Getting started with Airbrush

[prophetic_joe]

Just curious where to begin. I have a Badger Airbrush, I have a compressor....now what? Are there videos you guys recommend on YouTube to get the basics down?

[haldir]

One of the best things I can recommend is get some H20, some food coloring & some paper. Practice how your airbrush feels & works.

 

Aaron Lovejoy has some pretty cool vids to watch (I'm not exactly sure what his youtube handle is). Badger might have how-tos. If your on Facebook, Badger has a group.

 

Also, this was the first thing that came up doing a "How to airbrush" on Google:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk0oA0PctIA

[Geoff Davis]

Congrats on the new airbrush!  You won't regret it, its a real time saver.

 

[NecroMancer]

Miniac on YouTube has a pretty good beginner basics airbrush video.

 

Airbrushes are pretty widely used across a lot of different art and when I started airbrushing I watched everything from scale modeling to car paint detailing to t-shirt painting.  They all have a little something to add.

 

But as @haldir said, just get used to using it.  Just start getting the muscle memory.  How much to thin your paints and how much pressure to use will come with time.

[slimninj4]

 I started a year ago.  Get some cardboard, and practice your pressure and control.  Steady flow of paint and thin even coats.  Get plastic spoons or cheap dollar store army figures and work on your priming layers.  Tons tons tons of youtube starter airbrushing tutorials but really you need to get your hand on the trigger to know what they mean.  practice.  :) 

 

 

[Hengaar]

I'm also new to airbrushing.  For those of you who are more experienced, do you use any sort of spray booth?  Is overspray much of a problem?

 

[mikem91]

Dan Holmes had a course on airbrushing basics covering operations, drills, maintenance, as well as spray booths.  It was really good.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxUu1QxXz4U

 

I use a spray booth (a collapsible thing from amazon for like 100$).  it gets the airflow away from me, away from the room, and into a filter rather than letting the paint particles bounce and float hither and yon.  it can also vent it out the window if I need.  i wear a respirator as well.  if you're in your garage or basement or some other place tolerant of random specks of paint accumulating, you can get by without a spray booth.  wear a respirator still though at least.

 

I imagine/hope we'll have other airbrush classes in march reapercon virtual.

 

[ksbsnowowl]

I got a Vex for Christmas, so the links and info will be very useful. Thanks all. 

[StarFyre]

some of the best videos using airbrush (and brushes): 

 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=angel+giraldez

 

he doesnt use a vex, but most concepts would work and how he does it, how he holds it, how he uses the trigger, etc.  only thing is the H&S he uses may be finer than what the vex can do so when he does really small stuff, not sure what the vex can manage. other than that, great airbrush examples IMHO.

 

i love his fur tutorial on that minotaur (its a hand brush tutorial) from a few weeks back :)    his Demogorgon print model from a few months ago is all airbrush and then brush for the final details.

 

Sanjay