3 Newb Questions after my first day of airbrushing

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Pastello27

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Hey guys, my name's Marc. After enjoying this forum I just purchased my first setup and after 4 hours of experimenting, I had a blast. Like a similar thread, I come from mainly a pencil sketching background. This I'm sure is helpful in theory, but I am finding a few things very difficult that maybe I can get help with.

1) I am practicing creating and connecting different shapes together. One thing I'm noticing is when stop one area, then restart, I find myself almost "guessing" if I have my airbrush pointed in the ideal location. (Think of aiming a handgun without a sight.) Usually I get around the area I want to be to connect lines and borders and such, but I find I'm often a few millimeters off from where I want that initial spray to land.

2) I invested in a Badger renegade krome which as you know is a gravity feed. On occasion, I find myself wishing I could see through the top funnel to see where my line is going. Often I can see it impeding my vision.

3) Could a few of you guys share how you hold the brush when doing fine detail. Not having the luxury of a pencil slowly dragging against the paper like some form of a distance guide, I find it difficult to control basic movements.
Edit: I see "distancing" is recommended for detail. Do you always use 2 hands when you airbrush in this way? Feel free to elaborate.

I will continue to practice practice practice. It is my top goal to become great at this awesome hobby. I am willing to put in all the work recommended. I am in no rush to jump from the realm of daggers dots and lines, but I'm sure it would still help to get some personal incite on these questions if anyone has anything helpful for me to learn from, considering most of you guys have been where I am right now! Any tips will be much appreciated!
 
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I guess i am the first reader of the post, and you will get a lot more information from the other guys.
im a newbe and have painted about the same time as i have been member of this forum.

For me i got amazed on day when i did start and stop at the point where i wanted to. it was just praciting and some muscle memory or something.

same thing for the third question but i am not good at it but it gets better every day, i use my index finger to feel the paper or what ever i paint on and then i know how far away from the paper i am all the time.

i have wrote it in a nother thread and i do it again, if you get a little bit bored of dots and strokes, try a eye or anything and
then go back to it again. it helps me not just to get unbored ( if that is a word) it also makes me a better painter.

This is just a welcome from e newbee from sweden that struggles with the exact same stuff
 
Question 1). You haven't mentioned if you remove your crown tip protector but I shall assume you haven't, most of us remove that when working up close so that we can see better where the needle is in relation to the target.

Question 2). This so with every gravity feed although some have smaller cups or funnels as you call it, everyone has their own method but I work standing up and with my painting at eye level on a magnetic board, I can move the painting up, down, or even rotate 360 degrees, the idea is that I keep the area I'm working on always at eye level, and I am actually looking at my airbrush diagonally from the top and side, this helps a little with question one also.

Question 3). When I'm doing or should I say trying to do fine detail I hold the airbrush in my left hand (I'm left handed) I put my right thumb on the front of the airbrush and use the knuckle of my right index finger to steady and guide the airbrush, however I have to careful that the paint is dry wherever I place my knuckle, to be on the safe side I keep an old hair-drier next to me if I need to speed up the drying for that or any other purpose.

Note: this is what works for me, and like I said everybody is different and we all develop our own little tricks to make life easier, it's a case of finding the one that suits you, and it will all come to you in time, as you say simply practice and you will find your way in no time.
 
Hey buddy, I can answer almost every answer with two words........ Practice and time. I'm not trying to be rude or short, honestly, lol! That really is the only answer, but I will elaborate a little.

Q1 is just as I said before practice an time. One day you will just remember that your not having to guess and it's smooth sailing from there and that where true happiness begins, lol!!

Q2 I use to be the same way when I started. Didn't like the cup in the way, now I have a few side feeds and still hold my brush as if the cup is still there, lol!! You will develop a feel for it, quicker than you think.

Q3 I hold my brush with 2 hands and Marissa paints circles around me with only one. You could literally tie one hand around her back and she would out paint all of us, lol!! Just do what fits you and gets the best results!!

Good luck and keep going buddy!! You will get it!!


Josh
 
Being I have off side sights on my main shooting weapon looking to the side of the airbrush was easy.
But not everyone likes the gravity feeds , But mainly it comes down to getting to know your airbrush , the paints you are using and lots of practice time.
Very few shooters will tell you they hit bulls eye straight out the box , As with weapon shooting you have to get to know your sight pattern of the weapon. How it shoots at difference distances and in some case what grain load to have in the bullet.
Mainly there is no magic trick or tip anyone can give you . We can tell you what works for us but that does not mean it will work for you.
Depending on how big or small I am doing a painting will depend on how many hands I have controlling the brush. Or if I have to use a shield to protect an area.Most times I just use one hand .
 
Agreed with everything everyone has already said. Just put in the time and it will come. I've held an airbrush for years but have only been painting seriously with it for about 6 months. (before that I used them to put fades on custom built guitars for a builder in my area, so it was just a glorified mini HVLP gun to me). So I can give you the 6 month perspective.... I still get it wrong with aiming the gun from time to time, but its mostly when I start over thinking what I'm doing. If I'm in a painting session and get lost in the painting, I can go 2 or 3 hours without my brain getting in the way.

I to own a krome and have been using that as my primary weapon for a few months. I switched up from a bottle fed Paasche and having the color cup on top did throw me for a bigger loop than I thought it would, but now I don't even think about. When I'm doing the fine detail stuff, I'll usually lean in from the side... this sort of keeps the needle in my peripheral, while I focus on where I'll be laying the paint.

I'll distance my gun switching between the knuckles on my left hand... I just started thinking about how I do that, and realized it is a lot more complex than I realized but I have developed it over tons of painting hours and don't think about it at all when I'm actually painting. Weird.... now I'll be thinking about when I grab the brush tonight.... geez! LOL

Practice and time, amigo!
 
Wow, awesome, positive feedback guys! I think alot of times guys like me know the true answers will come in time with practice but we have such little skill we constantly second guess if that will actually come. In reality you're right it will. I'm hearing alot of you guys using you're knuckles and holding the gun with your non dominant hand closer to the end. I just tried that out and could feel more control when getting into really close distances so that's one new go-to method I'm glad to have in my arsenal. Thanks for the great swift responses! I will take everything into account
 
Wow, awesome, positive feedback guys! I think alot of times guys like me know the true answers will come in time with practice but we have such little skill we constantly second guess if that will actually come. In reality you're right it will. I'm hearing alot of you guys using you're knuckles and holding the gun with your non dominant hand closer to the end. I just tried that out and could feel more control when getting into really close distances so that's one new go-to method I'm glad to have in my arsenal. Thanks for the great swift responses! I will take everything into account

That's correct, the closer your other hand is to the tip the the less it will shake around therefore the more control you have, and there is no harm in asking questions even if you think you know the answer, there are always little tricks that makes some things easier.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum, as the guys have pretty much said already, you will get used to where the airbrush will start spraying and it will just become second nature. As for " seeing through the cup " i tend to hold my airbrush at a slight angle and i can see the tip of the airbrush easily, again it will come with practise. I too use my left hand ( im right handed ) to steady my brush hand when going in close. Pretty much what everyone else has said so all you have to do now is practise and everything will just happen and sooner than you think.
Happy painting.

Lee
 
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