Airbrushing surface

Z

Zoc

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Hello :D

Yet another question!

I'll probably only be able to have my first go at airbrushing on Wednesday (finally!), I just need to fix my filter in a piece of wood that can be easily hanged in eye screws when in use and quickly taken out :D

While anticipating the moment (ah, the anxiety!), I started to wonder... What's the ideal (or perhaps a good enough to start?) surface to airbrush ?

Also, what's a good inclination? 90 degrees straight from the floor seem bad.. but maybe.. 80? 70?
I imagine that anything less than 60 degrees would be bad too.

Should I try to get an easel or is it common/viable to run without one?

I"m imagining that, for the first few (many?) attempts, I'll stick with a good old piece of A4 paper and practice in there. (Unless, of course, you suggest me something else.)

Thank you very much, again! :love:
 
I found that A4 paper is a cheap way to start trying the airbrush. Just be aware that if it's regular paper, it will absorb the paint and lines will look a little blurry compared to a non porous surface. But I did lots on regular cheap printer paper before trying anything else and it works fine to start getting the basics. I can't really help with Angle. I have a small desktop easel that I made, but never really gave any thought to the angle. I don't think it really matters too much, but someone more knowledgable will say if it does.
 
I found that A4 paper is a cheap way to start trying the airbrush. Just be aware that if it's regular paper, it will absorb the paint and lines will look a little blurry compared to a non porous surface. But I did lots on regular cheap printer paper before trying anything else and it works fine to start getting the basics. I can't really help with Angle. I have a small desktop easel that I made, but never really gave any thought to the angle. I don't think it really matters too much, but someone more knowledgable will say if it does.

Thank you for the advice!

So porous paper is trouble, huh?
I was considering moving to some canson drawing paper (I have some leftovers from other project), but that seems to be trouble!

Any kind of paper you recommend? (and I'm scared you'll recommend couché paper hah ><)
 
I wouldn’t say that it’s trouble, certainly not for the first practice sessions. Just that it soaks the paint up and makes a crisp line look a little blurry. There’s a ton of different papers and boards available, but I’m not too experienced with the different types, so I’ll let someone else answer that one. I have used regular printer paper and have recently moved on to Poster Board. Because I eventually want to paint Cars and Bikes, I want to learn on a non porous surface. A lot of guys who want to do portraits will use canvas, Gesso, Clay Board etc. I would imagine there’s a thread on the forum about paper and surfaces, so that may be a good place to have a look at the different options.


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I cut up some old cardboard boxes, sprayed 'em white with cheap latex house paint and went from there. It actually is a surprisingly good surface at least compared to the posterboard and foamboard I've been playing with. Doesn't soak and doesn't spider as easily as posterboard and it's probably a decent comparison to painting on sanded auto paint. I also have a little table top easel and half the time I'm working the stuff ends up flat on the table or in my lap resting against the table or wherever it needs to be to get that one detail in there.

As I understand it @SiRoxx likes to tape his to the wall so he can paint while doing handstands
 
I cut up some old cardboard boxes, sprayed 'em white with cheap latex house paint and went from there. It actually is a surprisingly good surface at least compared to the posterboard and foamboard I've been playing with. Doesn't soak and doesn't spider as easily as posterboard and it's probably a decent comparison to painting on sanded auto paint. I also have a little table top easel and half the time I'm working the stuff ends up flat on the table or in my lap resting against the table or wherever it needs to be to get that one detail in there.

As I understand it @SiRoxx likes to tape his to the wall so he can paint while doing handstands
It’s how the pros do it LOL [emoji3]



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One trick that I've seen is to get a piece of glass and practice on that. When you are done practicing, you just scrape the paint off with a razor blade and it will be ready for the next round. As far as angle goes, you can paint at whatever angle is most comfortable for you. Most pros seem to shoot close to 90 degrees and they paint while standing- it helps with moving your arms I guess.
 
Poster board is very affordable. But my question to you is what is your end goal? Canvas, Metal or anything that will hold paint?
 
What exactly is posterboard? (Wikipedia generally is a good source of "localization" for most of the materials, but this one doesn't have many languages)

Is it the same thing as cardboard or card stock?
Does it suffer from being too porous too?

Foam board doesn't make much sense on my head, at least not without card stock covering the foam.

When attempting to look for material to practice here, apparently I need to look for the less porous ones. Should I worry with Grammage?

Couché paper seems to be the best, but sadly is very expensive too. Hoping to find a good compromise/trade-off while I learn :)

As for using glass, might be hard forme to get my hands on glass right now :(

Also... Apparently stuff changed on my side :(
Longing for Thursday and a chance to (finally) try the airbrush ><
 
I guess they would call it cartazes there.
Yes foamboard has posterboard laminated to it...usually.
I wouldn't worry too much about what to use for your first practices.
That's what i was trying to say about the boxes. It was just what I happened to have around the day i decided to try some stuff.
A4 paper... Whatever is around.
When you start doing some projects then ,well , you'll find what you prefer.
Airbrush papers, clayboard, whatever.
I don't consider my skills good enough to warrant any of the specialty stuff yet.
The surface medium is much more of a fine tuning thing, It won't matter much when you haven't yet figured out what paint mixes your airbrush likes or can't yet lay down dagger strokes like your just taking a walk.
 
when you first start out you can use anything, for the first week you'll be getting use to how the paint flows, how the airbrush works etc etc. I used an A3 sketch pad from the dollar shop. VERY absorbant but it gets your confidence started because there are no spiders wandering all over the page. it is great for practising blends to.

once you are confident you can move on to the less pourous surfaces as suggested. As for the glass its a great reuseable surface. Hunt down a largish picture frame from the dollar shop, i found a nice large one for a few $$. put your guide sheet under it and clip the frame back together and paint away, and as Jurien has said, use a razor blade scraper to scrape off the dry paint when your done, wipe it down, let it dry and go again.

If you havent found them yet, go to Airbrush Tutor page ( http://www.airbrushtutor.com/ ) register and you'll have access to his free training sheets to put under the glass.

Foamboard is sometimes called signboard, it is thin foam with a covering of paper/pvc so just look out for what you want.
Posterboard is often used for kids homework projects / show & tell boards etc and usually found in stationary shops / art stores

It will get to the point you'll look at things differently and wonder if you can paint on it and actually give it a try. If it works then great, if not then move to the next object you trip over and try that as its obviously not being used for what it should be if its sitting on the floor waiting to trip you up !!
 
Jake & Robby are absolutely right. The non porous surfaces are great once you've spent some time getting used to how the basics work. Until then, anything at all will be fine, just sling some paint. I eventually want to get into automotive painting, so I have a few old metal oil cans that I paint black with a cheap spray can (while wearing a mask of course), then airbrush over the top. It's a very cheap way of practicing painting on metal.
 
Thank you very much for all the input! I think I"ll be able to get an adequate training surface!
And, well, with "catolina" and "opaline paper", I'll be able to do the next step once I'm comfortable with the basics :D

I wonder if I'll need to get an easel to paint, or if fixing the paper to a wall (with an obvious plastic protection below hehe) will be enough :)
 
I just made myself a desktop easel. Couple of small pieces of ply wood with hinges across the top and some string to support the base. But others use full on easels or a wall. It’s your call buddy.


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I just made myself a desktop easel. Couple of small pieces of ply wood with hinges across the top and some string to support the base. But others use full on easels or a wall. It’s your call buddy


Can you show me a picture of it? :)
 
Sorry about the delay. Here are the pics of the easel.
3a69bd0444f8354ba24a73e0a22960b4.jpg
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I made some 3 leg desktop easels for my teaching course, I have to go in the garage this morning so will try and get them off the shelf IF i can get to them but they are very simple to make just different to SiRoxx's

Lee
 
Here's what I put together, real simple. When i'm painting it depends on my mood, sometimes I use my easel, sometimes my drawing board and I even paint on a small magnetic white board on my lap or on my lap leaned up against the edge of my desk. It's whatever is comfortable for you.

Lee
 

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