Exercises To Improve And Develop Skills

CHÉRIE

CHÉRIE

Mac-Valve Maestro!
Hey guys :) So I am new to airbrushing, but I am serious about learning everything I can about it. At the moment I am trying to find exercises to work on in order to improve my skills, and I have no idea where to even start. Do any of you have any advice on what I can do in order to feel more comfortable with my airbrush? :p
Any advice will be appreciated! :D

Also, I am at the moment using ink to airbrush just to get used to the feel of the airbrush itself, but I am very limited with it because I can't layer any colours :/ But I am a bit stuck on what paints to buy, I'm confused about the opaque, candy, base coats, etc. I have no idea what type I need to do basic work (preferably on metal) or overall on any material. If I ask sales people at the shops, they tend to want to sell me the entire shop instead of just what I need! :D
 
Do the exercises on the tutors website, Dots daggers and lines etc, this will bore the life out of you and hopefully you will have a crack at the eye or something. The ink will be fine for learning skills as you won't get any blockages so a bit less things to worry about /) others will chime I. For sure- good luck
 
Search for "airbrushing", airbrush effects etc on youtube, there's a lot of helpful information there.
Don't stuck to those daggers and dots for a long time:) Find something to paint and try real painting. This will raise certain questions you want to know, and this will be the start of learning. I think you know where to ask those questions;)
Start here https://www.youtube.com/user/airbrushtutor/videos

There's a member of this forum AndreZA, he is also from South Africa. Ask him about how and where it's better to buy paints and so on for airbrushing locally.
 
Cherie first talk to Andre about availability of brands, but for painting on metal, assuming you want to use water based I would suggest E'tac Private Stock, Auto Air, or Wicked.

I paint on many surfaces, including metal, and I like Wicked as it is an all rounder. It has a high amount of pigment and pops really well when cleared. However that same pigment can make it a little tricky to fine tune reduction at first, and you need to use more than other brands. The 4012/W500 reducer is essential, it does not reduce well with water, and also has other properties that are great for metal.

In brief

Opaques = will cover up layers below, will reach its colour density and go no darker no matter how many layers applied.

Transparents = Will not cover layer below, will bleed through i.e painting yellow over red will give orange, the more layers added the darker the colour gets.

Candy = a dye based colour which lets light reflect through. Usually used over a metallic base for best effect. The only true candy effect water based I am aware of is auto air H20. I am experimenting with it, and it looks great.

IMO if you plan to clearcoat, opaques can have a chalky look. I tend to use opaque white, black and red ( as trans looks pink until its layered) if needed, and then trans for everything else.
 
Don't laugh but kids colouring in books are good to play around with too, Dots and daggers can be a little boring after awhile and the colouring in books help get your eye use to where the paint lands, you'll learn how to keep the paint where you want it, reduce overspray, practise blends.
 
Squishy said:
Cherie first talk to Andre about availability of brands, but for painting on metal, assuming you want to use water based I would suggest E'tac Private Stock, Auto Air, or Wicked.

I paint on many surfaces, including metal, and I like Wicked as it is an all rounder. It has a high amount of pigment and pops really well when cleared. However that same pigment can make it a little tricky to fine tune reduction at first, and you need to use more than other brands. The 4012/W500 reducer is essential, it does not reduce well with water, and also has other properties that are great for metal.

In brief

Opaques = will cover up layers below, will reach its colour density and go no darker no matter how many layers applied.

Transparents = Will not cover layer below, will bleed through i.e painting yellow over red will give orange, the more layers added the darker the colour gets.

Candy = a dye based colour which lets light reflect through. Usually used over a metallic base for best effect. The only true candy effect water based I am aware of is auto air H20. I am experimenting with it, and it looks great.

IMO if you plan to clearcoat, opaques can have a chalky look. I tend to use opaque white, black and red ( as trans looks pink until its layered) if needed, and then trans for everything else.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that info :) Ok I'm with you on the different paints now :p I will keep an eye out for those brands as well! I have seen alot of people like the Wicked paint :)
 
JackEb said:
Don't laugh but kids colouring in books are good to play around with too, Dots and daggers can be a little boring after awhile and the colouring in books help get your eye use to where the paint lands, you'll learn how to keep the paint where you want it, reduce overspray, practise blends.
Click to expand...
I actually love that idea! :D
 
Vladimir said:
Search for "airbrushing", airbrush effects etc on youtube, there's a lot of helpful information there.
Don't stuck to those daggers and dots for a long time:) Find something to paint and try real painting. This will raise certain questions you want to know, and this will be the start of learning. I think you know where to ask those questions;)
Start here https://www.youtube.com/user/airbrushtutor/videos

There's a member of this forum AndreZA, he is also from South Africa. Ask him about how and where it's better to buy paints and so on for airbrushing locally.
Click to expand...
I will keep eye out for him, and I do try balance the exercises and real painting so I at least get both in :D I have also checked youtube and found some helpful videos to learn from!
 
Well recently I've developed a bad habit of going too dark too early. So now I'm taking a time out and starting from scratch. Going back through my class notes and doing some test pieces to see where I am going too far. A quote that I like goes like this; "Don't practice till you get it right. Practice till you can't get it wrong".
 
Start here.....

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZwj6F4Zjzu1iEDJnEs0KpFKGmN8LwHw

No doubt Tutor has similar beginners exercises with basic stroke theory, do them aswell as i know our style is similar and I think each would be a good thing to look at first.....Learn the foundations correctly first and learn them well..Couple hundred of each sheet and you will build the muscle memory and hand eye coordination airbrushing really needs. Understanding intensity is 90% of the battle.Good luck..
 
AndreZA said:
Well recently I've developed a bad habit of going too dark too early. So now I'm taking a time out and starting from scratch. Going back through my class notes and doing some test pieces to see where I am going too far. A quote that I like goes like this; "Don't practice till you get it right. Practice till you can't get it wrong".
Click to expand...
I find it so difficult to do less :D But will keep drilling it in my head :p Thank you!
 
RebelAir said:
Start here.....

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXZwj6F4Zjzu1iEDJnEs0KpFKGmN8LwHw

No doubt Tutor has similar beginners exercises with basic stroke theory, do them aswell as i know our style is similar and I think each would be a good thing to look at first.....Learn the foundations correctly first and learn them well..Couple hundred of each sheet and you will build the muscle memory and hand eye coordination airbrushing really needs. Understanding intensity is 90% of the battle.Good luck..
Click to expand...
Thank you very much, will definitely go through it all and make a proper practice schedule to work with as much as possible :D
 
I Love rock and roll.....,AC/DC ,Queen,Cheap Trick,Pink Floyd,The Stones, Rebel air Try listeing to the group The Coor's good tunes to paint too!Has a haunting sound I like myself.
 
basepaint said:
I Love rock and roll.....,AC/DC ,Queen,Cheap Trick,Pink Floyd,The Stones, Rebel air Try listeing to the group The Coor's good tunes to paint too!Has a haunting sound I like myself.
Click to expand...

Love the coors m8..Happy to listen to anything, but kinda have to listen to something, hate painting in silence and dont sit at the board long if i do LOL..I didn't think the 80's had any good music @CHÉRIE LOLOL..Few good left over bands from the 70's was all the 80's had to offer LOL
 
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