A TITANIC UNDERTAKING

By Craig Fraser
(click on the photos for a larger view)

Even though the movie crowds are gone, the academy awards are over, and the video sales have leveled off, (Mostly because just about everyone in the world owns a copy by now), the legend of the Titanic still commands a presence. One of the phenomenon’s of the Titanic craze has been the growth of the merchandise collectors, and demand for more memorabilia. Since there is only a finite amount of memorabilia of the actual ship, much of the merchandise are reproductions, or artistic emulation’s of the fated ocean liner. I was approached by a few of these collectors, wanting a canvas that didn’t just show the Titanic, a movie scene, or schematics, but something that evoked the emotion of the mystery, and grandeur of the great ship. For the Titanic is not just a ship, it is a historic event, a period, a disaster, a monument to the over-1000 that went down with her. She is much like a Rock Star that dies at the height of fame. There is no old age, or end of the story. Merely mystery, legend, curiosity, and the constant "What-ifs" that follow such devastating points in history.

When I was commissioned to paint a canvas tribute towards the Titanic, the biggest problem was being surrounded by all of the Titanic hype. It is all too easy to be jaded by what the media has to say, even to the point of wondering if Leo should be included in the canvas portraiture. (I’m kidding.) I decided the best thing to do would be to dig up a reference book on the subject of the Titanic that had been printed prior to the movie release. This proved more difficult then I thought. I got a book from one of my clients that included numerous photos, and artwork on many of the greatest sea-disasters of the last century. (A little light bedtime reading.)

I felt that the best portrayal of the sunken legend was to show it in both of it’s notorious forums. Above water on the brink of sinking in 1912, and it’s current status over a mile under the water on the sea floor. Using underwater collage photos of the dive sites I was able to reconstruct the position, and look of the two pieces that the Titanic broke into. The above water rendering was taken from artists concept painting, and archived photos of the ship still in dock during construction. I had to take some artistic license in the positioning, since in reality the two halves are nearly a half mile apart. The end result gives, if not an exact portrayal of reality, at least a glimpse of the legend, and mystery of the great ocean liner.

For this piece I traded in my urethanes for Comart illustration paints, and metal surfaces - for a Coast Airbrush Portrait-Smooth canvas. Even though the materials, and medium may be different, the project is very much the same as one of my automotive projects: Keep the client happy, get paid on time, and don’t paint something lame. (I have simple rules for art.)

1.    After prepping the canvas with Golden Gesso, the surface is sanded with 600 grit sandpaper. Using a charcoal pencil I lightly sketch in the above, and below water versions of the Titanic. A coffee-table book on the history of the Titanic makes for excellent reference.

2.    With a mixture of Caribbean, and Ultramarine blue Comart, I begin rendering in the water with my Iwata HP-C top-feed airbrush. A damp rag helps to create realistic undulations in the water. Nothing is masked off at this point, all the water is laid in freehand in the beginning.

3.    Switching over to my Eclipse SB side feed, I fill in the remaining ocean color below the wave line. As I go lower on the canvas, I decrease the value of the blue, giving the bottom a lighter shade. This makes it easier to render the underwater wreckage.

4.    Mixing up a batch of Comart Smoke, Iron Blue, and a drop of Transparent Black, I begin rendering in the details of the wreck with my Micron C. A freehand shield helps in creating sharp, yet gradated edges.

5.    I mixed up quite a bit of the transparent blue/black mixture so all the underwater details would have continuity. Since it is a transparent color, the darker areas are rendered by multiple layering.

6.    Using a pencil eraser I create the highlighted edges of the ships destroyed rigging. The eraser technique is also good for creating the soft ripples of the sand-bottom. Bright white highlights are created using the electric eraser. Using white paint for the highlights may seem easier, but would kill the depth of the transparent painting.

7.    With the underwater painting completed, I frisket off the top section of the canvas to begin work on the "top-side" Titanic.

8.    After cutting out the smoke stacks, I spray in the underpainting with Opaque Yellow with my trusty Micron. I keep the cut frisket pieces in case I need to use them later for a positive mask.

9.    Using a transparent Carmine Red I begin layering in the color of the stacks. The yellow underpainting not only serves as the reflection of the deck lighting, but also gives the red more brilliance.

10.    Coming back with transparent black, and smoke, I airbrush in the top black portion of the smoke stacks. The transparent black also works good as a shading device to give the curvature of the stacks depth. Again I use the freehand shield to create the curve of the black section.

11.    With the smokestacks finished, the same transparent Black mixture is used for the main hull of the ship. A freehand curved shield helps in laying in the subtle lines of the hull plates. The transparent black allows many different values for shading and creating depth.

12.    Digging around the shop I find some vinyl 1/4" automotive layout tape to help in masking off the upper deck. This technique of spot masking areas, instead of having to re-frisket speeds up the painting process, and eliminates the amount of cutting on the canvas. (Which is always a good thing.)

13.    The decks are merely a series of gray-value layers, and a hell of a lot of X-Acto work. I began to have tech illustration withdrawals during this period, but I’m O.K. now. A Titanic freehand shield would have been appreciated at this point.

14.    For the fine deck detailing, I use a Dremel grinder with the stone tip to grind the paint down to the white gesso for all the windows, and highlights. You have to be careful not to get too Dremel happy at this point, the details should emphasize the design, not dominate it.

15.    Probably the most tedious part of the painting was the scratch-work. All of the railing, rigging, lifeboat hoists, and window frames have to be scratched down to the white. A little Transparent yellow will be fogged over the windows when finished to tone down the white, and soften the edges down a bit.

16.    With the main portion of the sinking ship finished, the masking is replaced on the stacks, and upper deck, leaving the background horizon line to airbrush in. To give a foggy appearance, I add a little opaque white into my blue mixture. Not only does it cover better, but it gives a separation of hue from the water.

17.    Building up the blue towards darker shades with transparent ultramarine, and Iron blue, I slowly fade the top of the sky into transparent black. The black is necessary to give contrast to the Comart white stars, and stack smoke. Trying to stay true to eyewitness reports, I kept only the back two stacks lit. (See it pays to read the reference books!!)

18.    Using just enough 3/4" masking tape above the horizon line I begin rendering in the ocean surrounding the sinking ship. (I admit,...I ran out of frisket. Good ol’ automotive masking comes to the rescue.) The ocean is built up much like the sky, color wise, this is important because an ocean will often reflect the same lighting as the sky.

19.    After dominating the water with transparent black, the foaming water is airbrushed in around the sinking superstructure with a combination of the previous blues and some opaque white. This thicker concoction of blue is sprayed with the larger Eclipse-SB. Any spitting actually helps in the rendering of water froth.

20.    Since I had the icebergs masked off from the beginning, they were still white, with just slight traces of blue. After bringing is some pthalo, and cobalt blue to create the shadows, I use a pencil eraser to rub out the highlights. The lack of black in the berg emphasizes the look of ice in a black sea.

21.    With everything unmasked the final highlights are laid in with the Micron-C and pure white. By saving the pure white to the end, the contrast is really killer. Just be careful,...too many highlights and you can kill your detail, not to mention the overspray problem......

22.    After muting some of the reflected highlights around the sinking ship with ultramarine, a little pthalo green was fogged in at the base to mimic the ghostly cast of the lights already underwater. A little white is also added under the berg, and waterline to simulate the smoke-like look of bubbles.

23.    To signify the completion of the piece, I give the canvas a nice spraying of Save-T Spray. Even though Save-T is designed for T-shirts, this stuff works killer on illustrations, canvas, and even wall murals. (Save-T Spray available exclusively from Coast Airbrush (714)-635-5557)

24.    Well there you have it,...one Titanic piece of art waiting to be picked up by the fanatical clients. (trust me on this one,...these Titanic people are fanatical). Luckily the clients loved their canvases, otherwise I probably would have been bludgeoned to death with Leo DiCaprio action figures. Seriously, the clients loved the piece, and I actually got another commission immediately afterward for another similar theme piece.

While most of the people reading this article probably only know my work as being automotive in origin, or being rendered on metal with urethanes, I hope you can see the similarities of technique between automotive airbrushing, and canvas work. In reality my automotive techniques don’t just happen to work on canvas, it is the other way around. I took my illustration, fineart, and T-shirt airbrushing techniques and originally applied them to urethanes when I got interested in automotive kustomizing. (I’m actually quite bummed that I can’t use the grinder, or eraser techniques in my automotive murals,....tends to wreak havoc on the clearcoating.)

I’m always encouraging airbrushers of different mediums to give urethane airbrushing a try, but I don’t want to forget the other side of the coin. For all the automotive painters out there, don’t limit yourself to rolling-artwork. There is something very satisfying in creating a piece of art to be hung in a gallery, or somebody’s home. More automotive kustomizers are getting into the fineart realm, especially the retro hot-rod kulture. So put your sprayguns down for a bit, and read the label on a can of gesso for a change. It smells better too.

Paint to live, live to paint

Fraser

THE ARTIST

Craig Fraser operates the Air Syndicate airbrush studio in Bakersfield, CA., and is the in-house airbrusher for Kal Koncepts. Specializing in kustom paint, graphics, and the fine art of the "Kustom Kulture". Craig is a contributing editor for Airbrush Action Magazine, and a member of the Airbrush Action Getaway staff with his "Automotive Cheap tricks and Special Effects" workshop series. Craig Fraser’s clients include: Truckin’ Magazine, Colorado Custom wheels, House of Kolor, and Jesse James’ West Coast Choppers. You can contact Air Syndicate at (661)-836-3084, or cruise the website at www.gotpaint.com.