Textures help

[EDGECRUSHER]

if i had someone to show me wat to do then i think i would pick it up alot quicker but seeing as i have only dne about 6 portraits im doin alot better than some i have seen and im not sayin mine are good at all, far from it but you need to cut me some slack as im very new to it all. so help me out peeps

I'm with you, Stu. I'm in the same shoes. I've gone through several of these airbrush sites because it is so hard being new asking questions from artists who are so far ahead. I'm prolly gonna get flamed for saying this but I can not make myself do those 'exercises' all the teachers suggest. I have. But they last about two minutes and then I have to do something else. I like to learn EVERYTHING the hard way. I just can't help it. Which is why I suggested you just keep doing what you're doing. Don't get too caught up in the extremely technical suggestions, that stuff will come eventually. But you as well as my self just need to get a good grasp of what your airbrush can do exactly, which is the control issue. For example, being able to make precision dagger strokes which all look exactly the same, consistent and intentional is what I consider control. Whether you get to this point with conscience effort while painting your portraits or do it making hundreds of 'strokes' on paper is up to you. I do understand that muscle memory has a lot to do this sort of thing as well. Maybe since your present paper is lacking a bit, it would be more prudent to just use it up doing 'exercises' until you can get some thicker stuff at the end of the month and then see how things improve.

Another idea which I eventually turned to; practice with monochome paintings until you are more consistent. For example, use violet which is very easy to build up to an almost black shade and can give you lots of practice with shading and textures without having to worry about what crazy effects the colors your using are having. Just stick with the transparent violet. I've found I can start a lot of pics with this then change over to accent with color later.

IMO you are doing great and things will look tons better with some good substrates. Especially from our perspective.
BTW I don't remember if you mentioned what brush and paint you are using?

 

[zerrak1]

well i think this is grate so far! i love the tom wellings portrait!!! hope to see that one done..i'v been trying some portrait work the last to day's..the frist was supposed to be my fiance..when done it now look's like michael jackson[opps], then my second was also to be of me lady..i tried to skech this one out..i gave up after SOMEHOW she got a double chen..that one never ever got paint on it...so i think your doing good for being so new to it, i can tell who the paintings are of, just need to working it some more, i hope it all turns good for you

 

[Squishy]

Hey Stu, I think you are doing great, and I can totally understand you wanting to learn everything and try everything as much as you can. I know because that's how I was when I started. I jumped in with two feet, watched a couple of not very helpful dvd's, didn't even look online, let alone join a forum (you are way ahead of me there) and to be honest didn't even know the basic strokes. And I did ok. But I got to a point and didn't get any farther. To progress I had to go back to the beginning, unlearn a lot of things and lose a lot of bad habits, to master the things I needed to get me on the road to where I want to be (I'm still travelling.....). I'm not saying that you've done things the same way that I did, but I can see that if you took a step back (maybe not as far as I had to go LOL) and got things like gradual fades, dagger strokes, painting lines closer to the paper with better trigger control to keep them sharper, you would progress in leaps and bounds.
You've obviously got an artistic eye, so once those techniques are down, you'll smash it. I know the excercises can drive you batshit crazy, but even if you looked at what you want to paint, then looked at what strokes etc you're going to need to paint it, and then spent 30 mins or so doing them on a seperate sheet before you start, I really think it would help you.
Also, I know proper paper etc costs, but you need a good surface to work on. I think madbrush already said about MDF (just make sure it has a good base so that paint doesn't soak in), and a sheet of metal is good too. You can lay a base coat paint on it, take a photo to record progress, and then sand it off and start again.
Anyway I'm not an expert at this by any stretch of the imagination, but I know I wasted a lot of time when I started by having to go back, and you seem like the type of guy who wants to progress and learn as much as posible, so I hope my advice is helpful.

 

[Russ Allen]

Heya Stu, welcome to the forum. Same to you Edgercrusher. You guys are definitely at the right forum. Theres loads of experienced artists here that are willing to help. Im far from perfect, but Im willing to help out as much as I can as well.

First and foremost, I truly believe that anyone can learn to airbrush (granted, there are some that can just dive in and seem like theyve been doing it for years, but those are few and far between). I'm teaching my 8yr old boy how to airbrush at the moment and I must say, he is picking it up quite quickly! I hear ya bout the exercises just bore you, I did them for 3 months solid, granted, I did paint pics in between my exercising, and I still do warm up exercises before every sitting with the brush. Trying to get my 8yr old to do the exercises is like pulling a nail out of a board by hand, . I have him doing the exercises that Mitch here was kind enough to make a video of and made prints for practicing on. My boy does the exercises for 15 minutes (even though he hates it, ), then I let him paint what ever he wants for 15 minutes. This seems to work really well with him. Its like a reward for him, for taking lessons and I've already seen improvement after only a week of him airbrushing.

Theres a million ways to do your exercises, they dont have to be narrowed down to just doing a million dots on one page like I did, , or a million daggers on a page. Hair is a great way to practice your daggers. Do you a quick layout of a head, then practice the eyebrows, theyre daggers a lot of times, eyelashes are daggers a lot of times, then the long locks of hair are somewhat daggers. Draw a quick tiger head, and practice putting hair on the tiger, great daggers for tigers. As far as your dots, one thing I found that was really fun for me, I drew a big sword (on an old calendar sheet, on the back) and I used the stippling technique. I sketched the sword with a pencil, then took the airbrush, and only using dots to shade the sword, I completed the sword. You'll have every sized dot you can imagine. You can practice your straight lines on the sword as well. After I was finished stippling the sword with dots, I outlined it all to try to gain more control over my lines. All the daggers and dots help with one of the most important assets to airbrushing (if not the MOST important) TRIGGER CONTROL!!! There's tons of way to practice and not get bored, get creative and find the way that works best for you! Everyones different, so what works for one may not work for the other!

Another great technique for shading practice, dig up some old coloring books, or go to the dollar store, or any general store and buy some of their cheap 99 cent coloring books. Just shade all the characters in the books. Up at the top of a page, draw a circle, pretend thats your sun and try to shade all the parts on the figure in the coloring book that the sun wouldnt hit! This is really a fun way to practice.

Another great way and fun way to practice dagger strokes, is to airbrush a feather. You can put several feahters on one page. Start at the top left and work you way down the page that way you can see your progress on each feather, and 9 times out of 10 you can see from your previous feather what you need to do to make changes in the right direction.

When I started airbrushing 21 months ago, the first 7 months was monochrome only! Once I felt I had good control with black and white (which white gave me hell from the get go, Createx Textile White, In my opinion is one of the worst whites to try to learn with, just my opinion, I would recommend Spectra Tex, Wicked Detail or Etac white, theyre not quite as hard to deal with, ) then I finally felt I was ready to try color, and to be completely honest with you, I was dreading the color just because of having to mix to get certain hues, but it really wasnt that hard.

Anyway, didnt mean to talk your ears off, but wanted to lend a hand if I possibly could. Once again, Im far from a pro, but Im willing to share what I know from my own experiences, and they may not be what some of the other airbrushers agree with, but its just the way I learned. So hopefully some of this will help you guys and if you have any other questions, dont hesitate to ask, someone here on the forum will give you some good advice!!!