Steve Whyman - Our products

The Product

All the images you can find on this web site (except the sold out archive images) are available to buy as limited edition prints. Not only are these reproduduce using high quality gicleé printing techniques (often to your own requirements), but each print is endorsed and overseen by the artist himself. A truly enviable collection of work.
In this section I’ll try and explain a little about the production of the artwork through to the finished print. The first thing to decide is what or who am I going to do? Then I look around for photographs to give me the basis for the picture. If we directly use a photographer’s image, we have to ask permission and usually pay a fee. At this point I generally use the computer to change and manipulate the image until I’m happy with the way it looks. Obviously as the artwork progresses I tend to still change things as I go along - the photo is just a guide. Whether it’s a pencil or an airbrushed picture, I start with a pencil sketch. This will take a day or so to produce and will start to include more and more detail as I progress. Up until a few years ago, I always used to use a super smooth drawing board called CS10. Unfortunately it is no longer produced so now I use Schoellershammer 4G from Germany. Not as suitable as the CS10 but pretty good – although it’s taken a couple of years to get used to it! These boards are approximately 30 x 20 inches and cost a small fortune! For a pencil drawing, I generally start at the top left and work down and to the right to avoid resting on what I’ve already drawn. However, the nature of pencil means I’m forever cleaning the picture as I go along. My main pencils are Staedtler propelling pencils with Staedtler leads. From the hardest at 6H right up to 9B and in all sizes from 0.3 to 0.9. Plus a host of other types of ordinary sketching pencils. My main tools are 0.3 2H and 2B and 0.5 HB and 2B. When I’ve looked into my tray next to the picture when it’s finished, I’ve generally used about 30 different pencils. Included in the “tool kit” are dozens of different types of erasers and scalpel blades. For an airbrushed picture, I still start with a pencil sketch which gets more detailed as I go along. There is no set pattern on where I start, it depends on the picture and the colours involved. More time is spent masking and cutting with scalpel blades than actually spraying! Equipment wise I use mainly Iwata airbrushes. My main tool is an Iwata Custom Micron B. It has been in constant use for about 5 years and never misses a beat. I also use an Iwata Custom Micron C, Iwata HP B plus and a Harder Steenbeck Infinity 2 in 1. Occasionally my old Devilbiss 63A, Devilbiss 93A, Devilbiss Sprite and Devilbiss Sprite Major come out to play, but very rarely these days – the Iwata’s do it all! I also use an Iwata LPH 50 spray gun (for applying lacquer to Helmets and any big stuff). I have 2 compressors, a small one indoors for all the detailed stuff and the larger one in the garage for the spray gun.I use Frisk masking film and dozens of scalpel blades. My main paints are Comart, Createx, FW and Magic Colour with some Liqutex and other types thrown it. So long as its acrylic airbrush paint I’ll try anything. At the last count I have about 300 different colours. In the early days, when I’d finished the picture, it would be sent to the printers. They would “drum” scan it and then produce the prints all in one go as lithographs. This meant that I would have no control over the finished article…….times have changed. Now when the picture is finished, I scan it and load it into the computer at a very high resolution – the file size will be somewhere between 150 – 200 Mbit/s. From that point on I am able to use the graphics tablet to retouch any blemishes and generally tidy the image up. It’s at this time I would also add the border around the edge of the image and other stuff like, title, copyright info, etc. Then I start to do some test prints to make sure all the colours and other details are correct – this process usually takes a few days. When I’m happy with it I print one copy at a time, whether on canvas or paper. Each print takes about 15 to 20 minutes to pass through the printer. This type of digital printing is a much larger and more complex version of your standard ink jet printer. The prints are referred to as “giclée” (pron; gee clay) which is a french word meaning “to spray”. We use 3 large format machines which take rolls of paper or canvass that are 24, 44, or 64 inches wide and use 9 colours. The paper and canvas we use is the best you can buy and the inks are guaranteed lightfast for 75 years. The printing is generally done at KNK Gallery in Nottingham where myself and Kap have learnt how to control this process over the last 5 or 6 years – it’s not just a case of pushing a button! All our pictures are limited editions (unless it states otherwise). Each print is numbered and signed by me, and we keep a record so when all the numbers in the edition are used up, that’s it, no more get printed! All the framing and canvas varnishing and stretching is done by the gallery using the best materials. Because we do everything “in house”, if you want a picture a different size or framed in a particular way to that quoted on the web site………….ask us, we can usually do it for you. If you accidentally damage a piece of our art that you have bought in the past, or you decide you’d rather have it on canvas than the print you bought, well, you “own” the number, so we can re-print it for you……….just ask. If you own one of my prints (especially from an edition that has sold out) and you want to sell it, let us know, chances are we will buy it back from you. So what of the future? Well these days there are fewer and fewer commercial artists still using the airbrush - or any type of paint for that matter. The graphics tablet and the computer have all but taken over. As I mentioned earlier, I use the graphics tablet quite a lot, and I do have a digital airbrush which can produce some amazing results. So at some point in the not to distant future, I will try my hand at a purely digital piece of art. The downside of that is that there is no “original” to sell! A pencil image will always have to be done in pencil though. Whatever the media that it used, the end result will only be as good as the artist. One thing you can be sure of, and that is that everyone involved in the production and selling of our artwork will do everything we can to ensure that you get the best service possible. If you are not completely satisfied we will certainly give you your money back. If you see a piece of art that you want, but can’t quite pay for it all straight away, speak to Ian and arrange to leave a deposit. This will secure your choice and you can arrange with us to have it produced at a later date to suit your requirements - this is especially useful for surprise birthday presents etc. The web site will try and give you as much information as possible, but if you have any queries, please get in touch. Steve Whyman

join our mailing list to hear about new works and exhibitions

terms and conditions - privacy policy - site map - links