a scenario and maybe a creature from the D&D Monster Manual. Nothing special.

The drawing carried on for a good while. I think I was around 14 and I was getting into rock music and rock music LP's have wicked artwork. Roger Dean springs to mind. Space scenes and creatures on covers kept my mind occupied and I use to "replicate" many album covers onto the backs of Denim Jackets for my mates. I did it with a paintbrush and thinned screen printing ink that someone used to get me. I had to make do with what colours turned up and mix my own. I was also the one who was asked to embroider band names on jackets. I remember doing AC/DC, Whitesnake, Van Halen, Rainbow, Deep Purple Magnum, Zofo and Led Zeppelin the four symbols to name a few You never just had one band on your denim.
Sorry no pictures way to far back.

Then I found some fabric paint from an Art shop called Spectrum in Birmingham. I started painting " naughty comedy shirts" for a few people. I will try and find an example.

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Then was asked to paint some He Man characters on some tees for Mom's friends kids. They were only black outlines with shading but they looked good. That went down well and I got a few pounds back for my efforts. Again no pictures it was way long ago and we couldnt afford cameras unless you were posh.
I was into lettering and fonts so used to write in different styles my favourite being Celtic and Old English, I have a few books on it. I'd paint a pic and add my own fonts.

I found Fighting Fantasy novels and Games Workshop magazine which has some good artwork inside which gave me more ideas for my scribblings at the time.

So from around 1982 I was drawing more and had started to decorate my bedroom wall somewhat.
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Its about 6 feet across. It saved dad decorating :)

On from there I kept on drawing creatures and album covers. Left school in 82 & failed Art lol

Met a group of people local to me who had bikes and became friends. One of them being my Mate Alan who sadly passed away just over a year ago. He was my Airbrush influencer.

1984 late Autumn Alan turns up with Tangerine Dream artwork from the Force Majeure album on his bike tank. I was stunned. I asked him about it and of course back then it was like trying to learn witchcraft, he said can't tell ya, (in the end) he gave in and said come round my garage and I will show you how its done.

After seeing what an airbrush was and what it could do I was hooked. So I had to buy one. Spectrum art shop to the rescue, and I think it was £103 later, "on special offer" I got my Aztek 3000. Ran it off a car tyre for a long while before I got a compressor. That was over a months wages for me at the time.

Remember, No internet back then
No body would give away the secrets of airbrushing. Only magazines and pictures to learn from, no Airbrush paints as per say. Car spray paint (from spray cans) decanted into jars, pots, whatever we could find. Alan being a genius worked it all out from magazines and passed the info to me.

1985 ish to 1987 ? it's very vague :)

First artwork using airbrush was my Dragon tshirt, copied from one of my previous drawing onto the shirt. It was a mix of hairy stick and airbrush. I had got hold of some Badger Airtex paints for textiles, I still have them and they are liquid, don't think I would risk spraying them though.

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With the guidance of my mate AL I painted a few crash helmets for people, sadly no photos but they were ok. Then influenced by the classic film ALIEN I decided to have a mess about on my old crash helmet as I'd just brought a new one.

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A bit hard to see as its quite shiny, not bad for cheap clear and hand cut and polished but yo get the drift.

Did a few more helmets for friends over the next year or so then had a break for whatever reason, I can't remember exactly. Trained at college as a sign writer, and then vinyl lettering appeared so didn't pursue the trade, Got bigger bikes and got a descent job, girlfriend etc etc Party time!


Still did the odd bit of drawing but can't remember what I did for years probably about 8 of them.
Mid to late 90's I was at home still and met my now wife, after getting a flat I was able to get internet. It was crap. We quickly acquired a huge black cat and brought a house. I finally had some space to spread out again and my Airbrush stuff was sorted out. I needed a lot of practice. Now I had internet I found a forum called wet canvas and met a few folks on there who are great artists. Then found Mike Learns forum which was great, again met some amazing artists, Mike of course, Rod Fuchs, Steve Leahy, Marge Cameron to name a few.
Did a few paintings but I wasn't really happy with them.

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Unfinished dragon
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The alien was ok. No reference sketched and painted with Etac private stock I had just
acquired.

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Did a few pics over the next couple of years and in 2004 did this for a panel jam on Learn Airbrush

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Lost my mom in 2004 and knocked everything on the head, I lost the will to do anything.

This was a bit later on I think possibly around 2007 - 2008

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Getting the hang of using masks and shields finally

Didn't do much for a while but kept in touch with the forums and found another forum while browing the internet called The UK Airbrush Forum. A nice bunch of people who welcomed me in. found out there were quite a few people local to me and in 2010 I went to the KKBO This was where I actually met most of the guys and girls I was talking to on the UK AB forum, we had arranged to all meet up there what a fantastic weekend.
I was star struck, Ken from Badger, Nick Smith (fantastic jacket painter) Dennis Matthewson, Dan Power Piers Dowell helmet painter, met a load of great artists from around the UK and across the world, Got me back into airbrushing again properly. Met Mick Neill there and became a good mate. Mike learns site had faded away by then and wet canvas wasn't that busy airbrush wise, then in 2012 saw this funny Aussie bloke on youtube telling you how to airbrush. Then of course I found this wonderful place in August 2012

In 2011 I started teaching my Niece who was at the time 9yrs old, she did well and joined this forum to gain some confidence which she did but since 2016 had to concentrate on school work inc art though, she is great at art.

That's it for part 1

Lee
 
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PART 2

So after finding this place and the wonderful people in it I became a little more confident and had a go at the Cameron pic, first one came out bad but the second one was good.
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At the time I was trying to break some wicked jet black that my friend had been sent so Cameron was painted with a ratio of about 30-1 or you could say dirty water. I did another couple of pics using the same paint and my newly acquired Paasche Talon, it wasn't as good as the Mojo or the HP-B+ I had upgraded to but it was ok.
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After seeing a mates work after he came back from her class I pulled the plug and took a class with Marissa Oosterlee in late 2012.

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Straight after in the new year 2013 I painted Freddy Mecury while I still had the skills fresh. It was a challenge on my own with no one to help if you screwed it up

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Took a real fire class with Mick Neill a few months later and loved it although it was very difficult and met another good friend and artist who I still see today named Paul Meadowcroft.

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Did a few paint pals first one was for Malky who sadly doesnt visit here any more, I hope he is still alive and well. He desperately wanted a PP from Mitch Airbrush Tutor but got me.. So I painted him a Kangaroo

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Not sure if this was before 2013 but I did this for a mate at work for his office a mixture of Brush and Airbrush, came out ok.

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PP3 in 2014 still trying to keep the realism going as much as possible

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Ok that's it for Part 2, Its been a bit hard to remember when things were painted being so long ago and the metadata on the pics isnt right so the dates are not accurate.

Catch you in the next bit

Lee
 
Part 3

The next Paint pal I signed up for was pp7 in 2015 I got Steve Gathercole I cant remember his username. I wanted to paint a dragon so that's what he got.

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After painting the dragon for Steve I was asked at work if I could paint this, it was a pic of a dragon on the back of a phone case, I said maybe and took a pic. That night I painted it in an art book and took it into work the next day. They couldnt believe it. It came out ok

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I don't paint much now, it all depends on my mood, so not a lot of artwork was done from here to the present day. As you will see maybe one or two per year.

It was October 2016 and PP10 was announced. So I attempted Herman Munster since it was Halloween month, and it went to Cheryl, I think she liked it

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Another Paint Pal and the last one for 2016, PP11 think I did this for AndreZA

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Fridge magnet challenge in 2017 was my next painting for the Super Shoes Charity that were at the KKBO. The magnets were auctioned off at the show, All proceeds went to help kids fighting and recovering from cancer.

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In 2018 I did another Fridge Magnet for Super shoes Charity at the KKBO

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This year I was also on the UK airbrush stand for the first time (I was told that I was part of it so be there or else) and a few of us took part in a little comp to win some paints.

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@bex won the comp with Elvis's Pink Caddy? I think.

Things still being quiet in 2019 I said ok to PP20 I had to force myself to paint and had a few mishaps. And it was for VR so I was under immense pressure. It didn't go as I planned and was quite disappointed with it.

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Next and almost last one was PP22 in 2020 The lockdown edition for me, several attempts on this one I think, my mind is quite vague but I know it didn't go right and I struggled. Wasn't a disaster though.

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Nothing really going on in 2021 October I had my cousin ask to come round to do some airbrushing and I thought I'd have a go at something small after watching Steve Leahy on FB every Monday night so I started this winged skull, hopefully not too taxing. Haven't touched it for a few weeks, just haven't been in the mood. I will have a bash at it hopefully in the Christmas hols.

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Still working on my mates bike pic but I'm at the stage where I've done too much to screw it up so will really have to be in the mood to have a go with it.

Well that's really my journey, not much to show compared to others but I think I've come a long way, its certainly been a long time, and its all thanks to great artists, friends and this forum.

I hope I can now keep up this log as and when I do some painting

Thanks for the encouragement

Lee
 
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Love the back story Lee, 'We' forget that for many here didn't have access to internet when they began their journey... I often wonder what my career path (and art path) would have been if they had just invented internet earlier.

You have definitely progressed and I personally think you should put paint on paper more often (yeah I know... Pot ... Black ... yeah yeah lol )
Its my happy place when life seems to be piling up around my ears, I just paint, I don't think, just do. It gives the brain a much needed break
 
That was a really cool read Mate! It was nice to see exactly where you and Paul first met. Glad I can call you both friends. There’s some great work in there too Buddy. You really have come a long way.
 
Thanks @Kingpin

@SiRoxx Thanks for the kind words. I could have added a load more rubbish but my will was starting to give up :) I also wish I had pictures of all my artwork and crash helmets from back then, I probably lost 40 or 50 drawings in my books a good couple of dozen paint jobs inc the jackets I painted. When I mentioned Paul I had to think how I met him as we always went to the KKBO together but I knew it wasn't just from there. Always stayed in the same hotel so we had breakfast and dinner together. Then we got to meet you and Amanda, can't be bad. Yes hopefully all friends for life.

@JackEb Yeh its hard to think there was no internet. I got to admit it was the best time when learning though, it really was like learning a magic spell when you accomplished something. I'm surprised I ended up in an IT role considering there were no computers when I was at school. They were just being introduced as I left in 82.

I'm really trying Yeh I know literally, to get some painting done Jackie That small winged skull piece is quite interesting so I blocked it in almost like Steve Leahy does but what I failed to do was have several pics to cut out so I will have to wing it freehand I think. What could go wrong :)
 
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@JackEb Yeh its hard to think there was no internet. I got to admit it was the best time when learning though, it really was like learning a magic spell when you accomplished something. I'm surprised I ended up in an IT role considering there were no computers when I was at school. They were just being introduced as I left in 82.
me too... completed schooling without internet and somehow ended up teaching IT later in life :eek: lollollol
 
This is great Lee. Even if your time-liner isn't exact It's cool to see your progress. You are an artist with talent sir.

When I started airbrushing phones were rotary diallol.
 
Update: Well nothing has gone on, Ive looked at the paintings and sat at my desk where the airbrushes are but just fiddled with them and did a few squiggles and lines to see if they A: Still work and B: See if i still had some trigger control.
Watching Steve Leahy is an inspiration seeing how easy he makes it look but actually sitting down and painting still eludes me at the moment.
Working on it!
 
Update: Well nothing has gone on, Ive looked at the paintings and sat at my desk where the airbrushes are but just fiddled with them and did a few squiggles and lines to see if they A: Still work and B: See if i still had some trigger control.
Watching Steve Leahy is an inspiration seeing how easy he makes it look but actually sitting down and painting still eludes me at the moment.
Working on it!
Lost mojo is a problem, it’s been a long while since either of us picked up a brush and put paint in it.

now if for the forum stable and just in need of a bit of tweaking I’ve promised myself I’ll paint more- Mr.micron has opened paint pal and 2Diverse has set a phoenix challenge with no end date so join me in both ?
 
Hey all, No shoutbox so i thought I'd pop a message in here. I hope everyone is ok and well. I want to wish everyone a Happy Christmas although its already tarrived Down Under. Ive been really buty with work and basically getting on with things. Still no painting unless you count spraying and RC Car body with a can lol I will try and pop in a bit more but dont feel I can offer much but will do my best. Love to all Take care and hope 2024 is a great year.

Jord
 
Hi Jord !!
Happy Christmas to you as well. Yep, spraying an R/C car counts. I'm sure you used skills painstakingly acquired from all your airbrush work. And if not , don't feel the need to correct me. :laugh:

Hey you contribute just by stopping by and saying 'Hi'. It's always great to see familiar faces.

I hope you have a great holiday season and the best year of your life in 2024 and beyond.

Oh, FYI, the temporary shout box is here: https://airbrushforum.org/forums/temporary-shout-box.73/
But this was a great way to show new members your work. I enjoyed seeing it again.

-Joe
 
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