Over the last couple years, I've become increasingly intrigued with the designs of the Washington Capitals' goalie masks. The eagle mask worn by Varly, particularly caught my eye -- it made him look that much more badass.

As such, I did some asking around (yes, when you've been a writer half your life the reporting brain is always on!) and learned of David Gunnarsson. 

Naturally, I had to give him a ring to ask him about his inspiration and technique. Quite a down-to-earth and humble guy.

Here's some extra tid-bits from the cutting room floor ...

Gunnarsson’s painting technique is a combination of tracing out designs -- often used for a team’s logo -- and free hand. “When I paint characters -- for example if you remember the Varlamov mask, he had the eagles on his mask. That is painted airbrush freehand,” he says.

Afterwards, Gunnarsson does some research, pulls together a design idea and emails some sketches to the goalie for approval. Once he signs off, Gunnarsson starts to paint. He estimates each mask takes 10 hours to complete.
He likes a lot of detail,” says Gunnarsson of Caps goalie Michal Neuvirth.  “When you look at the mask, it looks like a classic design, but when you come up close you see all the details.”

With the help of six employees, Gunnarsson is able to devote his entire ten-hour work day solely to painting the goalie masks. Below, Gunnarsson and his son, Lowe, work their painting magic. 

Gunnarsson works with six air brush guns that come in a variety of sizes. The smallest has a 0.18 millimeter tip which is used for detailing, while the largest is 0.5 mm, used for larger blocks of color. 

The water-based paint dries almost immediately, Gunnarsson says, and then he applies many layers of protective clear coating on top of his completed art work -- lest it be destroyed by the impact of flying hockey pucks and ambitious offensive players.