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Real Flames and Skulls Obsession…

Do you remember the first time when someone told you about AIRBRUSH, what associations did you get with that word? To be honest I found it on Internet before anybody mentioned it to me, so I wasn’t confused as I got a lot of the pictures right away. But when one of my friends asked me:

I heard that you are writing a blog, what is it about?” I said “Airbrush“, his reaction was – Hmmm… What? Come again… Airbrush? What is it? Tweet This!


Well, I don’t know how about you but I’ve been surprised, that some people don’t have the smallest idea what it could be.  My first aid is that “it is a kind of painting art made with special air tool. But some people still can’t get what exactly it could be, so I found that the easiest way to explain is to bring some examples.

So I do it by this question: Have you ever seen a real fire or skull paintings on cars and bikes? This is the moment when they actually get what kind of art airbrush is.” Aha, yes, I’ve seen those :)” . But this is the moment when you have to explain that airbrush is not only about motorists and about fire and skulls.

So here comes my questions to my readers (I hope there are some Pro’s as well):

  • What is the easiest way to explain what airbrush is to any person?
  • Why do you think that real fire and skull motives became that popular this days?
  • What is your opinion on this motives?

I can go on and on …

Here is just a gallery of different types of airbrushed skulls and real fire paintings. Before I wanted to write on this two topics separately but if you try to find one, in most cases, you’ll find it in combination with another one.

Source of images: Flikr.com, (All images in this gallery are with Creative Commons-license).

Another thoughts about these motives is, “how will you feel and act if you get involved in a car crash with a car or bike that has this stuff all over the whole body of the vehicle?

Next I would like to know about your local police department “how do they treat all that airbrushed stuff especially with these motives?

And at the end I had to mention this. There are some artists that I respect a lot and they actually made their living doing mostly these motives. Mike Lavallee (to me he is a father of real fire, but recently showed the world that he can do much more), Airbrush Fitto (unusual way of painting skulls and full skeletons, and if I’m not wrong, he does everything freehand).

And my last question “What do you think about these two artist?”

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2 Comments on “Real Flames and Skulls Obsession…”

  • Great topic!
    Mike Lavallee definately is the Father of real fire..and his work in general is amazing!!
    Fitto (Martin Bouchard) is an AMAZING dark art airbrush artist and his work is absolutely WORLD CLASS! his detail work is all done freehand and his attention to the smallest details is second to none!
    Another one of the worlds best skull and darker art airbrush artists has to be mentioned in here..Blake McCully (Crosseyed Airbrush) …his work is mind blowing and I am personally one of his biggest fans and aspire to paint to his level one day.

    Fire, skulls and airbrushing all go hand in hand and have forever!
    In the early days of painting designs on van bodies and motorcycle tanks, the theme was usually to paint something intimidating or ‘edgy’..this usually led to painting a skull or fire, of if lucky, BOTH!
    And just like hot rod style traditional flame jobs on classic cars, the obsession with fire and skulls is everlasting. And thank goodness that it is!! I make a living from it!!

    I explain what airbrushing is just like painting with a paint brush or drawing with a pencil…it is painting with an airtool. (a very specialized airtool, but an airtool none the less…)
    It is a medium used to create art..sometimes in conjunction with those other mediums like a paint brush, pencil…what ever the case may be.

    thanks for puttin up this blog, it was a great topic and I hope more people comment and give their opinions on it.
    Take care!
    Keep on Sprayin’
    MOB
    (www.mobairbrush.com)

    • Hey Mike,
      Really great comment! Almost another article :). Thank for mentioning Blake McCully (I totally forgot about him), and great website you’ve got there ;)