Neneki “Nick” McGee aka ‘Nick the Airbrush Artist’ is a self taught artist from Los Angeles who began to love art at a very young age. He sold his first drawings in Elementary school - an original drawing of Michael Jackson, which he got his teacher to photocopy so he could sell prints. Then, in Junior High School he fell in love with airbrushing because of the vibrant colors. He soon begged his mother to buy him an airbrush and a compressor. He taught himself how to airbrush by reading books and lots of practice and has spent most of his life bettering his craft, not knowing the wonderful journey his art would take him. Along the way, he has won several awards with his paintings & his art has been in demand around the world. A trendsetter in fashion with his airbrushed, he has painted numerous portraits on t-shirts. His work has been featured in Hip Hop music videos & photo shoots. He started Artistic-Graphics.com which keeps him connected with clients from the West to the East Coast of the United States, to Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, & Asia. He tells us his website has recently received over a million-and-a-half hits, and that he was the first airbrush artist to become an eBay powerseller. His art is now being featured in well established art galleries.

Nick takes pride in having no limits with his airbrush - painting on almost any blank surface! He often brings excitement to events by live painting, airbrushing t-shirts, body art & temporary tattoos. He has airbrushed at private parties and at events where over 75,000 people have attended.

Nick uses an Iwata Eclipse airbrush with an Iwata Powerjet compressor. He only uses Aqua Flows white & black paint. Aqua Flows white covers dark surfaces easily because of its heavy pigment and Aqua Flows black dries evenly with one coat saving him lots of time. He does use Aqua Flow & Createx paint for color.

Check out these other great artworks…

Request him as a friend on Myspace at Myspace.com/ArtisticGraphics

Juan Marroquin began pinstriping back in 1979. He was inspired by a local pinstripe artist in Phoenix Arizona called “ET”, who striped a 1970 Chevy Impala lowrider. “ET” taught Juan just enough to get himself started pinstriping in the lowrider scene which was big back in the day. After practicing for hours every day on an old car hood he developed the skills and confidence to go “live” with his venture. He then started laying down lines on friend’s and family members’ rides.

Juan has continually honed his skills through knowledge he’s gained from videos, magazines and other artists. He regularly attends workshops. Some of his inspiration came through Steve “The Wizard” at Daytona Bike Week.

With an ever present passion for the Kustom Kulture, Juan attends and participates in art shows, like the AZ Brush Bash and the World of Wheels. His specialty is scroll pinstriping and pictorial art. Recently he’s picked up the airbrush and we’re looking forward to seeing what he does with that.

Check out the mad skillz of “The Wand”…

Check out “The Wand” on MySpace or email him at thewandart@yahoo.com. His phone number is (602) 794-5239.

All images in this post were provided by Juan Marroquin © 2008. Used by permission.

We are way overdue for a MySpace Featured Artist, and everyone knows we’re suckers for pin-up art. Given that, we’re featuring the talented artworks of Steve Baier.

Steve started learning airbrush in 1999 while attending Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa. His first paying gig was drawing caricatures for Hollywood Caricatures at Adventureland Park in Des Moines. From 1999 through 2006, Steve continued to work as a caricaturist and also painted his share of t-shirts, plus some light illustration work. His first website was launched in 2004. But Steve’s real passion as an artist was not in any of these things; rather it was pin-up art. In his spare time, Steve would continue to develop his particular style of pin-up, combining airbrush with watercolor pencil, acrylics, metallic pen, colored pencil, and even found objects to produce the final result. In April 2007, Steve signed his first licensing contract with Up Your Art, LLC., and made the transition to full-time creator of original pin-up art.

Steve’s paintings are a blend of the real and the imagined. The process always starts with conceptual drawings. Steve works with some professional models, such as Maxim’s 2006 Woman of the Year Monica Hansen and fitness model Dana Hamm, but also shoots his own reference photos with amateur models, and women who are not models at all. Steve does not work to re-create the photo; it is simply a point of reference and a foundation for the overall work. When the overall concept is worked out in pencil, the final drawing is transferred to the painting surface - usually cold-press watercolor paper, though cold press illustration board and even textured mat board are also used.

Steve has always favored Iwata airbrushes, though he has tried other brands. Most of the airbrush work in Steve’s current paintings is done with a Custom Micron SB, though the Eclipse SBS is still in use as well. Steve prefers Com-Art Airbrush Colours for rendering flesh, hair, and clothing and he does mix some custom colors from time to time.

Backgrounds are painted mostly in acrylic, using foam brushes, sea sponges, or traditional paintbrushes. Accessories are often rendered in watercolor pencil, which makes for an interesting contrast, or metallic pen, which plays with the light.

You may have seen Steve’s work in someone’s comments section on MySpace. His paintings are very popular as licensed downloads, and are widely used by web graphics designers and hobbyists all over the world. Original paintings and reproductions are currently owned by collectors in 20 US States, as well as Canada, England, Australia, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

For more about this artist, please visit Steve’s official website: scbartworks.com and his official MySpace page. E-mail inquiries are always welcome, and can be sent to steve@scbartworks.com.

Daron Eichenlaub started out as an airbrush artist in 1990 when he was called to paint three shirts of a 747 airplane for a character named 747 in the T.V. movie “The Bride in Black” starring Susan Lucci. From there, he painted t-shirts for local t-shirt shops in malls. This is where he developed an amazing speed and has been clocked at 25-35 shirts per hour - wow that’s prolific! He’s also painted cakes, done murals, body-painting and decorated license plates. In 2004, Daron opened his own shop in Pittsburgh, PA and named it after his mom. Check out some designs from Mad Momma Designs…

If you find yourself on the south side if Pittsburgh, PA check out the Mad Momma store, or online at: www.madmommadesigns.com and on Myspace: www.myspace.com/madmommadesigns

All images in this post were provided by Daron Eichenlaub at Mad Momma Designs and are copyright © 2008 Daron Eichenlaub. Used by permission.

Our current MySpace Featured Artist is Fred Sicol of Killer Kreations. Fred does his magic in Philadelphia, PA. He started out as a T-shirt artist twelve years ago and now has matured into a very accomplished painter of rides. Check it out…

“Bad Boy” icons - nice.

Nice use of color on this cobra.

Fred’s MySpace page is: http://www.myspace.com/killerkreationsinc. Make yourself friendly.

Fred Sicoli
Killer Kreations
1929 So Chadwick St
Philadelphia, Pa 19145
phone 215-468-5837
toll free 877-266-6673

All images in this post were provided by Fred Sicoli at Killer Kreations and are © copyright Fred Sicoli. Used by permission.

Anthony’s claim to fame is that he’s unafraid to paint surfaces that most wouldn’t even think of working on. His motto is “If it stands still long enough, paint it”. Check it out…

A true “bomber jacket”. Nose art on the back of a leather jacket.

What - golf clubs? That’s really thinking outside the box, don’t you think?

Make yourself friendly at Anthony Sesack’s MySpace page, or visit his personal website at:

www.EastCoastBrushworks.com

We haven’t focused on a MySpace artist in a while - what with all the holiday festivities, conventions, art shows and such. So, now you’re in for a treat when you see the works of our most recent MySpace Featured Artist - Edward Peterson - ESP Studios from Verdi, Nevada. He’s been an Iwata guy for the whole 12 years he’s been using airbrushes in his art.

Fun abstracts, imaginative creature cartoons and colorful fish - oh my! Ed’s son Ian inspired him to illustrate a children’s book. The result? Groovin’ Melvin (see Melvin below). His passion is to do murals, grafitti and automotive airbrush.

Groovin’ Melvin - this guy is the product of Ed’s imagination, inspired by the desire to entertain his son. Go to Ed’s website to get more pics of Ed’s collection of art as well as Groovin’ Melvin and the other characters in the story.

Ed’s work is imaginative and fun. It’s a refreshing look at a different flavor of airbrush art.

Cool imagery, Ed! Visit Ed’s MySpace page or his website to get the goods on this very talented guy.

All pix in this post copyright © 2007 Edward S. Peterson - ESP Art

Our MySpace Featured Artist contemporaries are more than airbrush stars. It’s about artists we respect, and their work, regardless of their medium or genre. Many airbrush, some sculpt, and others create the ultimate body art - tattoos. Yeah, we’re talking the real deal here - not the kind of body art that you shower off before heading to bed. The kind that lasts forever. And if you want it done right you go to an expert at their craft. That’s why we’re proud to share Clark North of Clark Tattoo as our latest MySpace Featured Artist. Check out the work below.

Clark is a man who loves his work. His chair is constantly full, and his needle always busy, but if you’re serious about what you want and you appreciate a true work of art, he’ll fit you in and get it done right. That’s why Clark will tell you… “You get the tattoo you deserve”.

Clark is a traditional painter too, favoring acrylics and either painting or drawing most every day. And it shows. Below are a few examples of his art…

Shown above: Clark (beside driver’s door) and the crew of A&E show INKED and Hart & Huntington Tattoo.

Above: A.D. Cook and Clark outside Hart & Huntington Tattoo at the Palms, Las Vegas, Nevada.

Clark Tattoo. Cool stuff. “Yeah, I like that story”.

Clark Tattoo on MySpace

Other MySpace featured artists on AirbrushTour.com

All images in this post are copyright © 2007 Clark Tattoo. Used by permission.

Heavy Metal artist Michael Calandra is our current MySpace featured artist. Michael is a prolific airbrush artist and illustrator and he is also very generous with his Work in Progress articles which he routinely posts on his MySpace blog. Michael has given us permission to post one such article right here on Airbrush Tour.

“This is step one of my new painting featuring model Julie Kim (she’s in my top 40). It is just drawn out at this stage.”

“This is step two. Here I have worked with airbrush into the face and upper body. You can see how the airbrush layers color to model the skin. If you play lights and darks with colors, you can get a photographic effect.”

You can see I have worked into her body with the airbrush.
I had to mask off the whole lower body with a frisket, then cut out only the clothing.
I sprayed the clothing and replaced the pieces of frisket.
Then, I cut out the tattoos and airbrushed that area.
After I removed all the frisket, I worked at modeling her body and skin tone.
The crystal ball was masked off and slowly colored. Highlights were erased with an electric eraser.”

“Here is the next step. I have added background colors and smoke. Then I masked off the lanterns to airbrush them.
I added details to her wings, clothing, and body art.
She is getting close to being finished, but I am still working out background details.”

“Here you go folks. New art just completed! Thanks to my wonderful model Julie Kim! ”

To learn more about Michael Clandra and his art, visit him online at MySpace.com/Michael Calandra.

Other MySpace featured artists on AirbrushTour.com

All images in this post are copyright © 2007 Michael Calandra. Used by permission.

Our newest addition to the MySpace Featured Artists is an up-and-comer airbrush artist Brad Keener. Getting his start in Monroe, Georgia, Brad has been airbrushing for a couple of years now, and is a self-tought artist, specializing in wall murals, cars, bikes and helmets… and guitars (like the one above) — just about anything but t-shirts. Brad says “I have been using Iwata airbrushes exclusively for a little over a year now and they make a great deal of differance in the detail I can acheave in my work”. We agree. Below are some examples of Brad’s work. Enjoy.

To learn more about Brad Keener and his art, visit him online at MySpace.com/Brad Keener.

All images in this post are copyright © 2007 Brad Keener. Used by permission.

Next on our list of MySpace Featured Artists is Tim Lowery. We discovered Tim and his work through MySpace and were immediately impressed, and immediately decided to share his work with you, the loyal readers of AirbrushTour. Who could resist his strong sense of color and composition… and he paints beautiful ladies beautifully, like the one above - another plus.

Glendale, Arizona — Tim Lowery has been airbrushing since the tender age of 14. He began his life long love of airbrush at the South Mountain HS Center for the Advanced arts. It was there that he became introduced and thereby influenced by such artist as Dru Blair, Mark Fredrickson, and Sorayama. In 1992 after taking first & fourth place in the Badger High School Airbrush Competition and seeing his work published in Airbrush Action Magazine his dream to become an Airbrush Illustrator began.

He began his Art Career airbrushing T-Shirts at Art Attacks Inc, learning speed and accuracy. He then progressed to murals, custom automotive, portraits, and motorcycle work. In 2005 his focus and life became solely his artwork and career as an artist. He has been working day in and day out either at his home studio or at the Bad Boy Designs custom automotive shop, on commissioned artwork or his own personal portfolio.

Tim primarily uses Iwata airbrushes. He was happy with the HP-C, but when introduced to the Iwata Micron airbrushing took on a whole new meaning for him. In fact stating that the three things he loves most in his life are his wife, his daughter, and his Iwata Micron.

Airbrushing the female figure is a passion for Tim. Striving to bring back class and elegance to a genre that can be considered anything but he is working toward becoming an established pin-up Artist. Working in various mediums such as watercolor, acrylics, and colored pencils he is creating a backdrop or environment for his figures.

To learn more about the art of Tim Lowery, visit him online at MySpace.com/LoweryArt or mypsptubes.com.

All images in this post are copyright © 2007 Tim Lowery. Used by permission.

A couple posts back, we mentioned that we were starting a new segment on AirbrushTour to showcase the talented artists on MySpace. And while we’ve certainly featured several artists who have MySpace pages in the past, we’re proud to introduce the first official post to present to you a new artist (at least to AirbrushTour).

The first of the MySpace Featured Artists is Christopher Smith aka Crisobal. Christopher Smith began airbrushing with Space City Airbrush in 2000 on the Kemah Boardwalk. As a Houston, TX artist he has been airbrushing for about 7 years solid and is shows. This self taught through learned his skills by investing countless hours in the garage/studio to master his craft. Until recently, most all of Chris’ referrals have been through word of mouth, but he’s recently put a portion of his work on his web site and on MySpace. Now, he says… “the hits on the site and biz have increased”. Chris has been using Iwata airbrushes since he started. He says he’s tried other airbrushes but wasn’t impressed. He finds portraits to be the most challenging - each one offers something unique and different, be it the eyes, the skin tone, or both.

Below are a few examples of the art of Cristobal… we hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

Part of a school mural - a work in process. Chris specializes in airbrushed murals in museums, offices, schools, and private residences.

Portrait of Priest.

Portrait of Shakira.

Office mural in process - 95% completion.

This Beatles inspired Prius was just completed for Toyota

Space City Airbrush specializes in airbrushed murals, airbrushed sheetmetal (such as motorcycle tanks and fenders), airbrushed portraits, airbrushed helmets, airbrushed guitars, airbrushed t-shirts, and live airbrushing entertainment.

Want to know more… check him out online at SpaceCityAirbrush.com or visit his MySpace page at MySpace.com/cristobal121171.

All images in this post are copyright © 2007 Christopher Smith. Used by permission.

Since joining the MySpace craze back in August, we’ve been fortunate to discover a plethora of amazing creative talent, including several old friends we were happy to find there, along with several new friends (and many of those are airbrush related). In fact, there is so much amazing art and artists that we at AirbrushTour feel it worthwhile to share them with you. So, we’ve decided to do a regular feature here on the artists - airbrush and otherwise - bringing them to you as we discover them.

Soon, we’ll bring you the first of many. Then another, and another, and so on until you’ve been exposed to so much great art your eyes will explode. Sounds like fun, eh? And we encourage you to visit these artist and check out their great art. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need a MySpace account to view their pages. So, as we bring you talent, just click their link to learn more about them - tell them you found them here, on AirbrushTour. And at anytime, you can check our growing list by clicking the ‘MySpace Featured Artist‘ link in the CATEGORIES Section in the center column of any AirbrushTour page.

Some artists previously featured on AirbrushTour with MySpace Pages (profiles set to ‘private’ not listed):
A.D. Cook | Bones | Fonzy | Craig Fraser | Jason Doll | Javier | Lil Newt | Marshall Parks | Norm Gregg | Kat | Ryno | Shawn Wilkin | Thom Madro | Vandemon | Wyland

This is just a start, and it’s possible we missed a few. There are definitely tons of great MySpace artists not yet featured on AirbrushTour, but we’re working on it. Over time, we’ll add more. And as we do, we’ll share their MySpace page with you.

Are you a MySpace artist and want to be showcased on AirbrushTour? If so, contact A.D. Cook on his MySpace page >>> MySpace.com/ADCookFineArt.

Sometimes we all need space. A.D. Cook finally joined the ranks of the many and set-up a MySpace page. View it anytime at MySpace.com/ADCookFineArt.