Best Reasonable Priced Paper/Card for airbrush practice?

[Darren]

I have just purchased the Meow step by step tutorial from the airbrush tutor store and can see that it uses a lot of scratching with a blade and other tools along with erasing.

The couple of times that i have practiced in the past on standard white card i have found that the card scratches and damages easily with a blade, also, even low tac masking tape pulled up the top surface.

What sort of paper/card is reasonably priced and suitable for erasing/scratching? What should i be getting from the art shop? Is there some sort of specific airbrush paper/card available that i should be looking for?

 

[Malky]

I have just purchased the Meow step by step tutorial from the airbrush tutor store and can see that it uses a lot of scratching with a blade and other tools along with erasing.

The couple of times that i have practiced in the past on standard white card i have found that the card scratches and damages easily with a blade, also, even low tac masking tape pulled up the top surface.

What sort of paper/card is reasonably priced and suitable for erasing/scratching? What should i be getting from the art shop? Is there some sort of specific airbrush paper/card available that i should be looking for?

I prefer to work on gessoed board, but the best cheapest alternative I have found which saves me all the preparation is Schoelershammer No.4 airbrush paper whuch cones in pads of 20 sheets, I normally buy A4 and A3 although I think it would actually be cheaper to buy just A3 and cut it to A4 as needed.

You can find it here but I believe everything airbrush also sells it.

It is very tape friendly as long as you dont cut the tape on the paper, while you can scratch fairly good on it you have to do it softly with a clean new blade, some folks apply a coat of matt varnish to it to make it even more workable but I've never really had to do that (yet).

 

[Darren]

I prefer to work on gessoed board, but the best cheapest alternative I have found which saves me all the preparation is Schoelershammer No.4 airbrush paper whuch cones in pads of 20 sheets, I normally buy A4 and A3 although I think it would actually be cheaper to buy just A3 and cut it to A4 as needed.

You can find it here but I believe everything airbrush also sells it.

It is very tape friendly as long as you dont cut the tape on the paper, while you can scratch fairly good on it you have to do it softly with a clean new blade, some folks apply a coat of matt varnish to it to make it even more workable but I've never really had to do that (yet).

Thanks, I will check it out.

 

[Malky]

Thanks, I will check it out.

No problem, do shop around, you might find a better price, I tried Bristol smooth paper whuch is very similar but as you mentioned, my border tape ripped it up

 

[JackEb]

Just remember that when you ‘scratch’ you are only removing paint, if you are continually damaging your substrate then you’re using to much pressure.
You hold a blade overhand, not underhand like a pencil.
I prefer to use the term ‘stroking’ as it seems to infer a more gentle touch than ‘scratching’.
Yes you will no doubt see marks where the blade has met the substrate but it shouldn’t be obvious.

 

[Bosse]

One thing you you can try is to buy the thickest, high glossy photopaper you can find, I did my PP14 skull (also my picture of the month in october) on it and it works great. But be easy on the tape, low tac tape and put the strips on your pants a few times and you are safe. And the same goes for scratching as @JackEb stated, it's paper and will take damage if you go crazy with the blade.

 

[markjthomson]

Poster board is another option, cheap and one side is glossy. Scratches easily.

 

[Darren]

Thanks for all of the replies and tips on the paper, I now have some on order. Just also waiting for my fibreglass pens to arrive in the post before beginning the Meow project.

 

[JackEb]

Thanks for all of the replies and tips on the paper, I now have some on order. Just also waiting for my fibreglass pens to arrive in the post before beginning the Meow project.

Find something to wipe away the fibers of the fiber glass pen, the leftovers will stick in your skin
The dollar shops have big soft makeup brushes (which is what I use) I also saw a suggestion from Marissa that we should mask up if using these pens, probably not a silly suggestion for those that don’t mask up while painting (shame on you)

 

[markjthomson]

Find something to wipe away the fibers of the fiber glass pen, the leftovers will stick in your skin
The dollar shops have big soft makeup brushes (which is what I use) I also saw a suggestion from Marissa that we should mask up if using these pens, probably not a silly suggestion for those that don’t mask up while painting (shame on you)

A light cotton glove can also be useful! These fibers are evil!

 

[JackEb]

A light cotton glove can also be useful! These fibers are evil!

I did try that but found it marked the paint

 

[Clive Stevens]

Could try Perry’s, on East St buddy. See if they have any Yupo, or other brand synthetic paper.

I also use a cheapo make up brush to get rid of the fibreglass, and erasing debris................still finish a session with at least one fibreglass shard in my fingers!

 

[Darren]

Could try Perry’s, on East St buddy. See if they have any Yupo, or other brand synthetic paper.

I also use a cheapo make up brush to get rid of the fibreglass, and erasing debris................still finish a session with at least one fibreglass shard in my fingers!

I ended up ordering the Harder & Steenbeck airbrush paper No 4 - 20 sheets of A3 size, had a 20% off code for ebay yesterday so snapped some up at a good price. Have to wait a while for it to arrive but will have a good read through the tutorial a few times in the meantime to get familiar with some of the processes used.

 

[Malky]

I ended up ordering the Harder & Steenbeck airbrush paper No 4 - 20 sheets of A3 size, had a 20% off code for ebay yesterday so snapped some up at a good price. Have to wait a while for it to arrive but will have a good read through the tutorial a few times in the meantime to get familiar with some of the processes used.

The Harder & Steenbeck No.4 paper is exactly the same product as the Schoelershammer No.4, it has just been rebranded, I think they both have ties with Createx since the Createx Yupo has exactly the same tiger on the package as the H&S No.4

I hope you'll post your results when you get started and not just sneak it into your gallery

 

[Darren]

The Harder & Steenbeck No.4 paper is exactly the same product as the Schoelershammer No.4, it has just been rebranded, I think they both have ties with Createx since the Createx Yupo has exactly the same tiger on the package as the H&S No.4[emoji4]

I hope you'll post your results when you get started and not just sneak it into your gallery

I did think that it may well have been the same or similar product.

I did a couple of paintings a few years back, the results weren’t the best so the airbrush just got shoved into the drawer. Now I want to try again and get a bit more realism into my artwork so I really want to learn properly, practice as much as I can and stick with it this time. I will defiantly be posting my results good or bad.

 

[Malky]

I did think that it may well have been the same or similar product.

I did a couple of paintings a few years back, the results weren’t the best so the airbrush just got shoved into the drawer. Now I want to try again and get a bit more realism into my artwork so I really want to learn properly, practice as much as I can and stick with it this time. I will defiantly be posting my results good or bad.

I knew you had been here for a while, I also noticed when you started hanging around again and I'm glad you did, it's a cool hobby when nothing else gets in your way, I'm just starting up again after about the fourth time giving up, but these days I have nothing else to worry about and definitely nothing to get in my way.

I'm sure you'll do well but we are all still here to answer you're questions if you need us, just take it nice and easy and have fun, the tutors little tutorials are definitely handy tools.