Hi from S.E UK

[Graham]

Hello everyone.

My name is Graham, 56 from SE UK by the seaside!
I've been lurking here for a while now so I thought I would jump in and say hi.
A great little place you have here - congratulations!

Bit of a convoluted journey here.
Many years ago as a teenager I used to love building and painting Tamiya plastic model kits.
A few months ago I found an unopened 1/35 scale Tamiya Challenger tank in a charity shop for the princely sum of £2!
Needless to say I snapped it up and got to thinking about painting it before I'd even opened the box.
I remembered having an airbrush back in the dark ages of teendom (one of those horrible external mix revell things running on cans) which I seem to remember liking apart from the constant splattering.

After doing a lot of research I decided to ignore all the advice and went for an ebay chinese special (Veda 180) - I also managed to bag an old Senza compact 'silent' compressor (6ltr tank) from ebay for £25 which works great and is fairly quiet - useful as I live in a flat.
Anyhow, whilst waiting for the airbrush to arrive, I was scouring youtube for info on airbrushing models and dioramas etc when I stumbled across some illustrative airbrush artworks & tutorials which totally blew me away.
I thought I wanna do that!
After watching a load more I inevitably stumbled across Airbrush Tutors vids which are not only very informative but humorous - but of course you all know that - which led me here.
I tried my hand at the tutorials and exercises using the Veda and some Daler Rowney FW ink that I got from a local art store, and seemed to be able to reproduce what I was seeing (or thought I was seeing) which pleased me. Eventually I tried 'The Eye Tutorial' and frankly amazed myself.
It quickly became apparent that the Veda was ok but appeared to be inconsistent in performance and the spray pattern was erm... lumpy - not quite a circle.

So for Christmas I gifted myself an Iwata HPC plus along with 2 sets of Com-Art (opaque and trans) and a small roll of frisket.
A decent brush and proper paint has made a lot of difference to my confidence.

I'm still just practising my strokes a lot - trying to get my small light blends down and have messed around a bit trying to reproduce reference pics without really knowing what I'm doing but still manage to be fairly pleased with the results considering.
I've only used the trans black so far - I seem to be scared of the colours!
I'm feeling a leaning towards photo-realistic portrait work but will try anything.

So yeah, hello everyone

 

[CALz AyrWKz]

Hi Graham, welcome to the forum! I'm glad you've bought yourself an Iwata. I have three of them and they are great brushes. Post up some of your practice pieces so we can see how you are progressing. If you need any help just shout out.

 

[markjthomson]

Hi Graham... look forward to seeing your progress!

 

[basepaint]

Welcome to the madness Graham,Hope you injoy the process of going mad like the rest of us

 

[WhiteKnight]

Welcome from Canada

 

[Oddball]

Hi Graham, The longest journey starts with the first step, sounds like you're well on the way
This lark can be the most rewarding and frustrating I have ever done, Just ask if you have any problems or need advice, there is a wealth of knowledge here

 

[littlerick]

Welcome from the uk

I got a Veda 180 too.. not bad to start... but isnt a good brush a great tool!

 

[matty171]

Welcome from Belfast Graham

 

[Smiler65]

Welcome from the uk, also bought com-art to use when my brush turns up

 

[Scottydee]

Hi Graham! It's my first day on here today, but welcome anyway!!

 

[Graham]

Wow, thanks for the warm welcome everyone.

@CALz - lovin the iwata so far, nicely engineered and no grindy-scratchy when I pull back the trigger!
I'll up some pics to a gallery.

@basepaint - I went mad years ago so I should fit right in - actually I've realised it's not us that's mad, it's the others!

@littlerick - yep, it sure is! I should have known really being a long time muso and suffering cheap guitars for years before I got a decent one

@Smiler65 - the Com-Art sprays very nicely compared to the inks I have been using, smooooth.


Ok well I overcame my fear of colour and tried my hand at ABT's 1st cloud tutorial - I'm quite pleased considering - think I'll have a go at sunset clouds next time.



Ok so I'll upload some of my practice pieces to a gallery - we all have to start somewhere.

Thanks again for the warm welcome - my trigger finger is itchin'

 

[Madbrush]

Ok so I'll upload some of my practice pieces to a gallery - we all have to start somewhere.

Thanks again for the warm welcome - my trigger finger is itchin'

First of all Graham, welcome to our mad house,

Why not start a thread with the photos you've uploaded so that the guys here can guide you a little when you think it's needed, I can already see you have the fundamentals and all you need to do is fine tune what you've learned so far, your George Cluney is actually pretty impressive and the shapes are there, it's hard to see but it looks like you may have been having some issues with spidering, that's easy enough to fix when you get used to pressure and reductions, I don't know what you think is wrong with he mouth but I think it's cool, pretty sexy pout is all I see,

Since your paintings show you are developing an understanding fairly quick, I would recommend you carry on painting whatever you feel like painting with some strokes practice before each session, constant practice can be boring for beginners, it certainly was for me, but you don't need to do that, a little practice as I said before you start painting will relax you as well as give you an idea how your brush is behaving and then you will know how to accommodate it so that you get the best out of it.

Always start a wip with your new work, although I don't think you need too much guidance, anything you do need is all here for you when you want it, bear in mind also that there is an array of different tools you can use in conjunction with your brush to make your life easier, have a look through some of the SBS's in the appropriate section where you can see what some of the big boys use to to get the job done.

The most important rule in airbrushing is of course have fun, but so far you seem to be obeying that one,

 

[Graham]

Thanks Madbrush, re spidering: I don't seem to have any issues with that but if you're referring to the eyebrows - that's was an attempt to do some hair texture but I had trouble getting as finer lines as I was wanting
I need to try lowering the pressure I guess for the finer details?
And yep, I always do a couple of sheets of practice strokes before I start, I find it helps a lot to get into the zone.
I also tried a bit of erasing for the highlights on the mouth pic which seemed to work.

And yep I'm definitely having fun

 

[Madbrush]

Thanks Madbrush, re spidering: I don't seem to have any issues with that but if you're referring to the eyebrows - that's was an attempt to do some hair texture but I had trouble getting as finer lines as I was wanting
I need to try lowering the pressure I guess for the finer details?
And yep, I always do a couple of sheets of practice strokes before I start, I find it helps a lot to get into the zone.
I also tried a bit of erasing for the highlights on the mouth pic which seemed to work.

And yep I'm definitely having fun

LOL, as long as your having fun, you can create pretty convincing eyebrows and other hair textures by spraying through a hairy brush or using some copper wire, as well as that pieces of torn paper for creating wrinkles, scouring pads for skin and other effects and almost anything lying around your kitchen are all acceptable tools to use along with your brush.

Just as quick guideline, I generally work between 5 to 10 psi for up close detail stuff and 20 to 30 for filling in and such, but this of course depends also on reduction, in my case anywhere between 10:1 and 20:1.

Your texture on the lips is pretty astounding, I doubt you need any help in that respect, , just keep doing what your doing, I'de love to see you revisit your George Cluney in about six months.

 

[haasje dutchairbrush]

welcome

 

[Graham]

LOL, as long as your having fun, you can create pretty convincing eyebrows and other hair textures by spraying through a hairy brush or using some copper wire, as well as that pieces of torn paper for creating wrinkles, scouring pads for skin and other effects and almost anything lying around your kitchen are all acceptable tools to use along with your brush.

Just as quick guideline, I generally work between 5 to 10 psi for up close detail stuff and 20 to 30 for filling in and such, but this of course depends also on reduction, in my case anywhere between 10:1 and 20:1.

Useful information, I'll give those techniques a try. Thank you Madbrush

 

[CALz AyrWKz]

Your clouds are excellent!! I think Madbrush has all the important stuff covered. You're well on your way to creating some awesome stuff!!

 

[Squishy]

Hi Graham, from a fellow brit, down on the south coast! Welcome to your new addiction. Sounds like you got the bug, your life may never be the same again LOL! Glad you found us, and decided to join.