I have bought several airbrushes a couple of years ago from an art store that was going out of business. I have two Iwatas and a Paasche that is still missing parts. Over the years I had accumulated equipement, like a 2HP compressor with a 15 gallon tank and other airbrushing odds/ ends. At some point I wanted to airbrush something cool on a motorcycle helmet. After much study on technologies I embarked on the adventure to create my first helmet.
The original test helmet came as a gift from a friend. I regret that I never took a picture of it since it was a work of art – bright red with huge butterflies on the sides, a distinctive 70’s style helmet. My housemates consistently hid it away from public view, for the reason of either being ashamed or not quite being secure in their masculinity. I actually rode with that helmet to a major rally once and led a pack of hardened and burly H-D riders on a traffic splitting, laws violating tour. But that’s another story. I finally decided to sand down the helmet and to airbrush a grim reaper. It was a total disaster. In the process I had learned many valuable techniques. For example how to make paint to actually stay on the helmet. After several complete sand-outs I abandoned the grim reaper and created a much simpler flames design. The result is here. And here is the back.
My next project was to airbrush another helmet that I would actually use. I prefer full face helmets. After I bought a second helmet I took now “spare” helmet apart and began work. I wanted to put black and yellow squares, to match my bike’s paintjob. Also I wanted to add a pencil drawing that I made long time ago of Boris and Natasha riding a bike. I redrew the bike, colored the sketch and took a long time to decide what color of hair Natasha should have. Black was too boring and did not fit well with other dark parts of the drawing. I considered black, green, red, pink and blond. Flaming red it was: Side view Back view:
