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No matter what it is you
want to airbrush control is the key in ever application . This basic lessons
below should teach you enough airbrush control so that paint goes where you
want , when you want and with the desired effect . Set aside one hour per night
for a week or two to practise these lessons and in no time you'll be
airbrushing like a pro.
What you will need : Double action airbrush,
compressor, com-art or Golden airbrush paint, pad of news print .
A
double action airbrush works like this in a nut shell : push down on the
trigger you get air, pull back on the trigger you get paint, do both push down
and pull back on the trigger you get both air and paint.
Hold your
airbrush much the same as you would a pen. Index finger atop the trigger, hose
over your fore arm. The airbrush should feel comfortable in your hand , hand
and arm relaxed. For now always hold the airbrush perpendicular to your
painting surface. Remember relax and have fun, enjoy what you are about to
under take. Which is training your mind, finger to control this tool called an
airbrush. If I can learn so can you so stick with it.
Lets get started. You will find it
easier to do these lessons standing up with your pad of news print on easel.
Press down on the trigger (air on) start motion (moving acrossed paper) pull
back on the trigger to start applying paint. Keep your wrist locked and move
the airbrush with your whole upper body. Use two hands to steady the airbrush
as you move slowly across the paper.
1) Down on trigger for air
2) start motion
3) pull back on trigger for paint
4) push forward on trigger to reduce paint
flow
5) follow through with air on off edge
paper
I believe its best to
learn to leave the air on, finger down on trigger all the time even between
strokes. You will see that the size of line you are airbrushing is directly
affected by the distance the tip of your airbrush is from the paper. The closer
you are the smaller the width of the line. The future away the tip is the wider
the line is. Play around with this for awhile, get close to the paper than pull
future back.
Began Motion
.............Follow Through
Pull Trigger
back...................Push Trigger forward
Now across the paper make
nice round dots, not splats but nice round uniform dots. With airbrush square
to the paper air on, pull back ontrigger making a nice round dot, push trigger
forward paint off air still on move to the right make your next dot. Keep going
all the way across the paper slowly. Do several pages of these until you feel
you have it down right.
LINES: Now do small lines
straight across the page, about 3 or 4 inches in length. Air on, motion, paint,
as you near the end of line start forward with trigger shutting paint flow
down, follow through the air only on. As you go from making one line to the
next keep air on. 
Above cover of issue #21 Airbrush Technique
Magazine; cover art by Fitto. Airbrush Technique Magazine the best
instructional bi monthly airbrush, custom painting magazine published. Click on
the cover above for more information. |
So you have now mastered
dots and lines, lets put the dots and lines together. Airbrush nice round dots
all over your page in no order just all over the place; now connect all the
dots with lines. Remember air on all the time airbrush a line from one dot to
the next stop than go on to the next dot. Nice straight lines from dot to dot
not reshaping the dots as you go. Again notice how the distance of the tip of
your airbrush from your paper effects the paint you are spraying. Close -small
lines, far away - big and fuzzy lines.
SHADING: Start on left
side of your paper tip of your airbrush several inches back from surface .
Start motion very lightly fog in paint across the page. Again push down on
trigger air on, motion, very easy, softly pull back to apply paint, as you get
toward the opposite edge start shutting down paint follow, follow through with
air on only. Air still on go back to left side of page and start over. Goal is
to have even shading all the way across and down the page. No signs of stopping
or starting or difference between passes , pretty much same shading from one
past to the next. You will really see what the distance of your tip from the
painting surface makes now.
Hope you have fun and these exercises
help you become comfortable using your airbrush. Please check out my Airbrush
Magazine for more airbrushing basic lessons, tips, tricks, information on
airbrush supplies, equipement.
AIRBRUSH LESSON # 2
How To Airbrush |
