Airbrush techniques

Briefly, painting here consists of spraying paint with an airbrush, a small cylinder resembling a pen, which shoots out an atomized mixture of air and paint. Painting with an airbrush allows lines or gradient effects that are incomparable in terms of realism and precision.

There are mainly airbrushes called "single action" and those, more modern and more widespread, called "double action". With the latter, the tool is handled in one hand, in which the index finger makes two types of movement :

• Press the trigger to release the air
• Pull the trigger back to gradually open the flow of paint.

All the art and mastery of this spray tool lies in being able to adjust, modulate and obtain a more or less fine, wide, attenuated spray of paint, by varying the distance to the support, the flow rate, the pressure and the speed of the gesture... the second hand is used as a support to stabilize or guide the gesture.

How to paint with an airbrush? Tutorial for beginners

Step 1 ► Get started with the airbrush

An airbrush always comes ready to use. There are no specific settings to make. The airbrush fits in the hand like a pen. The index finger is positioned on the trigger located on the top. It is possible to pull the trigger and it is possible to pull the trigger back.

The airbrush must be connected to its supply hose which itself must be connected to an air compressor. It is strongly recommended to have an air filter. An average pressure of 2.5 to 3 bars must be set for the first tests.

Once connected to the running compressor, it is possible to let the air out of the airbrush by pressing the trigger. It is possible to adjust the air flow on the compressor and also on certain airbrushes from the Chinese or IWATA ranges.

Step 2 ► Test the airbrush

Before testing different types of paint, it is wiser to do a test with a product that is as liquid as possible: water. This allows you to test the correct operation of the airbrush, ruling out any possible problems caused by the paint.

Add a small amount of water to the cup below or above the airbrush, then do the first test sprays.

1 → press the trigger (to let the air out)

2 → pull the trigger all the way back (to let the water out) A jet of atomized water is sprayed in the form of a round jet outside the airbrush.

3 → carry out a test by varying the air pressure from minimum to maximum.

4 → carry out a test by moving forward up to 1 cm from the support and back up to 20 cm

5 → carry out a test by varying the backward movement of the trigger: the quantity of air is stable but the quantity of water sprayed depends on the position of the trigger.

Exercises:

While letting the air out (trigger pressed), practice to master the gesture of the index finger which moves the trigger back, letting out very little water, very close to the support, then, letting out more water and by pulling back the trigger, at the same time as moving away from the support. Create lines with increasing and decreasing thickness.

It is also possible to practice the movement of the airbrush, because it must always be in motion during execution.

The objective of these 2 exercises is to spray the water without ever creating drops or runs (excess water), but rather by spraying a thin layer of water on the surface.

Step 3 ► Test the paint with the airbrush

Nozzles and viscosity

Airbrush paints are specially designed to be thin and fluid.

Airbrushes are equipped with nozzles between 0.15 and 0.5 mm. Knowing that most airbrush paints are ready to use for 0.3 to 0.5mm nozzles, it is therefore necessary to dilute the paints slightly when using high precision nozzles.

• Nozzle 0.3 – 0.5 mm → “liquid cream” viscosity
• Nozzle 0.15 - 0.20 mm → “milk” viscosity

If too thick paint is used in the airbrush, then the paint will not come out or the spray pattern will be poor. It is necessary to obtain a nice spray of atomized paint, identical to that of the water test.

Mixture

The paint can be diluted in the airbrush cup and stirred using a fine brush. Otherwise, it can be diluted in a bottle, which is preferable. The dilution can be done visually, or more precisely by counting the drops, or even more precisely, by using a scale.

Step 4 ► Paint

The airbrush should always be located at a distance of 0 to 10 cm from the support. The closer you are to the support, the more you have to reduce the paint flow. For drawing or detailing, it is necessary to reduce the distance to the support and also reduce the air flow. On the contrary, to paint a bodywork or an object, you must be 10 cm away and spray with maximum paint and air flow.

The airbrush should always be moving when spraying the paint, except when creating micro details.

Exercise :

Make straight lines, circles, dots, of different thicknesses. Support the hand using the airbrush with the other hand for more stability.

To complete a paint line or paint area, you must not cut off the air, but rather advance the trigger, before cutting the air.

Cleaning

3 cleaning levels are possible:

• quick purge after each color to move on to the next color
• quick cleaning after use
• complete cleaning

After using a color, the painter empties the paint from the bucket, rinses it with water to remove as much paint as possible, and then expels the paint out of the airbrush. Then the painter does two more rinses with clean water. Loosening the needle and moving it back and forth while expelling the water ensures better rinsing.

When you have used the airbrush a lot or you want to ensure perfect cleaning, which allows precision work to be done without spraying problems, then you should completely disassemble the airbrush and soak it, with brushing, then wiping each part before reassembling.

Solvents and seal

All airbrushes are designed to perfectly withstand water and solvents, since the parts are made of stainless metals. Cleaning should be done with cleaning solvent, and it is possible to soak all parts of the aerosol in the solvent, except the plastic and the rubber seal (this is the part that is located at the base of the aerosol, in contact with the air pipe).

Solve blockage problems during spraying

1- When a paint is too thick or a lump has blocked the airbrush duct or nozzle, then it is possible to try to make a few jerks with the air, at the same time as the We pull the trigger back and forth: this has the effect of moving the needle in the conduit, which can move the paint forward. If this is not sufficient, you must move on to the next technique.

2 - Add water or cleaning solvent to the cup to completely purge the airbrush.

3 - When this is not sufficient, remove the sleeve, loosen the needle and pull it back, to allow more passage of the paint into the conduit. It is possible to move the needle forward and back to remove the lump.

4 – When the airbrush is still clogged, then it is necessary to take 5 minutes to completely disassemble the airbrush and rinse it in a tray with water and a brush. After reassembly, we always test the airbrush with water before adding paint, sufficiently diluted this time.

Dry residue on needle tip

When using an airbrush and spraying more air than paint, but also when the temperature is hot, then it is common to see a small amount of dried paint clump on the tip of the airbrush. needle. This can interfere with the proper spraying of the paint. It is possible to regularly remove the excess with the thumb and index finger. It is also advisable to expel the paint strongly, briefly, to avoid the formation of coagulation.

This phenomenon is normal with water-based paints. It can be slowed down with Slow Thinner or Flow Promoter. It is very rare with solvent-based paints.

Troubleshooting other issues

This could include choppy spraying, bubbles forming in the cup, off-track spray, or just paint not coming out. All these types of problems are resolved, in 99% of cases, by dismantling, checking that the nozzle needle is in good condition, the cleanliness of the conduit and the various parts.

Tips for painting with an airbrush

The mixing of the paint is a bit important, especially the dilution, which allows the airbrush painter to manage the fineness of the line. The dilution depends on each shade, and will make it possible to achieve lines as thin as a hair.

The artists who excel in painting with an airbrush, we speak especially of those who make frescoes or freehand drawings, constantly keep their finger pressed, letting the air escape continuously, while they practice brief movements back and forth with the lever, thus releasing the paint in small strokes: the art of painting with an airbrush is always carried out in motion, without ever being static, and without ever touching the support.

Airbrushes

There are a number of brands and models of airbrushes, with a wide range of prices with models of 30 euros or 400 euros. When you start and want to learn the practice of airbrushing, you should know that 80% of the time during the first days will be devoted to dismantling, cleaning and reassembling this very beautiful tool ! It is therefore necessary to choose a simple and robust airbrush, with if possible a certain versatility, allowing to spray thin and thicker products.

Also, two configurations are mainly used, which differ in their paint flow mode :
- The "gravities", with paint stored in a mini cup positioned on top, are reserved for drawing artistic or precision
- "Suctions" , whose larger cup is placed below, and which delivers the paint or ink by suction, are versatile.

Techniques for using an airbrush

Did you know that you don't need to be a good draughtsman, nor to have "the compass in the eye" to achieve ultra realistic airbrush paintings ? We will show you in an article on this subject, very clever techniques for using an airbrush to make portraits, animals, or landscapes, with the help of the computer tool.

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