This is only a very recent hobby for me. I painted a few crankbaits a couple months back, and I've only recently had some free time to start up again. As a touring musician, I don't have a ton of free time, but when I do I am typically into things like woodworking and fishing. Normally I will build things like guitars or furniture, but a few months back I decided to start trying to build my own wooden fishing lures. In the process, I did research on things like finishing techniques, and discovered artists like you guys were doing amazing paint jobs on blank crankbait bodies. Anyway, I took out his inspiration for my wooden lures, though initially I was using rattle cans and brushes to finish them. I eventually decided that I really needed to get an airbrush, and that led to me ordering some blank crankbait bodies. So 30 or 40 paint jobs later, here I am! I still have an amazing amount to learn, and always look forward to seeing the baits that you guys paint, as well as reading about how you did them.
Anyway, here are a couple that I've painted recently.....nothing special, but I'm happy with my progress so far, especially since this airbrushing thing is brand-new to me.

Nothing to be ashamed of there. Those are all nice, and every one of them would catch fish.

Thanks swalker....

How did you get started ?

I'm gonna go check out your site 😜

[edit] checked it out ...nice site, and some really nice paint. I dig the NOLA Shad !!!

Thanks.

I've always painted (acrylic/watercolor). I'm sure seeing the incredible baits here got me interested in trying it out, so I borrowed an airbrush from a friend. I ordered some cheap blanks off eBay to practice on. Once I got a handle on working with an airbrush (it's counterintuitive to painting with a brush--so I had to train my brain to do things backwards). I set out to paint baits the same way I would paint them on paper--somewhat realistically (I actually consider myself an impressionist, so they are impressions of actual fish). I approach them the same way I watercolor. With a reference photo on hand, I just start applying paint. I have a pretty good understanding of how to achieve color by building up color. That also means that each bait is unique. I have also been committed to doing everything freehand (without stencils) so that adds uniqueness to each one. I enjoy doing it, and I have a crank bait box like no one else's. I paint in my garage, and it's about 700 degrees in there after work. So production has slowed.

Nice ...well your work is really good !

I got into it because I couldn't find on the Shelf what I wanted and I have only been painting for about 3 months and it is a pretty cool thing to do and your baits look awesome for sure...... you are a way ahead of me.

Very nice work RS...appears the "learning" part is about done. Painting baits is a great way to relax and forget all the troubles of the day. And like SW says, you end up with an awesome crankbait selection .

Yeah, my crankbait supply has definitely grown !!! 😜

Thanks for the kind words, 203 champion and boisarc