I first heard about Georgina through my grapevine of airbrush contacts, and thought, hey this young lady sounds interesting. So when I saw that she was due to be at the Kustom Kulture Blast Off show in the UK I took the opportunity of contacting her to ask for an interview to which I’m happy to say she agreed. But then I hit a brick wall, normally I would get onto the net and do some research of the artist to formulate my interview but when I went to Georgina’s site to take a look at her work, her info page had every conceivable question that I would ask covered.

Now I could have just copied it a put my name at the end but in my heart of hearts I just cant do that. So, on a blank piece of paper, I wrote these three words.

JUST WING IT!

So, here you have it my winged interview with Georgina of Jo-Bill Spirit

Well Georgina, firstly let me thank you on behalf of Airbrush Technique for taking the time to talk to me. How did it all start for you?

OK Brian, well it all began for me at a young age I suppose like most of the artists you have interviewed, art was always a big thing with me at school. Actually, I educated myself in how to use an airbrush. I had seen a few airbrush magazines while I was at school and I loved the way the images looked, especially the realistic side of things and I knew it was not possible for me to achieve that sort of technique with a paintbrush so I started reading up on airbrushing and basically just practicing but I must say that my early attempts were not very successful. You see my parents had bought me an airbrush but it was the aerosol kind and obviously the loss of pressure occurred very quickly but in my naivety I thought it something to do with me so I put it down for quite a few months. Eventually my parents purchased a small compressor for me so I started to play around a bit more and I could see things taking form at last, and that is how it all started.

Did you attend Art School/College?

Yes I did – from college I graduated with a National Diploma in Graphic Design then I started almost immediately as a freelance artist. I then completed a three year Masters Degree in model making at the Bournemouth Arts Institute, where I came away with a BA with Honors. I did start to work in the model making industry but unfortunately due to health reasons with some of the chemicals, I found I couldn’t tolerate some of the processes so I returned to freelance artwork. It’s a shame as I won awards for one of my models, a 1:7 scale Triumph motorcycle which was voted top model by industry experts at the 2005 New Blades model show in London.

I have seen that you have done some theater work - can you tell us what exactly?

Theater work started like most things start - word of mouth. A friend of a friend had heard that I do airbrush work and approached me about doing some backdrops. Up until then the theater company had been painting the scenery themselves but they were after a real 3D effect so I was commissioned to do some work for them, so the first piece that I worked on was the Dickens classic ‘A Christmas Carol’. I must say that it was great fun to do, and when I went to see the play, the 3D effect helped immensely. Needless to say they were very happy with the outcome and I hope to do some more work for them in the future. As we are talking about theater, I would like to mention my workshop which is at the end of the garden at home. What I have done is to convert an old trailer box form an articulated lorry into my ‘wet studio’ where I can really make a mess with paint and spray some of the bigger pieces of work. To make it blend into the lovely countryside around my home, I have painted it in the style of an old fantasy castle using simple DIY exterior house paint. When we get visitors with young children then the kids are told about the dragon that lives in the castle at the bottom of the garden, it is the sort of thing that keeps them amused for hours.

You have won twelve custom awards from 2002 to 2011, so can you tell us how you go about setting your custom work out?

Right, first of all, the client is the most important element for me when it comes to this sort of work – I pride myself in being honest and upfront and it is my responsibility to come up with work that the client is proud of. I would never sell a client short with work that I feel is not up to standard and believe me, my standards are high. There is often a trade-off between what is possible and what is affordable for the client. Most people often don’t really know what they want, but they will see an image and think ‘hey that would look cool on my tank or bonnet/hood’, which is all well and good but they do not have is an idea of how they would like the layout or colour scheme laid out on their vehicle. What I do is meet them and try and find out their likes and dislikes and see what sort of character they are. I find this way of working helps me build a picture of the person and hopefully I can tweak and work their image to suit the sort of person they are to reflect a style they are comfortable with. Obviously this cannot be attributed to everyone as some of my work is only done through e-mails but even so there is always quite a bit of correspondence back and fourth until I am happy with the information that I have. As far as placing the image or images on the surface, I used to be a transfer tape person but obviously as times moved on, computers and plotters came into play.

Having a plotter is great it saves time and that is also reflected in the price of the equipment. If you are a hobbyist, then spending money on a plotter may be a bit much. It can be fun transferring and image and cutting out by hand and it is certainly good practice for steadying your hand. However, I do this for a living so time is money, my plotter and reliable software is my friend.

Do you have a favorite paint or do you use different sorts?

My favorite paint is ComArt I find that it dries very quickly and when using stencils the paint stays on the surface and does not get pulled off. All the colors I use are translucent and I generally start with white and work from there. I am working on fabrics, then Liqutex paints are for me they have such durability - I still have a leather jacket that I painted 17 years ago and it has defiantly stood the test of time. Up until now I have not used any candies but I would like to try them.

Can you remember your first commission?

Wow that’s a hard one! I can’t remember my first paying job but there is one job that has always stuck in my mind and I suppose it was around about one of my first commissions. It was a Fosters Beer V-Max motorcycle. The lady owner of the bike (who was Australian of course) had me paint the golden lager flowing out of a glass on the fuel tank, golden touches to the fenders, the Fosters Logo on the side panels and to top it all off, she also had a 20litre plastic foodstuffs barrel mounted on the back rack to keep her spare clothes dry when she was touring. I painted this up as a Fosters beer can, including ring pull, logo and barcode! She actually got stopped by the police as they thought that it was a real beer barrel and that the bike was dangerously overloaded - that has got to say something about how realistic it was! I have to be honest and say that I enjoyed doing that job so much that I wanted to keep it.

What other mediums do you use within your work?

If you mean, ‘do I use other implements?’ the answer is very seldom. If needed for an effect I will maybe use a sponge or plastic bag if I think it is called for, but I will not use an eraser or a knife for scratching out highlights. Seriously, I am a great one for detail and I would rather use the airbrush to add something instead of removing paint - you could say that I am a 99.9% air brusher!

Do you draw inspiration from any other artists?

There are some amazing people out there, but one artist that sticks in my mind and has influenced me from a young age, especially with my early work, is Rodney Matthews. I think his artwork is just phenomenal. The way he uses colours and is able to blend them together in my humble opinion he is a master. I am however influenced more by organic things, and the sunset is definitely one big inspiration for me. My studio faces south east so I get to see some great ones. For drama though, there is nothing like being in Scotland and seeing a sunset going down between the mountains (when the rain stops), and noting color changes and the like. I just get lost in them and that is when my creative juices are at their optimal.

Is there anything that you haven’t painted that you would like to?

Well, you have made this question easy for me. The BODY! I would love to have a go at body painting. I would just like to have a human canvas to see what I could create. I love the curvature of the human anatomy I have seen some awesome body paintings over the years and the use of the natural shape of the human body just fascinates me. If there is anybody around the Swindon area here in the UK that may read this and is willing to let me paint them, then you can get in touch through my web site.

OK Georgina last question - how did you arrive at your trading name ‘Jo-Bill Spirit’?

Jo-Bill Spirit is in honor of my Mother and Farther Josephine & William. ‘Jo and Bill in Spirit’. There is a saying you never know what you had until it is gone. Both my parents passed away quite close to each other and that was a truly devastating time for me. I will always remember their encouragement throughout my years of studying and later as I started out trying to make a living as an artist. You can have as much passion as you like, but without people being behind you to give you a push and encouragement the world of art can be very hard. I know that my parents are with me in spirit in everything I do. I am lucky to have married my life-long partner Vincent, and, just like my parents he keeps me motivated, helping me develop ideas and providing support.

Once again I would like to thank you on behalf of Airbrush Technique Magazine and our readers for taking time out of KKBO show to talk to me.

You can check out Georgina’s work at www.jobillspirit.co.uk