Spikey1973 the latest newbee.

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Spikey1973

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Hey guys..

Well to introduce myself i'm Matt, a 43 year old a fairly allround hobbyist.. that studies Medicine.. combined with a night time job.

As the budget is very tight I buy a lot directly via china... and in the past i found myself to be wanting to be able to do smaller paint jobs than one usually does with a spray can.. so a while ago i purchased a cheap chinese airbrush.. (gravity feed)

I also had a small compressor (without tank) that came with the other kind of airbrush and some paint. the airbrush is the kind where it has a big(ger) container at the bottom. well i can hardly call that an airbrush. more like a miniature paintgun.. and for a crap thing it seems like the least crappiest of all the crap.. but still crap.

Anyway.. as i said i had a mini compressor.. (max pressure about 40 PSI) without tank and without pressure regulator..
This has a nice plastic housing but it still looks a lot like the compressors i've seen use on youtube by many of you.

so i build a tank out of two 1,5 L pet bottles, added a water trap with pressure regulator and made sure that when the bottle burst i won't be affected.

Afterwards i started to detail the chinese airbrush and make it a little less bad.
As back ground i have a BsC in physics and am also a goldsmith so i know how things work and when they don't i can usually fix it.

As said. i am quite proud of the and result.. oke it will never be a 100 airbrush but still i think i improved it a lot.
I tried it out with some plain water and it seems to have a nice atomisation.

at the moment i'm making a small airbrush stand and cleaning station in one.
and read all about how to make your own acrylic thinners, retardents and flow improvers.

But now i come to the stage where i will need to actually put some paint in there and spray it at a piece of paper.

as said.. the "paint gune" came with some basic acrylic paints intended for airbrushing (according to the packaging, as it was an airbrush set). anyway it is fairly thick.. so it will need to be thinned (there for the airbrush thinner i believe)

but where do i start. All i found online is help on brand paints and this definately is not a brand paint. so how do i know how much thinner and how much paint.

must say that the containers are like only 1/3 filled. so does this mean i just top it up and mix it all up to the content of the container? but then again. it ælooks like some of the containers have more paint then the other.. or would there then be a colour difference and was that done intended?

anyway..

some help on this paint mixing topic would be very welcome.
Kind greats..

Matt
 
Hey Matt, welcome from the Uk.

So that is the million dollar question right there. It's the main answer I wanted starting out, but couldn't find, because there is no standard answer. No one size fits all recipe.

Here's why. There are just too many variables. Different brands of paint and even colours within that brand behave slightly differently depending on the amount of pigment. Then you need to factor in what you are painting, do you want a lot of coverage, or super fine detail. E.g coverage you may want little to no reduction, but high pressure, detail can go as low as 5 psi and not more than a tinted water consistency. Then there's the surface, is it absorbant, or high gloss, material, metal, etc, etc. Different medias require different psi, which affects the reduction. Also, different brands of airbrush atomise differently, different nozzle sizes handle different reductions better or worse.

That's just the equipment. Then you have to consider other things that may have an effect, the size you are working at, the style and techniques you prefer, the conditions you are painting in, humidity, damp weather etc.

All this means you have to find your own sweet spot. Its commonly said that you reduce to the consistency of skimmed milk. This is a generalisation (there maybe times or colours etc, that need no reduction at all), but is a starting point.

Time to get methodical. You need to dial in your paint by choosing a reduction ratio say 3 reducer to 1 paint at a mid range psi, say 25. Then spray it, both large areas an fine lines. How does it behave? Grainy? Spidery? Spitting, Splotchy fuzzy lines etc. You are looking for an even satin smooth coverage, and crisp lines with as little over spray as you can manage ( contrarily, there are times when overspray I your friend. To adjust add either paint or reducer drop by drop and note the effects, better or worse. The rule of thumb is more reduction = lower pressure and will need more passes for full colour saturation, but gives finer lines. Less reduction = higher pressure, more colour, less control of overspray.

Make a note of what you did, though it will soon become second nature.

A note about your paint. It may well suit your needs but depending on what you want to do, may not be the best option. The better brands have additives that can help with some of the issues, and also may be lightfast, so no fading for brightly lit areas, or outdoor use.
 
Hey Matt, welcome from New Zealand. What @Squishy said! Make sure you get paint that is specifically for airbrush. It has a finer pigment and will work better. It will minimise other frustration. Airbrushtutor has a truck load of useful information and video's to help answer all your burning questions on his website.
 
Thanks guys.. for all the welcome posts!

After my post i just went for it.. since it is all the paint i have at the moment i had to choose between doing nothing or testing with this "paint" on a bit of paper.

i do agree that the paint is indeed inferiour. but for a first try.. all it can do is give me that first experience and a basis to compare better products with, later on.

let me ask a similar but different question..

What brand / type and colour or colour set should i go and look for if i have nothing to paint but just want to use a fairly decent paint to gain some experience with.
and scrible on a piece of printing paper.. and have some cash left in my wallet afterwards and also maybe get a feel of the differences.

Kind greats Matt

ps: probably a few answers possible here but.. anything in that range will be oke i think
 
Honestly I would think about what you hope to paint, and on what surface and buy the right paint from the start. It all behaves slightly differently, uses different additives etc, so anything you use for now, you will get used to and won't work the same with the paint you swap too. Not that its a huge pain to adapt, just a waste of time.

It seems like a lot of money to start out, but you literally use drops at a time, and it lasts for ever. I bet there are folks who have had bottles for years that they don't use that much. If you buy a paint now, then buy more later, the first lot will be a waste anyway.

You can minimize spend by buying just black, white and the primary colours. From this you can make almost any colour, then if you want to you can add other colours as you go along.

My paint set is black and white opaque, red opaque (as transparent red is pink until many layers are built) and red, blue and yellow trans. In addition to this I have (but don't need) sepia, fleshtone, and (to use as a base to make my own tones) moss green. From this I can make anything I need. (I also have some Candy and metallic, but don't use these for general use)

When you narrow down paint options, and if you aren't sure which will suit you best, try contacting some companies to ask for samples. (remember some may work best with additives, which you may have to buy separately but are generally cheap)Then you can experiment and see which you are more comfortable with (we all have our faves for a variety of reasons) before investing.
 
@ Squishy:

I'm not sure what i will be painting.. but when i will be painting something it will be somthing i don't want to mess-up.
So in this context i asked this question so i can practise painting techniques.

I understand that you are right that it is a waist to waist paint .
But it is also a waist when you start a project that you mess-up because i don't have the right painting skills.

So in this case this comment sounds interesting (When you narrow down paint options, and if you aren't sure which will suit you best, try contacting some companies to ask for samples.) but i wouldn't have a clue which companies to contact and also i'm in europe... not the US.

personally i was more thinking in the line of fairly cheap paint for common use.( which you say doesn't exsist).. to use on sheets of paper / cardboard / canvas.
anyway.. when ever i will be painting something it will be more like in the genre of a drawing on a surface.. not decoration figurines or such.

Kind greatings

Matt
 
I am UK based, and any samples I have ever received have been from uk and European companies. :) I looked up airbrush suppliers, and asked for samples of paint they stocked, after researching what paints I thought might suit my use.

I understand what you mean by wanting something to practice with, and something else once your skills have developed, but when you have those skills perfected, and then switch to good paint for your final piece, you are running the risk of messing it up from the start when it behaves differently.

I didn't say cheap paint for common (practice) use doesn't exist, it's just that it may actually slow down your learning, better quality paints have better ground pigments, better flow, and once you have your ratios right are less likely to block your airbrush nozzle. If you intend to change later anyway, it may not help you in the long run when you have to adapt everything you already learnt to suit the new paint.

Common brands for working on the surfaces you mention are Grex efx, or ps, Createx Wicked or Illustration, Golden, Com-art, Trident, schminke, amongst others.

Cheap paints will be own brands, or non branded.
 
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Hi Matt, welcome to the forum, Get yourself some Wicked paint, it's an all rounder and can be used on pretty much any surface, Use the correct reducer 4012. Start with the paint to thinner ratio Squishy suggested and go from there. Personally I found that 1 paint 5 reducer works well but needs more coats to get full coverage.

Lee
 
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@jord001 and Squishy:

I've been looking at several stores online and found that my former favorite artstore sells the createx wicked sets the cheapest.
Unfortunately that is in the netherlands, and i live in belgium so even though they sell it cheaper including shipment than the local stores sell it without shipment i'm still gonna wait and buy it when i'm there in the store. most likely i'll be there next week any way.

maybe it is not the best way according to you squishy but i have to start some where, and if createx and Jord001 are right.. that is a very allround paint.. then it seems like a decent start. for now.

another question..
-primairy set vs detail samples set: the colours (red and blue) are slightly different.. primairy.. well is more primairy as the name says. but when i read about the detail paints it looks like it is more then just the colour that is different. personally i'd chose primairy colour wise, but seems like detailed is a better paint (which is hardly doubt) and the price is the same.

-Primairy set 2: are those two extra colors worth it, or is it better to buy some other colours instead of those like opaque red and sepia for example.
(i do see the benefit of these two colours)
 
@jord001 and Squishy:

I've been looking at several stores online and found that my former favorite artstore sells the createx wicked sets the cheapest.
Unfortunately that is in the netherlands, and i live in belgium so even though they sell it cheaper including shipment than the local stores sell it without shipment i'm still gonna wait and buy it when i'm there in the store. most likely i'll be there next week any way.

maybe it is not the best way according to you squishy but i have to start some where, and if createx and Jord001 are right.. that is a very allround paint.. then it seems like a decent start. for now.

another question..
-primairy set vs detail samples set: the colours (red and blue) are slightly different.. primairy.. well is more primairy as the name says. but when i read about the detail paints it looks like it is more then just the colour that is different. personally i'd chose primairy colour wise, but seems like detailed is a better paint (which is hardly doubt) and the price is the same.

-Primairy set 2: are those two extra colors worth it, or is it better to buy some other colours instead of those like opaque red and sepia for example.
(i do see the benefit of these two colours)


I couldnt tell you to be honest, I dont use wicked and only have one or two colours. The detail set is transparent and finer ground..

Lee
 
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