Poster Colour For Airbrushing use

G

GeeDonV

Guest
Hye,
I believe this question might be ridiculous but I've driven by curiosity and process of learning and gaining deeper or better understanding of paint type, use and useful tips n tricks.
My questions is
1. Which type of paint is Poster colour belongs to
2. is it suit for airbrushing
3. can it be thinned and how
4. If it suit for airbrushing, what tips and tricks especially for gaining gloosy finish, durability, and the most important thing is how to paint or lay it the correct way
*FYI im thinking about using it on fabric(T-Shirt).

Thank you so much for the help ..
 
Hi there. When you talk types of paint, you are usually referring to the base material. EG oils, acrylic, water based, solvent based. There is no "poster" colour. There is a type of paint called "poster paint" and it is usually a thick water based acrylic. Great all round paint.

Now, suitability for airbrushing. First overall rule, don't bother trying to airbrush a paint that is not designed for an airbrush! One of the important components in a paint is the pigment. This is the thing that gives it the colour. The pigment for a brushing paint is often very large grind and the pigment for airbrushing is very fine. Think in terms of coffee grinds, normal brushing would be a very coarse grind and the one for airbrushing would be almost powder suitable for turkish coffee. This causes 2 problems with the airbrush. !. the pigment is too big for some nozzles. A 0.5mm can blast some through but even a 0.38 it can get tricky and smaller diameters you nigh as well try fit a camel through the eye of a needle.

So thinning is an option. The correct term is "reducing". A thinner is added by the manufacturer when they are making the paint where as a reducer is added by the end user to get the paint to the correct consistency for their application. They may not be the same thing. Assuming the pigment is larger, by the time you get it thin enough to spray the pigments become so separated they look really bad and loose any usefulness. You certainly don't get coverage.

Application of a paint. Poster pain (and most paints in general) are not particularly flexible. If you want to apply any paint to a fabric you need to make sure it's suitable for that application. In general, always make sure your paint is suitable for any application you use it for anyway, otherwise heart ache and tears follow.

In terms of finish, the effect of gloss is often a trick on the eye. On a fabric there will often be a matt finish, there are tricks of highlights to tell your eye it is shiny. Quite a few people paint tee shirts here so they will be able to better address this than me.

That should give you a head start. A good recommended fabric paint is the original Createx.

Cheers Mark
 
Yes, Mark said it, airbrushing needs specific paint as pigment is ground much finer to be able to pass through the nozzle. Reducing the paint will not alter the pigment size.

Glossy finishes are achieved with clear coats etc. Water based airbrush paints have a flat finish and need something to protect it on many surfaces. As mark says you can use highlights etc in the painting to give a gloss effect.

Createx is the original fabric paint of that company, but I would suggest Wicked (a multi surface paint including fabric) as this line is more modern and the company has improved its pigment fineness and quality since the original paint.

Durability with regards to t shirts is down to prepping the shirt, ensuring paint is pushed deep onto the fibres and heat setting at the right temperatures. Also the correct washing methods afterward.
 
As Mark mentioned, poster paint prob isnt the best for Airbrushing, saying that though you can get tricky and pretty much use any acrylic paint..You can make your own concoctions of paint up and sometimes can get a reasonable combo going but you'll end up spending a lot of time in trial and error. You can buy additives like Sonja Joes Fabric medium additive and flow medium additive to make some paints behave better and be more friendly to the airbrush..but realistically often just cheaper using a brand like the Createx mentioned..I make some of my own fabric paint from screen printing ink but have a fair bit of experience so dont find it too much of an issue but if just starting out its not the best thing to learn with as you'll want the smoothest flowing paint you can get your hands on just to make your life easier..Especially if learning as some may cause blockage issues or excessive tip dry..Best of luck..
 
Hi, GeeDonV.
All the above is great advice, and i'd certainly make use of it.
One thing you have not mentioned is the set-up you have [ or are about to have? ] .
Many of the type of airbrushes available will not be suitable [ but can be used in a pinch! ] to do the type of art you're thinking of.
And btw, the air pressure required to do shirts and fabrics is considerably higher than that of general 'brushing, so you'll also need a better air supply than most as well.
As for the 'Poster Paint' , well I'd leave it for the 'hairy' brush peeps.
Way too big to blow through your average airbrush!
 
Hi, GeeDonV.
All the above is great advice, and i'd certainly make use of it.
One thing you have not mentioned is the set-up you have [ or are about to have? ] .
Many of the type of airbrushes available will not be suitable [ but can be used in a pinch! ] to do the type of art you're thinking of.
And btw, the air pressure required to do shirts and fabrics is considerably higher than that of general 'brushing, so you'll also need a better air supply than most as well.
As for the 'Poster Paint' , well I'd leave it for the 'hairy' brush peeps.
Way too big to blow through your average airbrush!


1st of all thanks for all the good advices, currently I'm running on 0m3mm single action & 0.2mm dual action airbrush(taiwanese made) .. And i owned a portable compressor 15-30psi and a larger one can go up to 56psi both electric powered.. I hope I've wrote it as detailed and answered your questions

Thanks again..
 
Hi there. When you talk types of paint, you are usually referring to the base material. EG oils, acrylic, water based, solvent based. There is no "poster" colour. There is a type of paint called "poster paint" and it is usually a thick water based acrylic. Great all round paint.

Now, suitability for airbrushing. First overall rule, don't bother trying to airbrush a paint that is not designed for an airbrush! One of the important components in a paint is the pigment. This is the thing that gives it the colour. The pigment for a brushing paint is often very large grind and the pigment for airbrushing is very fine. Think in terms of coffee grinds, normal brushing would be a very coarse grind and the one for airbrushing would be almost powder suitable for turkish coffee. This causes 2 problems with the airbrush. !. the pigment is too big for some nozzles. A 0.5mm can blast some through but even a 0.38 it can get tricky and smaller diameters you nigh as well try fit a camel through the eye of a needle.

So thinning is an option. The correct term is "reducing". A thinner is added by the manufacturer when they are making the paint where as a reducer is added by the end user to get the paint to the correct consistency for their application. They may not be the same thing. Assuming the pigment is larger, by the time you get it thin enough to spray the pigments become so separated they look really bad and loose any usefulness. You certainly don't get coverage.

Application of a paint. Poster pain (and most paints in general) are not particularly flexible. If you want to apply any paint to a fabric you need to make sure it's suitable for that application. In general, always make sure your paint is suitable for any application you use it for anyway, otherwise heart ache and tears follow.

In terms of finish, the effect of gloss is often a trick on the eye. On a fabric there will often be a matt finish, there are tricks of highlights to tell your eye it is shiny. Quite a few people paint tee shirts here so they will be able to better address this than me.

That should give you a head start. A good recommended fabric paint is the original Createx.

Cheers Mark


Thanks for the detail explaination,
I'm still lack of knowledge and i again thanks for let me kno the correct term used in airbrushing,
Well I'll be better not to think of using the poster paint anyway,
I hope there would be any good idea from you for my condition here that is finding a ready made airbrushing paint here is pain in the ass.. It just so hard to find here.
Sounds a bit skittish but to have em from on9 store gonna cost me so much.
 
I know it's sounding expensive, but when you consider you're only using DROPS at a time, and reducing it further by adding mediums, water and other stuff - well, they really do last for a hell of a long time.
As for the compressors, the smaller will do just fine general airbrush pieces, but I think you might find the larger will be maybe a tad light on when it comes to fabric work. I'm sure one of the crew will chime in soon to give you the right information on this point.
I'm pretty sure that the PSI you need is well over 50 for T-Shirt fabric. Right?
Oh, and the needle size is somewhere about 0.5 and above, I think.
 
Yes t shirt guys use .5 or above, and I think around 60 psi to really push the paint in.
 
60 PSI isn't the norm..Most Tshirt painters are in the realm of 35-50 at most, though no doubt some blow harder..Some guns recommend 60 is the absolute top of their pressure rating and not to exceed it, but prob depends on the gun and paint combo a bit too or the work being done but generally when painting fabric I top out at about 40 -45 PSI with my set up.
 
I only said that cos I was recently talking to some guys in Florida doing the trad cheesy tropical design with name etc, who said that's what they use, and I've seen it in a couple of vids. But I guess as with any kind of ABing people have different set ups that suit them.
 
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