Those of you whom have followed Mike for any length of time have probably noticed that he is a big fan of Warbird paint jobs, particularly on guitars. It all started when Mike first picked up an airbrush, around the age of 10, because he wanted to paint his model airplanes. But the interest for the […]Read More
Hellraiser Project: COMPLETE TUTORIAL
Anyone who knows Mike, knows that he is a HUGE horror fan and he has never had the opportunity to paint Pinhead, so this job thrilled him. We also thought it would be a great subject for tutorials.
Mike Learn’s RichPen Airbrushes
For nearly a decade, the high-quality Japanese RichPen airbrushes have been missing in the USA. After months of communication, research and development, we are PROUD to bring them back.
THE SKETCHBOOK & Random Thoughts – AutoPilot
This painting was commissioned for Michael Lichter’s Speed Demon exhibit at the Journey Museum in Rapid City, SD.
Glow In The Dark FRANKIE
This is a project for NAMM. Mike always likes to push the boundaries a bit with these jobs because he is generally given full artistic reign. I thought you might like to follow the process of this piece, as it is challenging both technically and creatively. As most of you know, Mike generally prefers to work on […]Read More
HOW TO: Portrait Class
For those of you who have been around Mike and I before Social Media – you may remember our LearnAirbush LIVE sessions that we held several times each month via our web cam. I just ran across 4 video segments that were requested excerpts from the Portrait Class. End of class images:
SPOTLIGHT: P61 Black Widow Warbird
This Jackson King V project was commissioned from a repeat customer, Alex. Mike has done several great pieces for him, and this one was no different. The guitar originally had 2 pickups, so Mike did some modifications to fill the second pickup recess and the holes for the electronics. Alex left the design for the […]Read More
UNCIVIL DEFENSE – JACKSON SOLOIST PROJECT
For this project I really wanted to do something with the Statue of Liberty as a foundation but I was looking for something a little more thought provoking than a simple replication of an image. I started with a reference photo of Miss Liberty, imported it into CorelDRAW and then used the basic proportions and sense […]Read More
How To: Kong- A Lesson in Texture
This Tutorial is a study in Daggers and Dots: Mike goes into great detail as he explains the layering techniques he used to create complex textures like leathery skin and hair on his awesome beast, KONG. We are also including some still photos and color use references below: Mike created a very simple mask to […]Read More
HOW TO: Focke Wulf 190 WWII Warbird
When it comes to painting Warbirds, a good portion of great execution is understanding how to complete complex masking processes. These types of designs require numerous “layers” and masking them in the correct order is integral to the success of the final piece. For this particular tutorial, we will focus on “order of execution.” This […]Read More
SPOTLIGHT: OCTOPUS Les Paul Project
This project has garnered a lot of interest as its progression was documented on social media. Now that it is complete I thought I would put the entire process and the most relevant images and videos together one one place. The project came to us from a customer in China and there are several back […]Read More
THE SKETCHBOOK & Random Thoughts – Rob Burns
This job came to me with very little instruction. The client, Rob Burns, wanted his bike to have a ton of artwork, but still wanted the LimeTime Pearl base coat to be very prevalent; basically he wanted the bike to still be green even after it was covered with art. He also mentioned that he […]Read More