Most people would look at an unuseable guitar as a bit of junk to get rid of, but local graphic artist Henry Buitrago sees something a little more exciting — an entirely unique canvas perfect for custom artwork.
Buitrago has had an interest in art for most of his life, with over two decades of experience as a graphic designer and illustrator, but his most recent passion has been exploring airbrushing as a medium.
Specifically, Buitrago has been using the airbrush technique to create custom artwork on the bodies of guitars — both broken and functional.
“Keeping a broken guitar can maybe have a lot of meaning for some people, who don’t want to throw it away even though it's unplayable and old,” said Buitrago. “And so there’s a kind of reward with creating art on it, something inspired to honour it. It gives a new meaning to it and people are happy to keep it.”
His interest in guitar art began a few years ago, with a personal project to repair an old bass back to working condition. That journey prompted Buitrago to get into airbrushing, as a way to achieve the look he was going for with the custom instrument.
After bringing the completed guitar with him to a jam session with his band at the time, a bandmate immediately offered to buy the piece and Buitrago realized there was likely plenty of people who might be interested in custom work of their own.
From there, airbrushing became a passion for Buitrago. He’s done plenty of commission work for clients, custom-designing their vision in his own distinct style on the instrument of their choice — including guitar bodies for display and working guitars for local musicians.
To name a few: bassist Dan Mason from Saskatoon hard rock band Saintvicious has Buitrago’s art on his favourite bass, and guitarist Chris Hunter from Moose Jaw metal outfit Northern Fallout has two custom instruments in his collection that tour the country with him.
Each piece is unique, offering a special kind of connection between art and client, especially for those with an emotional tie to the guitar boasting the art.
“His craft could be compared to tattooing, in that the instrument is an extension of the artist. and the final piece is a special link between the owner and the canvas,” said Mason, in a testimonial for Buitrago’s work.
Buitrago’s most recent project is something new — an inherited piano from a client who’s offered him free reign, creatively.
Much of Buitrago’s work reflects his personal interest in classic horror movies, especially as clients with similar tastes gravitate towards his sample work, but he’s also done a number of pieces catering to specific client requests.
He welcomes the challenge that comes with creating the perfect custom design for whatever ideas clients bring to his table, while still offering his own interpretation and style.
“For them, it's a piece that’s going to be in their hearts, something important,” said Buitrago. “People have kind of a concept in their heads and they give you a starting point, but they let you create and I love that because when they come back to pick up the piece, they are really amazed to see what happened with that little idea they had, and how it expanded.”
There’s a lot of planning and consideration that goes into designing art for a guitar top, especially if it's an instrument that will be put to work onstage.
Buitrago has to consider things like the shape of the body and the placement of images, making sure to avoid putting important images in high-scratch areas or in places where the art may be blocked from sight by the musician’s hands or other equipment while they perform.
Buitrago’s career in art is longstanding, and designing custom guitar faces is just a recent combination of his passion for art and design, classic horror movie figures, and music. (supplied)“Airbrushing on guitars is kind of a complicated thing, and it can be an expensive canvas. With broken guitars, you can mess it up but with a brand new guitar, it can be stressful,” said Buitrago.
Fortunately, there’s a healthy community of airbrush artists thriving in the province, and Buitrago says it is a welcoming space.
“There’s a lot of people in Saskatchewan that are interested in [airbrushing] and they do really good work,” said Buitrago. “And it's not just people in the big cities, they’re in a lot of small communities and I think that’s really cool.”
For Buitrago and many other airbrushing experts in Saskatchewan, the community is extremely open to sharing tips, tricks and special techniques between themselves and for new artists just getting started.
“You have opportunities to learn, there’s so many resources and ways to get the right information when you’re starting out,” said Buitrago. “People don’t need to be afraid of asking or doing some research before jumping this field and there’s so many artists out there, including me, who are really open to sharing information or tools, or just helping people learn.”
Buitrago encourages new airbrush artists and clients to reach out to him with questions or requests about his custom instruments, as he gets as much enjoyment in sharing his art as he does in creating it.
A portfolio of Buitrago’s work is available on his website and he can be reached directly by emailing [email protected].
