How do you do that, Airbrush, Materials and Uses
Airbrush is an age old technique. The first known examples are in ancient caves where dyes were blown onto the cave walls by mouth through a straw.
Today many different airbrushes are available as well as compressors. I recommend an Iwata HPB or similar brush for all purpose spraying from a fine line to a 3 inch wide spray all with one brush head and an adjustable spray control valve. Don't bother getting a tank less compressor. If you don't have a tank to store the compressed air there is literally no way to control the pressure. Uneven pressure takes away your control over the thickness of the line and the amount of spray coming out of the brush. Low pressure causes a stippling effect which is sometimes useful when called for but devastating if you are going for a smooth transition. Noiseless compressors are more expensive but kinder to the neighbors than larger regular tool compressors. Special airbrush art compressors also come with two filters to keep the compressed cooler condensed air from spitting water onto your painting.
To start an airbrush painting you need all the proper materials. You need to decide if you want to paint on paper, canvas, board or other materials, such as a car or motorcycle. Today I will make a list of materials used for each different application of airbrush painting.
Works on paper
Get a thick hundred percent cotton rag board to paint your first real painting on. Get lots of practice on scrap paper first as these boards are not cheap. The acid free assures the paper will not break down or turn yellow over the years. most paper is made by breaking down wood pulp with strong acids. This breaks down the paper itself over time. If you use a board as opposed to a sheet of water color paper, you will not have to worry about puckering and you will have more depth of paper to cut into if you are using frisket film. I will explain frisket methods in later articles.
When you work on paper you can choose among these paints:
1. water color
2. acrylic spray paints formulated for airbrush
3. dyes
Dyes are beautiful and very translucent however they are fleeting, meaning if they hang around in the sun or harsh light they will disappear. Commercial artists like them because they quickly reproduce their work with a scanner or camera so lasting color is not an issue.
Water color will not clog the brush as quickly or as permanently as acrylic does.
Almost all sprayed paint is toxic so you should wear a mask and use proper ventilation whenever spraying paint.
Works on canvas:
acrylic gesso undercoating, several layers, sanding between each, acrylic spray paints formulated for airbrush
Works on wood, metal, or plastic:
1. One shot primer, acrylic for spray painting, one shot clear overcoating over top of the acrylic painting
2. One shot for primer, spray painting and overcoating.
Almost all paint needs to be strained and old pantyhose are the perfect thing to use for this purpose. If you get the kind of airbrush paint that comes in a bottle you simply cut a few layers of stocking and put it over the opening, screwing the squeeze cap back on over the stocking. When the paint squeezes out it gets filtered through the layers of nylon. Change the filters often.
What ever you are spraying on for your airbrush project you will need to conquer the art of frisketing and that will be our next how do you do that article on airbrushing.
Airbrushed Water color on Cotton rag board:
Belly Dancer by Sherry Wacker
Works on Canvas:
San Francisco Bay by Sherry Wacker
Motor Cycle gas tank:
Jerry Garcia by Sherry Wacker
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