airbrush "charging" and spectra tex thinning

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rjs5244

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I was watching a tutorial and he said in regard to helping prevent tip dry to "charge" your airbrush a couple times by pulling fully back on the trigger. Can anyone elaborate as to how this helps?

My second question has to do with thinning spectra tex paint. I have only begun to start using an airbrush (maybe 4 hours total practice time onto printer paper as a medium) so I am not going for quality art. This being the case: do you think it would be acceptable to thin it with bottled water?

Thank you!!
 
pulling back fully wets the tip and also blows any minor residue both off the tip and also out of the nozzle.... like when you cough and a bit of phlegm comes up hehe....thinning spectra with bottled or trap water is fine....as it is a water based paint but for most paints it is recommended to use the brand specific reducer as it binds to ther pigment a little better....water can turn it a little "watery"
 
Ok, thanks. How often and should I charge my AB and how do I know I need to while I'm working? Does it really help that much?
 
I am a beginner too, but I really often just pull it back,blow out som paint (not on the image) and continue. Didnt count it but when doind little things or thin lines then it helps very much
 
Ok, thanks. How often and should I charge my AB and how do I know I need to while I'm working? Does it really help that much?

you will usually hear the sound of of your airbrush change at the front when something is about to happen, but you don't need to wait for that, I've got used to just giving it a good blast after a few lines, doing this will usually dispense with the need for other measures such as picking off tip dry, since it is or can be a preventative practice.

Keeping the needle wet will always help against tip dry, I now have small piece of soft foam with a hole in it, I soak this in water and place over the front end when I take a break, this keeps everything moist when your brush sits unused for a while(by that I don't mean days, LOL), if you do this be sure to replace the the crown tip protector beforehand.
 
I am also a noob and I didn't know what I was doing was called charging the AB. When I practice which is all I have done so far I get tip dry, I pick the tip and blast/charge the AB on a scrap piece of paper then I keep going. I think I may try the wet sponge/foam trick though that sounds like a great idea. Also All I use right now is spectrTex, and I do not thin my spectrTex paint if I am using full color. I will thin with water when I want to reduce the paint to try to build layers.
 
I am also a noob and I didn't know what I was doing was called charging the AB. When I practice which is all I have done so far I get tip dry, I pick the tip and blast/charge the AB on a scrap piece of paper then I keep going. I think I may try the wet sponge/foam trick though that sounds like a great idea. Also All I use right now is spectrTex, and I do not thin my spectrTex paint if I am using full color. I will thin with water when I want to reduce the paint to try to build layers.

I've tried thinning too and even over-thinning to achieve a gradual build up but it still gets too dark too quick, I have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to a gradual build up which suits the artist or people like me who have less control, is to use either transparent's or your colour mixed with a transparent medium.
 
I was out shopping at michaels for a trans black and a trans white but they did not have any. I will most likely have to get it online. Thanks for the tip.
 
I've tried thinning too and even over-thinning to achieve a gradual build up but it still gets too dark too quick, I have come to the conclusion that the easiest way to a gradual build up which suits the artist or people like me who have less control, is to use either transparent's or your colour mixed with a transparent medium.

Or you could also try increasing your distance, I think these days many are to afraid of overspray and tend to paint to close to the canvas which makes it extremely hard to control the intensity of a color, add some distance and it helps reduce intensity, masking or handshielding also reduces the overspray aspect and distance also helps create those soft blends and fades, no matter what the reduction is, but true transparents def help build up a pic a bit slower compared to over-reduced opaques....
 
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