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West Coast
Perth, WA
East Coast
Penrith, NSW

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Wayne Harrison

(Artist/ Director)

History

Wayne Harrison has been airbrushing for over 35 years. His artworks have won awards in both USA and Australia, particularly for Top Graphics and Airbrush Art (murals) throughout the automotive shows around Australia eg. Auto Salon, Motorex Summernats and many others. In the years when panel vans were popular, Wayne's work won many top custom paint awards. His company during these times was called  "FANTASY MURALS", located in Blacktown and was well known to all. Wayne's mentor and close friend is and always will be Frank Lee; as a young man Frank offered Wayne his future, and his advice and support is what has driven him over the years - which is why Wayne now prides himself on offering the same support and advice to others. Wayne was also the artist behind airbrushing the first Summernats car for Summernats 1.

In 1992 Wayne formed his current business Advanced Airbrush with his wife Joanne, which was built on the cutting edge of airbrushing - changing all the rules and becoming the leaders of airbrushing in Australia. Wayne's next step was to gain recognition for for his work and to see what the world offered. In 1995 he entered his first overseas competition "AIRSTORM 95" in Atlanta USA and won 1ST PLACE in the Alternative section. Wayne and Joanne also started the first Airbrush Expo in 1998, with the desire to get local airbrush artists from all around Australia and New Zealand to unite and support each other.

Visiting Atlanta for the "Airstorm 95" event, Wayne realised what an asset America was by offering support, drive and growth in this trade. With a financially strong business, Wayne, Joanne and their company financially supported the show and took a major risk. Over 500 people attended with attendees coming from as far as New Zealand. The show included Advanced Airbrush workshops, seminars, information and much more.

In 1999 the Sign industry offered us the opportunity to come to Darling Harbour (Sydney) and run our show there. We had the support of several top airbrush artists doing displays, sprints etc. The numbers for the show had gone through the roof. In 2001, Australia Airbrush Art magazine was our major sponsor for the event, and also promoted the show and its history in the magazine.

In 1999, Wayne and Joanne started the “National Australian Airbrush Association Inc.” - the show has now been handed over to the Association to run and organise, as it needs to be run by the people for the people, not just by one couple's ideas and dreams.

1999/2000 Wayne entered the “Sign Off” Awards for the Sign Industry of Australia and won 1st Place for Automotive.

2002 Wayne started working for Virgin Blue, airbrushing its full fleet of aircraft with the Virgin Maiden. He has now currently airbrushed over 57 Aircrafts and met the famous Sir Richard Branson on a couple of occassions.
Wayne is the only artist to have painted every Virgin Maiden as you see it on the entire fleet of the Virgin Blue aircrafts.

In 2003 Wayne was approached by two Malaysian businessmen, who asked for help to set up Malaysia’s first professional airbrush business. Wayne helped them with great honour, visiting Malaysia several times throughout 2004 and 2005, training the staff and supporting and advising the owners. He has also worked in conjunction with Nitro on several large projects over the years, including International Aircraft Art.

In 2005 Wayne was approached by Microsoft Xbox to complete a range of custom Xbox consoles for promotion and fundraising. This quickly grew over the years to include celebrities, artists and actors - you can view much of Wayne's work on “Airbrushing the Famous”.

Wayne has also been seen on many TV shows - 

  • Today Show (Airbrushing the side of a car throughout the show with live crossovers)
  • Sunrise morning show (Wayne's caricature of Kochie below which made its way to Kochie's Joke Books)
  • Skillswest ( Displaying career choses)  Foxtel.        2007
  • Sky Business  ( Company profiles and assesments)   2008
  • News.com.au ( online internet news video clip) 2010
  • Sydney Weekender ( things to do on weekends & company profile) 2011
  • Sunrise morning show (re addressed Kochie’s Joke book and redeveloped Joke book No 5) 2011.
  • Starred in and sold own reality show internationally “”Flesh Air” 2010-2011.

In 2007 Wayne produced the first of many Learn  to Airbrush DVDs. There will be many volumes available soon - Automotive, Fine Arts etc.