Learn how I paint realistic portraits, an airbrush tutorial. Blending skin tones and hair!

Learn how I airbrush realistic portraits in this tutorial. In this video I walk you through the basic process how I complete a realistic painting. An airbrush tutorial designed to give you the basic outline and cliff note highlights of the color layering process along with some techniques helping you achieve realism.
.The Airspace is dedicated to all things atomized! Primarily teaching airbrushing tips tricks, reviews and much much more to come!
The Airspace is dedicated to all things atomized! Primarily focused on teaching airbrush tips tricks and techniques, as well as airbrush and related gear reviews!
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[@thecstineman]

I'm not even a huge airbrush user but I subbed because this is great content brother

[@a.b.8606]

That hair hack is sublime! I tried it today and It brought so much more realism to the portrait

[@TheAIRspace]

yes hair can make a HUGE difference in a painting! you could have a very realistic face, but if the hair is poor it really throws things out of wack. there are of course other ways to do it.. i try to go over many ways across multiple vids! THANKS!

[@damientaylor5272]

Great tutorial I have been struggling with hair and this makes it look much easier I love how little you added to the white base to get the texture ...

[@TheAIRspace]

sublety is definitely a key point in this case. :) and sometimes for certain little things make a dramatic difference :) Thanks!

[@rinamathur5186]

Thanks a ton for this tutorial! That was a generous gesture teaching the secrets of air brushing. Loved to discover the hair do! How wonderful to be out of the mystery of it all! I've been an artist for ages but couldn't do photorealistic work like this! God bless you! Fantastic job

[@TheAIRspace]

You are very welcome! There is a much longer version of this painting, but this will get you in the thought process 🙂

[@alitabattleangel9403]

Thankyou, Thankyou you just gave me therapy and resurrected my artistry. I feel inspired and motivated..

[@TheAIRspace]

That makes my day! Thank you sooo much! I wish you much sucess on your artistic journey!

[@Ye_best_lass.x]

Wow!! This is amazing!! You're so talented and inspiring!! Thanks for the words of confidence you share too 🙌

[@TheAIRspace]

THANK YOU! Too kind! I attempt to inspire.. and encourage other artists! However I have no delusions of grandeur. Im just a guy who by chance got to paint things for a living! It was hard work coming from a plumbing background to artist. But i am very fortunate!

[@fullyloadedkustoms]

Awesome tutorial, that's for showing how to do blonde have I've been looking for a video on how to do that glad I found this video. Keep up the awesome work 👍

[@TheAIRspace]

regular blonde is not so bad.. has slightly yellowish brown tones. I found the lighter colors tend to be a lot harder for people, and the reason I chose to paint this particular one. Thanks!

[@AhraChoClaire]

Thank you so much! Awesome video!

[@TheAIRspace]

You are very welcome!

[@Orecatmeatprocessors]

Hi Bill, thanks for taking the time and effort to make this video. I probably don't have a lot of time left as I"m 81 but I would like to be able to paint a few realistic portraits. I have been working on proportions so now it would be fun to airbrush some of my drawings. I'm going to watch your videos over and over to be able to do this. Thanks agaIn! Glen

[@TheAIRspace]

Always keep moving forward! You are inspirational my good man!

[@TimothyJohnLukeSmithPSA]

Great tutorial Bill!!! People don't realize how much work goes into filming these, not to mention the editing process!

[@TheAIRspace]

i have 3 hours of footage over on my patreon, and i spent more time on video work uploading and all that than it took to paint this.. by about three times as long as the painting. WHEW! Thanks Tim!

[@tracitaylor2121]

As always i loved watching you paint

[@TheAIRspace]

Thank you!

[@josephgabriel3609]

Hello William, As always, great content!! Thank you for sharing. Great work!

[@TheAIRspace]

Much appreciated!

[@randp701]

Nice painting did good work and I like your videos on on how to tutorials thank you for taking the time to show us

[@TheAIRspace]

Glad to hear your enjoying!

[@johl5137]

Hi Bill, I personally have been waiting to be shown the thinking behind the artist, thank you for sharing this, I really appreciate it.

[@TheAIRspace]

You are very welcome

[@otanocarlos3536]

Really very good tutorial, thanks you for share it us. Regards from Argentina

[@TheAIRspace]

glad you enjoyed it! THank you!

[@codyadams1766]

Thanks, great tutorial again.👍

[@TheAIRspace]

your welcome!

[@JUANARCOSLOPEZ]

Muy buen trabajo, maestro. Y muy bien explicado con consejos muy útiles. Enhorabuena.

[@TheAIRspace]

Thank you!

[@rickbourgoin5838]

Thanks for sharing sir. Much appreciated.

[@TheAIRspace]

You are very welcome :)

[@joycepetrina2791]

Wow! That was awesome! Thank you.

[@TheAIRspace]

Thank you too!

[@philguerin7126]

Again great Vid Man

[@jermasus]

Great tutorial

[@TheAIRspace]

Glad you think so!

[@louisliguore7199]

Another great instructional video! You mentioned that you had a video that featured painting that you made, like the grass in this video, which one is it?

[@allisonkennedy9826]

So stunning!

[@richartrichard6164]

Love it brother

[@TheAIRspace]

Thanks!

[@juniorkong9587]

Love it bud.

[@TheAIRspace]

Glad you enjoyed

[@humacao01]

Wow nice job.... I'm about to take the plunge..... what paper you used?

[@TheAIRspace]

I THINK i used terraslate synthetic paper on this. But it was a year or more ago :)

[@fabiocicconetti5002]

Awsome once again my friend !!! My request for a future video is all about the prework the stenciling the choosing of colours and what lines to draw basically the work behind the work if you know what I mean lol

[@TheAIRspace]

A long time ago I think I did one on finding the shapes. I really should do a deep in depth on that. As for choosing colors, that is all down to which paints are you using, what colors you have and then learning to match color. The reason I used a zorn palette on this was because it's much easier for someone to learn to mix at least semi accurately with it. Although usually I mix colors with a color wheel. (Actually I don't use the wheel much anymore I know most of the time how to see the colors and get them where I want). But that takes a lot of time color mixing.

[@MrRReal]

Thanks for sharing and thx for the life lesson, self confidence. I have a cuestion, could you tell me the color mix for the hair? Greatings from Holland, And thumbs up!! thx

[@TheAIRspace]

I have a 5 part full length tutorial of this image scroll the uploads from my main page. I go into great depths of every step just about. Thanks!

[@jord001]

Great vid Bill

[@TheAIRspace]

Thanks lee!

[@SnowS162]

Thank you. That's quite impressive. I have never done airbrushing and want to learn. Can I ask you what canvas you used? Should I prime the canvas for smoothest surface for portraits? Thanks.

[@TheAIRspace]

i used a synthetic paper called terraslate on this. which is obviously ultra smooth. If you are going to use a blade like in this case and were using a canvas a couple layes of gesso would be helpful. However i paint a lot on pre stretched canvases without doing so, always the smoother a surface the more it allows you to create and more importantly see more detail.

[@JoseGarcia-yk3dl]

Great, Great!

[@TheAIRspace]

thank you friend!

[@davidhorn536]

Hi just a quick question what colours did you use to get skin tone and do you sketch your subject first as a newbie to airbrushing can you give some advice please thanks

[@TheAIRspace]

if you go to my main page.. i have a 5 part version long form version of this painting. Also if you scroll way way down i have a 3 part color mixing tutorial. Color mixing takes some practice but practice without some guidance first wouldnt be as productive. It takes about 2 weeks to get a good gras on color mixing and months to get fast at it. Depending on how accurate you want to be with it. As for i sketched in this particular painting onto a piece of transfer paper and used cut outs to make stencils for parts of this which is well explained in the 5 part version of this painting. Best to you on your new journey!

[@redworld69]

As usual another great video, can I ask though what surface do you recommend for scratching technique practice?

[@TheAIRspace]

cheapest is home made gessoboard.. but if you hit my links of kit.co/wleonartistry And find the thinnest grade of terraslate... you can get down to under a buck a sheet. For stuff I plan on framing I prefer 10 mil or better. They also have one marketed as "airbrush papers" Its remarkeable stuff. I cant really think of anything thats going to be cheaper thats good for all techniques. There is a coating on the paper.. so keep ISO alchohol off of it. local art stores may have yupo in big sheets relatively cheaper if willing to cut them down.. and some prefer it. I also have a 5 part i think long version of this up.. in all real time. if you got the desire to sift through over 2 hours of footage :)

[@redworld69]

@@TheAIRspace great help I have a4 yupo pad on its way so hope I can try that for now. Great watching you paint trouble is you make it look easy.....It's not ha ha Thanks again for your time and help

[@TheAIRspace]

@@redworld69 it gets easier and easier. then about the time you think you figured it out.. you learn something else :) Remember with yupo.. you dont wanna reduce your paint a lot. It will spider quickly. Painting things like this is really very very gently spraying subtle tones, you can make stencils for the hard lines you need.

[@redworld69]

@@TheAIRspace I've been trying to paint my mum's dog and everyone was so bad I got to the point of giving up. Tried another subject and things began to click. Will keep watching your pet videos and try try again. Think trying to hard. Also at the moment I only have opaque paints, transparent next on shopping list. Thanks again

[@TheAIRspace]

@@redworld69 yeah.. i get asked about pets a TON. theres a couple reasons I dont do many customers stuff in video. The hard part also, is often you will have pretty bad photos to work with. So it is really difficult to get an accurate image, often taking a few back and forths with a client. Basically if you can get pets down however, you will develop a TON of techniques. Since pets cover everything from teeth/ bone/ eyes/ tongues.. then they have leather type noses almost. And of course the fur.. short fur long fur.. hairlike fur.. curly fur.

[@neshiah4747]

Superb tutorial. What is the surface you created this painting on?

[@TheAIRspace]

Thank you! This particular painting was done on Terraslate paper. Which is my absolute favorite synthetic paper for painting on. Very durable I need to do a video on its properties!

[@paulacreman722]

Have been a way for a while due to other commitments , very informative video. Thank you.

[@TheAIRspace]

no worries my friend the best part of these.. is they are there whenever :)

[@mbwildlife]

Hello Sir, what template did you use?

[@TheAIRspace]

its a reference from pixabay. i dont have a link at the moment but if you search female portraits there it will be near the top I believe

[@mbwildlife]

@@TheAIRspace I meant what Airbrush Template did you use around the eyes

[@TheAIRspace]

@@mbwildlife sketched and on transfer paper. using the transfer paper and cutting for a stencil. I have a 5 part long version tutorial of this starting here kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpzFqJyXg514Y6M

[@mbwildlife]

@@TheAIRspace Yes thank you

[@chione3175]

How can you get the hair detail on a canvas?

[@TheAIRspace]

First remember most hair is shapes, and those major shapes should be your first focus and priority. Secondly i use many techniques on canvas , I can and do individual hairs with an airbrush at times, however a liner brush and posca paint pens can be used very effectively as well. My main gig is painting pet portraits, almost all on canvas, and scratching can also be done on canvas if you want to gesso them completely smooth. However i avoid erasing and scratching entirely on canvases.

[@mattellison6507]

What kind of paint are you using? Mine seems to dry and bond too quickly and I cant scratch the paint off my paper with the X-acto knife. I use Createx Opaque. Are you using illustration paint? Thanks man!

[@TheAIRspace]

I use illustration a lot.. This was golden high flows however. Surface makes a difference in scratching a lot. Thats another video im actually going to be doing on patreon this week.

[@mattellison6507]

@@TheAIRspace I'll be watching out for it. Thanks

[@mikes1031]

Hey Bill, you're too funny sometimes. The whites of their eyes was a phrase uttered in history during the Revolutionary War, as in " don't shoot til you see the whites of their eyes "( if I'm not mistaken ) not by an artist... lmao. Anyway here is a link to that LVLP spray gun set from Home Depot www.homedepot.com/p/SPRAYIT-LVLP-Gravity-Feed-Spray-Gun-Kit-SPRAYIT-SP-33500K/204343921 $85.36 for the pair with 4 needle and cap sizes. I'm going to snag up 2 sets.

[@TheAIRspace]

yes the phrase is famous.. but the term was around before then im certain :)

[@mikes1031]

@@TheAIRspace Hey Bill, Please don't think bad of me, I just love joking with you and others with a good heart. Esp from Tim's L.S :)

[@wrobo7705]

What is the name of the piece you used for hair? Looks like a turkey beard.

[@TheAIRspace]

black beard wheat. its found in floral sections. very handy. Wont do all the work for you but it helps add texture quickly.

[@francescotufoairbrushstudi2085]

prova eccellente

[@TheAIRspace]

😀