There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around That the colt from old Regret had got away, The Man From And had joined the wild bush - he was worth a thousand pound, So all the cracks had gathered to the fray. Snowy River All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far Had mustered at the homestead overnight, For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are, And the stockhorse snuffs the battle with delight.

There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup, The old man with his hair as white as snow; But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up - He would go wherever and man could go. And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a , No better horseman ever held the reins; For never horse could throw him while the girths would stand, He learnt to ride while droving on the plains.

And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast, He was something like a racehorse undersized, With a touch of Timor - three parts thoroughbred at least - And such as are by mountain horsemen prized. He was hard and tough and wiry - just the sort that won’t say die - There was courage in his quick impatient tread; And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye, And the proud and lofty carriage of his head.

But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay, And the old man said, “That horse will never do For a long a tiring gallop - lad, you’d better stop away, Those hills are far too rough for such as you.” So he waited sad and wistful - only Clancy stood his friend - “I think we ought to let him come,” he said; “I warrant he’ll be with us when he’s wanted at the end, airvolution 1 For both his horse and he are mountain bred. . . . . airvolution1 The following article is a big one folks but rather than just show you a bunch of photos of the finished project, we have provided an extensive step by step of the entire production. The article is about a recent airbrush project by Tony Vowles. Each section of the article delves into a different aspect of the project and we hope you find what follows interesting. airvolution2 The Man From Snowy River Project

A person from a country town in Victoria; Peter Jolly from Benalla, rang Tony recently and asked for assistance in organising a car to be airbrushed with an artwork with a Man From Snowy River theme. He had the specific intention of it being used to create awareness about Beyond Blue’s support services in helping people in rural regions suffering from depression. This article is about Peter Jolly and his ambition to make a difference. airvolution3 It can be very hard to get good photographs of cars with complex artworks like this one. While the photos could be better, you will get the idea. Its best if we get Tony to tell the story from here. Tony Vowles . . . I do very little commercial airbrushing at all. My favourite word when asked to airbrush is “no” and my favourite phrase is “I don’t do commercial airbrushing - but I have many many students that can help you.” But in this case Peter had already approached several Airbrush Venturi students and they had all declined. Once Peter explained airvolution4 The Man From Snowy River Project

that the whole project was about creating awareness of Beyond Blue and that they had a proper budget for the project and a proper window of time for its production, I agreed to take on the job personally. But most importantly, Peter was a nice guy . . . genuine. I took it on because I have been working on the development of the new Custom Paint Master Classes where people learn to airbrush whole cars in a 10 day period. The project was a serious research exercise where I could document the entire process and check all the systems that we teach. airvolution5 Did I say that I am extremely reluctant to do commercial airbrushing? I assume all customers are going to be I started with this photo, removed the background, including through the glass and digitally replaced the glass and took the “a pain in the arse” until proven that shadow of a studio photo of a car to complete the look. they are willing to be as organised and professional in their dealings as they expect of me. In Peters case he had gone to a lot of effort, taking photos and developing the concept, so I had a good feeling about the project but still was not willing to go ahead until I could develop a clear idea of what would be involved and then give him a price. I am so paranoid about having problems with clients that I am not willing to be creative once I start airbrushing a clients artworks. I do the This is one of the major aspects to our creative stuff on Photoshop, print off Custom Paint Master Class, the use of the concept and if the client approves Photoshop to fully develop the creative it, they sign the back. I don’t start until design process BEFORE the students they have signed off on the photoshop begin airbrushing. It completely stops the concepts and paid 50% in advance. horrible doubts that you have when you are airbrushing the artwork about whether the So for me everything has to be fully client is going to like the job and if you are formed on Photoshop before I will even going to get paid. quote on a job. I risk going to a lot of effort only to have the job fall through, I must say that Peter was a dream to deal with but I prefer this to the alternatives. from start to finish. He really trusted me.

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Initially Peter had wanted me to use stills from the movie, (some shown here). I started with this photo, removed the background, including I literally told him that the photos were through the glass and digitally replaced the glass and took the shadow of a studio photo of a car to complete the look. “shit” and suggested that we start with the poem . . . make the poem the feature and build images around them that told the story accurately. What Peter didn’t know was the fact that I absolutely love this poem. I have been reading it out loud to my children since they were little. This poem is a part of my life, it is embedded in who I am. So when it came to creating this artwork it meant a lot more than just “a job”. This was a once in a lifetime project. I didn’t just enjoy this project, I loved it. I have had quite a number of people express all sorts of opinions about the boldness of the poem and the muted “bluish” colour scheme, as if they were not thought through. Quite the opposite, if anything I ‘over-thought’ the design of this artwork. The photos will show how much thought went into the design of the artwork.

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Once I had created a clean studio look for the base concept images, the next step was to look at where to place the design. Peter had already told me that he wanted it to start behind the front wheel arch, run around the back of the car and end at the same point on the other side. I have this thing about “honour the steel”. When I do custom paint, I am very careful to use the design to reinforce the contours of the car, to make sure that the design does NOT camouflage the shape of the car . . . something that I have seen all too often. The two design placement photos (below) show what I went to Peter with first. Every step of the way, I asked Peter for his opinion. I never go to a client with a finished design concept!! I work with them from the very beginning. Again, this means more work at the start, but if everything goes well, it saves a huge amount of time later . . . and goes along way to earning the trust and respect of the client. Peter and I agreed at every step, which was wonderful. On the next page you will see the final shape we all agreed upon.

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Right from the start two things were very clear in my mind: 1. The poem had to be the main feature of the whole artwork concept. I wanted the poem to really be in-your-face. People don’t read poems any more. I purposely wanted to try and make people read it. “Words” matter!! I spend most of my life in either research of writing up the results of my research into course structures and student guidance. Words are my life. 2. I needed a way to break up the story; that I would need the poem to create the division in the visual story line. Without a “divider” then it would have been much harder. There are 13 stanzas to the poem. Grouping them in pairs was the only realistic groupings that I could think of. If I tried to fit more, then the text would have been minute and at even two stanzas, this size caused huge problems and required heavy condensing and very tight kerning. The masking for the lettering was pushed to the very limit.

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I roughly sketched in the roof and tree

I cloned in the grass to fill this area

I moved the guy from the left to the right

In each image, I tried to capture the essence of the two stanzas in each poem section. The photos show the raw images I started with and how I assembled them. I worked quickly and roughly but I don’t need it to be perfect before I can start airbrushing.

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This is NOT the “Marlboro Man”!!

I replaced the old mans face with the young guys face

Sharon is big on horse riding and I later changed these hills to be the gave me a big lecture on Australian same as the third image hills, to join saddlery and to make sure that I the hill-line into one long range down made the saddlery OZ authentic. the full length of the car.

Working with B&W photo references but painting in colour is very simple for me.

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I cut & pasted the horses onto the hills

One of the goals I set out to achieve was to create a sense of both “panoramic distance” and “up close and personal”. I wanted the close-ups of the cowboys and I wanted the mountain vistas. I really feel I achieved this sense of distance and intimacy with this side of the car.

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I cut out each horse individually, to get rid of the white horse, then assembled them with the cut-out rider onto the Snowy Mountains background

This area of the background was simply created with the clone tool on photoshop

I spent a lot of time designing back. The idea was that if a person was along behind the car in traffic, that they should be able to understand what the artwork is all about: • Snowy Mountains a • Horseman chasing horses a • Poem text a If a person can’t put 3 and 3 together and get the poem The Man From Snowy River, then I am not sure what should be there. I tried several different designs but because of the extreme car contours, I had to keep it simple. 13airvolution heading

The horseman is a still from the movie, but the background was terrible. I managed to find the perfect section of the Snowy River to fit

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I tried to use photos of the actual Snowy Mountains where ever possible and in the end was able to use them in all the artworks.

To this day, I still don’t know what is in the background of the original shot, but once cut out and put on the Snowy Mountain panorama, the image of the horseman lassoing the horse, I loved the shot. I took an artistic liberty here because in the poem it specifically states that the horses stop, beaten by exhaustion.

Trying to create an interesting picture of horses stopping and being herded back exhausted, just doesn’t make for good pictures.

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There were no end of images of cowboys sitting around fires but I specifically wanted a horse in it and no real detail, just silhouette’s.

The colour of the sky was too chocolate-boxy for me. So I “blued it”

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As I progressed with the design it became very clear that the overall design needed a “border” of some description between the artworks and the green of the car. I tried just a simple colour stripe. I tried a tree branch as a border. I tried a wood rail off a post and rail fence. None of them looked quite right. I finally settled on this photo. I used Photoshop to take small sections and build a long rail that I could then use as the border. I really liked the chipped paint and weathered grey wood. I think the colours of the wood sit well between the colours of the artwork and the car. I briefly toyed with making the border as brown as the parchments and at the last minute went with the grey. I am really pleased I did. I really think I got this aspect of the design right.

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Did I say how much I hate masking?!!! I hate masking!!!!! Step 1. Sit at a computer and crunch the poem until it would fit onto a series of parchments. Step 2. Get the plotter to cut such incredibly small lettering with the right pressure but not damage the corners in the process Step 3. Weed the vinyl out. Christopher (my poor godson), my wife and my son Sam. Step 4. Apply app. tape to the lettering and peel away the masking vinyl backing. getting the ultra fine lettering to peel away and stick to the app. tape was hell. I was sure it couldn’t get worse than this. Step 5. It got worse!! Getting the lettering to stick to the car and peel away the app. The actual airbrushing of the parchments took about an hour each. I masked tape made Step 4. off the edge of the parchment and created a “wall stencil” around it. I applied look like the easy . the sepia brown flat tone (the colours of the letters). I stuck down the What was suppose to lettering and then I airbrushed the tan parchment and its wrinkled edges. take a day or so, took Finishing off simply meant pulling the masking letters off (more fun) and four and a half days applying a strong coat of PPG Deltron D895 Colour Blender over the top to (eight hour days). seal it off and protect it. All up each parchment took about 5 hours each. :( 19airvolution heading

Before I cut the stencils for the border and lettering, I had to measure the space on the car and cut them to size. Then I carefully placed them.

Covering the poems was tricky. The contours of the car made it impossible to place a single piece over them. I cut the inside mask into the four border sections and placed them, put the centre piece in roughly and then covered the gaps with masking tape

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Note the most important piece of equipment, the height adjustable swivel chair on wheels

It doesn’t bode well for a job when the first stage takes three times longer and is super frustrating, but I soldiered on and it just got better and better

It took half a day to embalm the car and get it ready for the artwork stage of the project. Because it was going to be edged with wood I just used masking tape for the top edges. Bleeds are very easily wiped off too. 21airvolution heading

The first panel took about 9 hours. The second panel took nearly 15 hours to complete. Too long, but in these early stages I was very much playing with the colours that I would use for the whole job, so there was a bit of mucking around. While I am not as happy as I would like with the first panel, I am very happy with the second. One thing that I purposely set out to achieve was a very

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painterly, almost brush painted artwork, but very realistic, which I feel that I achieved. The third panel was a lot of fun but took a whole day again. The grass at the front has six different colours in it. The horses were created with stencils that Patrick at Airbrush Focus made for me . . . and well as the tree stencils. I just added the leaves afterward.

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I masked the background . . . a perimeter stencil around This was one of the easiest parts of the entire the entire horse and then loose stencilled and freehand artwork. I really enjoyed creating this portrait. airbrushed the rest in. This was horse was very easy to do The colours just clicked . . . very happy. 24airvolution The Man From Snowy River Project

The horses and trees were done with laser cut stencils from Airbrush Focus. I simply sent the shapes to Patrick with measurements and he cut them out for me. With the trees I started with a black base, masked around the tree trunks and sprayed the tan and browns. Then I freehand airbrushed the leaves and shadows across the branches. With the horses, I masked around the back horses, airbrushed them in then created the dust across them and then stacked the next horses on top and repeated the process. The dust really made the result look better.

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The contours of the rear of the car made this the most difficult section of the entire project. The bottom half of the horses are painted on a panel that juts in 10cm under the tailgate horizontally. It was extremely difficult to perimeter mask the horses but was the only way to get the crisp clean shapes when the the legs were only 5mm wide in many places. At this angle the distortion of the

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flat section is very obvious, but at 5 metres back as if driving behind in traffic, everything lined up perfectly. I made sure of this by projecting the design and drawing the distorted shapes and airbrushing these shapes regardless of how wrong they look at the enagles I was looking at them while I was airbrushing. Once I finished and stood back it all looked spot on.

I covered the horses and did the background first and then I used the pieces that I had cut off to mask the horses to reverse mask the background . . . added masking tape and app. tape and then did the horses with perimeter stencils and freehand.

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For Panel 6 I masked the horse off, airbrushed the background, then swapped over, masked the back- ground and airbrushed the horses and rider. After this, I removed the outside mask and freehanded the edges to soften and add the hair of the

mane, etc. I did the rope just airvolution freehand, sudden death. 29 heading

Equipment & materials: • I purposely used only an old Badger 155 with an bent needle that I straightened on the concrete. Everyone seems to have this obsession with SUPER FINE airbrushes. I thinks funny. The 155 allows me to do lines as thin as a pen and then apply the D895 inter-coat clear at the end. • The paint is PPG Deltron . . . start to finish. Paint is paint but the support, the involvement by PPG in our airbrush community is huge, it is all about people and they get it, as big as they are, they actually get it. The masking vinyl was Oracal ORAMASK® 810 Grey Paint Masking film. The app. tape is Oracal. All the vinyl and mylar stencils were prepared by Paula and Patrick at Airbrush Focus.

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PPG has played a HUGE role in this project. A thousand thankyou’s I was able to have the free use of part of the Victorian Training Centre for nearly three weeks. Amazing. PPG had the car prepared, which meant having the car stripped down, windows and seals removed, door handles removed, badges and logos; everything that I can’t do. They did it all!! Honourable mention must be made of Ray England, the State Training Manager and John the Then at the end . . . PPG did the clearcoating of the car for Panda’s free, a huge job . . . then reassembled the car ready to show. photography Over and above how supportive and involved PPG were, have I mention how awesome Deltron paint is? Its amazing!

Danni, the owner of Panda Photography has financially supported this project and played an important role in the design stage of the process. She is to be congratulated for being willing to directly get involved in a project like this.

Tel: 0487 903 666 - Email: [email protected]

Every single product that I used came from Airbrush Focus and in the case of the horse and tree stencils, they were specifically made for me by them. Thank you to both Patrick and Paula for the effort they went to before and during this project.

Lastly thank you to my godson Christopher, my wife Bridget and my son Sam for their hours and hours of picking tiny stencil pieces out of the vinyl lettering stencils for the parchments and Sam for helping me to finish up and make the deadline. 31airvolution heading

Hi there everyone,

Sharon asked me to write down my thoughts about why I started this project and what it means to me.

After I lost two very dear friends to suicide (a silent epidemic in country ) I decided that I wanted to do something to increase awareness about people like Beyond Blue who are making a real difference in my community helping people that are struggling. I was already showing the vehicle at ute musters but wanted it to “stand out, and stand for something”.

To say that the final result has exceeded my expectations is a huge understatement!! I never thought I would end up with a car that was so unique. This is not a “custom painted car”, it is a rolling story book about one of the most iconic poems ever written in Australia. It challenges people to not fear life.

I feel like I am opening up a whole new chapter of my life. The next couple of years is going to be very exciting as I show it formally at ute musters, ag. shows, car shows, schools and more. I also feel that I am honouring my friends lives in the best way possible.

Sincerely 32airvolution The Man From Snowy River Project

From Peter . . . The Man From We are currently trying Snowy River to get a printing company to support the project by donating the printing of a calendar about the project. It will have 13 pages, January to January, one page for each stanza of the poem. The hope is to sell the calendar at each show that the car is exhibited and raise funds for Beyond Blue. I think there would be a lot of people that would love to have a calendar of the poem and the project, and know that the money they paid was going completely to support Beyond Blue.

beyondblue - Mission Statement Principles for action Our mission is to provide a national focus • Respect for human rights and dignity. and community leadership to increase • Strong community involvement, the capacity of the broader Australian understanding and support. community to prevent depression and • A population health approach. respond effectively. • Recognition of diversity and special needs. We aim to build a society that understands and responds to the personal and social • A co-ordinated and collaborative approach. impact of depression, works actively to • An evidence-based approach. prevent it, and improves the quality of life for • Sustainable action. everyone affected. 33airvolution heading

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around “He hails from Snowy River, up by Kosciusko’s side, That the colt from old Regret had got away, Where the hills are twice as steep and twice as rough, And had joined the wild bush horses -- he was worth a thousand pound, Where a horse’s hoofs strike firelight from the flint stones every stride, So all the cracks had gathered to the fray. The man that holds his own is good enough. All the tried and noted riders from the stations near and far And the Snowy River riders on the mountains make their home, Had mustered at the homestead overnight, Where the river runs those giant hills between; For the bushmen love hard riding where the wild bush horses are, I have seen full many horsemen since I first commenced to roam, And the stock-horse snuffs the battle with delight. But nowhere yet such horsemen have I seen.”

There was Harrison, who made his pile when Pardon won the cup, So he went -- they found the horses by the big mimosa clump -- The old man with his hair as white as snow; They raced away towards the mountain’s brow, But few could ride beside him when his blood was fairly up -- And the old man gave his orders, “Boys, go at them from the jump, He would go wherever horse and man could go. No use to try for fancy riding now. And Clancy of the Overflow came down to lend a hand, And, Clancy, you must wheel them, try and wheel them to the right. No better horseman ever held the reins; Ride boldly, lad, and never fear the spills, For never horse could throw him while the saddle-girths would stand, For never yet was rider that could keep the mob in sight, He learnt to ride while droving on the plains. If once they gain the shelter of those hills.”

And one was there, a stripling on a small and weedy beast, So Clancy rode to wheel them -- he was racing on the wing He was something like a racehorse undersized, Where the best and boldest riders take their place, With a touch of Timor pony -- three parts thoroughbred at least -- And he raced his stock-horse past them, and he made the ranges ring And such as are by mountain horsemen prized. With the stockwhip, as he met them face to face. He was hard and tough and wiry -- just the sort that won’t say die -- Then they halted for a moment, while he swung the dreaded lash, There was courage in his quick impatient tread; But they saw their well-loved mountain full in view, And he bore the badge of gameness in his bright and fiery eye, And they charged beneath the stockwhip with a sharp and sudden dash, And the proud and lofty carriage of his head. And off into the mountain scrub they flew.

But still so slight and weedy, one would doubt his power to stay, Then fast the horsemen followed, where the gorges deep and black And the old man said, “That horse will never do Resounded to the thunder of their tread, For a long and tiring gallop -- lad, you’d better stop away, And the stockwhips woke the echoes, and they fiercely answered back Those hills are far too rough for such as you.” From cliffs and crags that beetled overhead. So he waited sad and wistful -- only Clancy stood his friend -- And upward, ever upward, the wild horses held their way, “I think we ought to let him come,” he said; Where mountain ash and kurrajong grew wide; “I warrant he’ll be with us when he’s wanted at the end, And the old man muttered fiercely, “We may bid the mob good day, For both his horse and he are mountain bred.” No man can hold them down the other side.” 34airvolution The Man From Snowy River Project

When they reached the mountain’s summit, even Clancy took a pull, And he ran them single-handed till their sides were white with foam. It well might make the boldest hold their breath, He followed like a bloodhound on their track, The wild hop scrub grew thickly, and the hidden ground was full Till they halted cowed and beaten, then he turned their heads for home, Of wombat holes, and any slip was death. And alone and unassisted brought them back. But the man from Snowy River let the pony have his head, But his hardy mountain pony he could scarcely raise a trot, And he swung his stockwhip round and gave a cheer, He was blood from hip to shoulder from the spur; And he raced him down the mountain like a torrent down its bed, But his pluck was still undaunted, and his courage fiery hot, While the others stood and watched in very fear. For never yet was mountain horse a cur.

He sent the flint stones flying, but the pony kept his feet, And down by Kosciusko, where the pine-clad ridges raise He cleared the fallen timber in his stride, Their torn and rugged battlements on high, And the man from Snowy River never shifted in his seat -- Where the air is clear as crystal, and the white stars fairly blaze It was grand to see that mountain horseman ride. At midnight in the cold and frosty sky, Through the stringy barks and saplings, on the rough and broken ground, And where around the Overflow the reedbeds sweep and sway Down the hillside at a racing pace he went; To the breezes, and the rolling plains are wide, And he never drew the till he landed safe and sound, The man from Snowy River is a household word to-day, At the bottom of that terrible descent. And the stockmen tell the story of his ride.

He was right among the horses as they climbed the further hill, Banjo Patterson 1890 And the watchers on the mountain standing mute, Saw him ply the stockwhip fiercely, he was right among them still, (The poem is copyright free, so there is no real limitation to its As he raced across the clearing in pursuit. reasonable use). Then they lost him for a moment, where two mountain gullies met In the ranges, but a final glimpse reveals On a dim and distant hillside the wild horses racing yet, With the man from Snowy River at their heels.

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