How to Airbrush Rivets
Airbrushing rivets onto designs is an effective way of adding detail to depictions of joined metal parts. The process uses an easily made stencil along with black and white paint to create the look of recessed metal rivets. Using the stencils to paint the rivets can be done quickly, providing a large number of rivets for a project in a short amount of time. You can also adjust the size of the rivets, using hole punches of multiple sizes to create a stencil in whatever size your project requires.
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Things You'll Need
- Masking tape
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Airbrush
- Air compressor
- White paint
- Black paint
Instructions
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1
Create stencils for the rivets by cutting a square of masking tape large enough to hold a circle the size of your rivet. Create a circle in the center of the cut square using a hole punch the size of the rivet you're painting. Set the circles aside for later use.
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2
Tape the rivet stencil into place on your painting surface.
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3
Choose a direction for the light source to emulate light falling on the rivet. Hook the airbrush to the compressor. Fill the airbrush reservoir with black paint and turn it on. Lightly spray black paint in the lower corner of the rivet opposite the location of the light source to emulate a shadow from the rivet. Follow the curve of the circle when shading.
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4
Remove the square of masking tape leaving the curved edge of the black paint shadow. Place the circle cut from the stencil over the shadow completely covering the paint. Lightly spray a layer of black paint over the circle, covering the half of the circle where you placed the shadow. Create a slightly haloing effect along the outside edge of the circle. Change to white paint and repeat the painting process on the other half of the circle to make the rivet appear recessed into the metal paneling.
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5
Remove the circles and then paint a small highlight into the area of the circle opposite the first black shadow shading done to make the rivet appear rounded.
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Tips & Warnings
Practice the initial shading on a piece of paper before applying it to your painting surface to make certain you can apply the paint in a curve, or the rivet will have an oblong shape.
