Gettering better but some questions

[Cminion]

I introduced myself in the right forum and Nada and his wife been great, he gave me a airbrush witch i am so amazed by i thought i would just play with his then have to buy one. I have learned to clean it very well and today was the first time i took it complete apart and back together no issues and super clean now.

On to my questions. Most of these flow around the premise of my practice strokes and trying to do the eye from that airbrush tutorial. I have watched lots of videos and read a lot. I will show some of my eyes so you can see how i am doing. I have only been airbrushing about 2 weeks this weekend so i think i have made a lot of stride in it.

Question 1#
CreativeX and wicked paint seems to be horrid to clean out of a gun after use even if i reduce it. I know nada told me best to prably stay with com art and i agree with him but my question is what paints does everyone prefer? how much to reduce? should i learn opaque or transparent black first?

Question 2#
Semi part of 1 but when do i use opaque black or transparent black?

Question 3#
When i am trying to do blend from the tutorial the problem i seem to have is getting a strait line and figuring out where the paint will hit compared to how my hand is angled at 45 degree ( airbrush angled whatever you want to say ). Do i just keep doing lines till i get use to where its gonna come out? do i let off the paint and stop the line then start a new one above that one just further away and less paint coming out ? do i just go back and forth holding the paint while pulling away and lowering paint? I tried to watch several times but something is just eluding me when it comes to it.

Question 4#
is silhouette cameo the best for making stencils at least for the price? so i know what to maybe save for later on.

Question 5#
I saw in the tutorial and people say building up your artwork, start light and build it up. Issue i have is sometimes i cant seem to lay over top what i did before. I am guessing that is just practice, do the exercises, and get use to control?

Question 6#
Anyone have any picture of there setup and recommendation? i mean like a easel and standing up to it getting use to it? would that make it easier to get use to painting or siting down? I have a bad back so i sit on a stool but probably too tall for where the paint is so i hunch over. I am in the middle of cleaning the basement and getting a better spot ready, but i was wondering if i should just use plans and go buy lumber to make like a 25$ easel i can stand up at, find a drawing desk that tilts and i can pull my legs up under? anyone else have back issues lower and upper ( curve in lower spine and compressed disc in middle is what i have ).

Anyways thank you for any answers you can give and sorry for the long post. Everyone has been so nice on here and i am glad i got into airbrushing. I am really enjoying it and it is a nice break from my pc and a outlit for my creative side.

Edit: forgot to add here are the last 2 eyes i did today and last night. Both have good and bad, i know not that great but best i have done so far and only at it 2 weeks. Fyi there are lots of other strokes on page where practicing dagger strokes, lines, dots, shading , and etc.

 

[musicmacd]

Hi. The more reduced the paint the easier it is to build up your picture as it will not be instant black!
The com art is great paint but as everyone will tell you its personal preference. I bought them all and seem to be drawn to etac! But i like them all
Stencils are great and i use them all the time. I prefer to stand up to paint.
Just practice

 

[haasje dutchairbrush]

1. There are about as many oppinions on paint as there are airbrushers, there is no good advice there except for try some brands and see which suits your style/methods best.

As to reduction, it seems that a lot of people presume there is a magical ratio but there isn't. It depends on what you do and which gun you use. getting the reight reduction for what you at that time want to achieve is part of the learning process and part of getting a "feeling" for the paint you use.

On a white surface there wo't be much difference between using an opaque or transparant black. the opaque will just reach full opacity more quickly probably.

2. Beware that there is no "rule" on when to use what. There are numerous methods to get the same result. Best I can say about this is that a transparant will have what is beneath it shine through and an opaque will cover it. So which of the two you use depends on what effect you want, for shadows having some detail you did earlier shine through a transparant probably works best, to just make something black an opaque would be my choice.

3. Don't know the tutorial so I'll refrain from answering this

4. No clue what silhouette cameo is. I use mylar which is also solvent proof when making my own masks

5. unless you have been painting 40+ hours each week in those two weeks i think you should still be doing dots transitions and lines . this does have a very steep learning curve and you'll first need to build the muscle memory so your hand "just paints" and you don't have to think about stuff like trigger control and distance anymore (0its the frustrating part to get there and it will take a lot of practice)

If with your question you meant you can't hit the same part/line etc as you did before that is realy down to practice.

6. this is down to personal preference, but i like to sit as I do paint long stretches in a row (10-14 hrs isn't unusual) and I just can't stand that long . Wether you paint sitting or standing it is important to be able to move your work up or down so you can adjust its height to where it's comfortable to paint the part you are working on.

2 weeks of practice (even when you spend those 2 weeks only on painting) isn't that much, as I said this airbrush thingie has a very steep learning curve. Just keep at it and you'll see it gets easier

 

[basepaint]

Being Haasje answered the rest I'll try to answer #3 In the blend Tutorial what your being showed is really Just going from a dark shade of color to a slight shade of the same color by going lighter and lighter as you move up on the upper part of the blend and Down on the lower blend and making it a smooth transtion from dark to light, To do it you start close to the paper(say 1 inch away) on the first pass (Air on start moving the airbrush,then paint on when you get to your starting point,paint off when you get to your ending point,Air off keeping the airbrush moving at the same speed) and doing the same thing on the next pass just pulling the airbrush away from the paper a little farther so the paint is not as dark and trying to blend the two lines so it looks like a shadow and not two lines.then adding a third a little farther away and so on...