Custom Drone Head concepts, lots and lots of em!

[FreddySchramm]

This is the last project I took on before I graduated California College of the arts. Very Important portfolio piece for me too. I wanted to take on something that would teach me how to use my airbrush and it quickly turned into a great way to experiment with different techniques

The helmet was designed in Rhino, and then 3d printed and molded. I casted them all in Smooth on onyx fast, half were coldcasted using aluminum and steel powder. Most of the rusted helmets are coldcasted and then oxidized using a variety of different techniques like patina sprays, vinegar baths, and exposed in the sun or in a hot shower. I experimented with some faux rust techniques like applying cinnamon to acrylic paint to builds up a rusty texture.

The helmets were all painted and highlighted with my airbrush, and masked off with different techniques. I mostly used hairspray in between layers and then rubbed the paint away with a toothpick and steel wool to get a paint chipped look, I also played around with removing the paint with duct tape by freshly painting a helmet, taking a strip of duct tape and pressing and ripping it off the helmets, taking paint with it( great way to get random paint chipping I got some great effects and textures by sandblasting the cold casted helmets too.

For some of the other helmets I relied more on model paints and rub n buff for more metallic looks. One of the best techniques I used was using a graphite pencil to shade in areas and then rubbed them with my finger to get more scratchy look to the exposed metal. I followed that up with a charcoal pen around the area to mimic blast residue.

Some of the helmets have more textured airbrush painted effect to them For those I put down a dark layer, put the helmet in pantyhios and then sprayed another lighter layer of paint to catch the “grid” effect of spandex.



Cold Casted Steel, Graphite pencil Highlights Acrylic paint, Cinnamon,


Graphite Pencil Highlights, Charcoal Highlights Acrylic paint, Acrylic wash


Acrylic paint, Cinnamon Cold casted steel, Vinegar bath, spray paint.



Oil paint wash , Spandex masking, Graphite highlights. Duct tape masking, Rub N buff, Graphite and Charcoal Highlights.


Acrylic paint, Graphite highlights, Rub N buff Acrylic Paint, Cinnamon



Cold casted steel, Hair spray masking, Duct tape masking, Patina solution, Acrylic, oil wash , spandex masking, Graphite Highlights
Vinegar bath



Cold Casted Steel, patina solution, vinegar, exposed sunlight. Sandblasted base, metallic paint, oil & acrylic wash




Charcoal, metallic paint, graphite highlights Charcoal, metallic paint, graphite highlights




Sandblasted paint, metallic paint, graphite highlights Metallic paint, graphite highlights, charcoal



iron metal coating

 

[FreddySchramm]

Here's some more!!!!!





Oxidized cold casted steel Iron Metal coating



Spray paint, Acrylic paint/ wash Cold casted 50% steel 50% aluminium



acrylic paint Metallic paint , graphite highlight, charcoal


Acrylic paint, oil paint, Cinnamon Cold casted aluminum, Spandex masking, hairspray, duct tape masking




Bronze dust left over from grinding on Bronze metal, cold cast & patina Graphite, acrylic, masking hex bag


Iron Metal coating, Acrylic, Cinnamon Cold casted steel, acrylic, graphite highlights




Oil wash , Rub N buff, Graphite highlights Cold casted steel, Duct tape masking, vinegar bath, spray paint


Spandex masking, graphite highlights, acrylic wash Oxidized cold casted steel




Charcoal, graphite highlights, Rub N buff Oxidized cold cast steel, Vinegar Bath, patina solution, exposed to shower



Graphite highlights, charcole, acrylic

 

[Uridium]

Wow, amazing work. Very interesting to see all the different weathering effects. Also goes to show the many ways of making the same item look different by the paint scheme.

If I had to pick a fave its the 'yellow stripe'
From your First Post, third row down, on the right.

 

[FreddySchramm]

Wow, amazing work. Very interesting to see all the different weathering effects. Also goes to show the many ways of making the same item look different by the paint scheme.

If I had to pick a fave its the 'yellow stripe'
From your First Post, third row down, on the right.

Glad you like them!

That one in particular I wish I did more iterations of, at least of that big stripe down the middle.

 

[FreddySchramm]

I recently did some more iterations with new airbrushing techniques. I'm playing around with more about lacquer and chrome airbrush paints. These are all from a new mold and are cast solid. I like to use these as swatches for experimentation.

This guy was painted glossy black then a light coat of Molotow Chroam thinned with guitar lacquer sealed with Alclad gloss II klear koat. The topcoat is actually Dykem marking fluid straight from the can. I love experimenting with this stuff it's really great for anodized finishes. Lightly buff it with steel wool and you get realistic scratch marks, doesn't take much.

Same Process as the first Head, just a bit more use of the Molotow pen for the battle damage. more use of a dark black lacquer paint for the battle damage.

Instead of regular gloss black, I used Rustoleum Hammered black for the base to experiment with texture, you can see how it shows. I applied the same chroam with clear coat , and then a light coat of blue Dykem fluid. This stuff can go on pretty thin and is great for building up chadows and highlights. I added a smidge of red Dykem to the blue Dykem for light highlights on certain areas for a subtle purple look. Finished with a very light buff with steel wool to bring out the texture from the hammered paint.

Again started with gloss black base, but for the chrome layer I ended up mixing Molotow with Guitar lacquer, plus a small amount of blue Dykem. if you look closely it has more of a Robocop blue like appearance then actual chrome. I love this finish so I decided to try tinting the Molotow even more for the next one.

I gave this guy a very light Hammered paint coat for texture. when it came time to mix the chrome I lightly tinted it a with a dab of yellow Mixol universal tint ( highly recommend those tints for anything like this) I got more of a greenish-gold, not what I wanted but still acceptable. Once that layer was sealed with a light Clearcoat I gave it a light spray with Red Dykem, then a light buff with fine steel wool to bring out the texture. this one's my favorite.

Here I just ended up doing the same Hammered/ chrome process but I had fun mixing both red and blue Dykem for a more anodized purple look. It's better if you use just straight red or blue after to highlight certain areas, brings out the color a little bit more.

This was a weird one. I used too much of an off-brand rattle can black and got a very nice intense hammered texture so I just went with it. I gave it a light rub down with graphite powder for a very nice metallic shine and went back and forth with light sprays of Dykem and graphite rubdowns.

This head, in particular, has a different texture than the rest. He was molded separately from a head that I sandblasted paint off of and ended up getting this really neat chipped spotty texture. The base is the same process as most, black, chrome, clear, etc. I just got to play more with mixing the Dykem topcoats and layers of blue on red and red on purple. Finished off with a nice fine steel wool buff for texture.

 

[Lunajammer]

Now, this is an education. This might be a little after the fact, but do you have any video tutorials?

 

[FreddySchramm]

Not at the moment, I'm in the process of filming things for a youtube channel and I'll be going over this process for a video.

 

[joberg]

TFS with us! Love the paint job on every single one of them!!!

 

[FreddySchramm]

I started a youtube channel recently. Just posted a video on a few techniques on how to achieve real rust finishes with metal paint and powder and ways to seal them. I use these Helmets a lot for swatches

 

[King Jacob]

Wow, so cool, I love them all. Thanks for making the video with techniques too!

 

[thuth]

Wow! Great post. Super impressive.