Holding an airbrush seems the hardest part

A

Andreas

Guest
Hi everybody,

I'm airbrushing for a few months now, and did allot of practice; dots, lines, blends, dagger strokes,...

But I've never felt comfortable with my airbrush, I thought it would go away after allot of airbrushing, but it isn't. I watched Mitchs video about how to hold an airbrush, and that's how I hold it from day one, but I've never felt comfortable. I can airbrush quite accurate now, and have good control. But my hand isn't relaxed at all, my pointing finger feels wedged all the time, and after maybe 10 minutes of painting I get a cramp in my hand. I have quite big hands, and normally I'm a left handed writer, but I began airbrushing with my right hand. I can feel my airbrush is more comfortable in my left hand, but because of an unknown reason I have almost no trigger control in that hand, but the feeling is more relaxed. The fact I can't paint comfortably keeps me away from painting, because it isn't fun when your hand is hurting. I have both a HP-CS and a H&S Evolution, it's less with the evolution but still there.

What can I do, I looked on the internet for other ways of holding it but none turns out comfy for me. Should I learn everything all over with my left hand?

Hope people maybe have similair experiences. Thanks
 
It might be you find life more comfy with a side cup air brush, then the cup won't get in the way of larger fingers...
 
Using the crook of my knuckle seems to help. I do both. I get massive cramps easily .
 
Are you death gripping the airbrush? That's a common problem, I used to do it.
Something that will also help is getting a softer air spring for the Eclipse and adjusting the air spring tension as light as possible on the Evolution.
 
I think i am death gripping the airbrush withouy knowing. I also only have a problem when i'm airbrushing with one hand. When I can support with my other hand it's fine. But oldong and crontrolling with one hand seems to much :p
 
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It feels OK indeed, but when doing dagger strokes (fast moves) it slips off or begins feeling uncomfy
 
It feels OK indeed, but when doing dagger strokes (fast moves) it slips off or begins feeling uncomfy

Change your grip just for the daggers, that's what I do, sometimes it helps to have a different grip for different strokes, for example I have a tendency to use the death grip as Jeff calls it just for dots and especially if it's a dot at less than 100% intensity, it just makes me feel as if it's not going to fall but as you've seen the cramp sets in real soon, lol

Just have a little play around with different grips while doing different strokes, you'll soon find what's comfortable for you, everyone has their own little methods.
 
Maybe a taller trigger will help. You can build up the one you have with a glue gun, or some putty etc. A few guys here have done that and said it helps with cramps.
 
Yes , did the glue gun trick and raised mine by 10mm and it really made a difference and I have bad arthritis in my damaged hands and it has allowed me to ab for a couple of hours at a time even when repeating repetitive excersises .
 
Yes , did the glue gun trick and raised mine by 10mm and it really made a difference and I have bad arthritis in my damaged hands and it has allowed me to ab for a couple of hours at a time even when repeating repetitive excersises .

I tried the glue gun trick too, but I've been walking around for two years with an airbrush stuck to my hand, I wouldn't normally mind but it's a master series brush which is pretty embarrassing, I would have preferred it to be my HP-BH or my Micron, I've totally lost my street cred because of it, most of the time I walk around with a rain coat over my arm:confused:
 
Maybe I should airbrush a little more, and get confident. Altough it isn't really fun this way.
 
I tried the glue gun trick too, but I've been walking around for two years with an airbrush stuck to my hand, I wouldn't normally mind but it's a master series brush which is pretty embarrassing, I would have preferred it to be my HP-BH or my Micron, I've totally lost my street cred because of it, most of the time I walk around with a rain coat over my arm:confused:
You know you can cut it off... :)
 
I tried holding it some other ways but none felt comfortable to me. After a minute of painting i begin to feel it in my hand and i can barely move my pointing finger forward to stop the paint. It is such an irritating feeling. It stops me from having fun painting. I dont know what it is. Maybe i should learn painting with my left hand :(
 
I tried holding it some other ways but none felt comfortable to me. After a minute of painting i begin to feel it in my hand and i can barely move my pointing finger forward to stop the paint. It is such an irritating feeling. It stops me from having fun painting. I dont know what it is. Maybe i should learn painting with my left hand :(

If you are having so much trouble you could have or be developing carpel tunnel syndrome, it might be an idea to speak to your doctor and explain what's happening, unless you are just working too long without breaks it does sound like you have a problem, I'm not trying to scare you but others here have had similar issues which were either caused by airbrushing or they discovered they had it after they started airbrushing, but the good news is I have heard that it is usually remedied by a simple operation.
 
Learning left handed would be really interesting and probably of much benefit!! Could you send through a photo of how you hold the brush?
 
Can you try and use your thumb on the trigger. Not ideal but it might help.

I actually do that when filling in large areas, I find it a lot handier and more comfortable when precise control isn't required.
 
If you are having so much trouble you could have or be developing carpel tunnel syndrome, it might be an idea to speak to your doctor and explain what's happening, unless you are just working too long without breaks it does sound like you have a problem, I'm not trying to scare you but others here have had similar issues which were either caused by airbrushing or they discovered they had it after they started airbrushing, but the good news is I have heard that it is usually remedied by a simple operation.
I read its mostly by people from 30 to 60 years old. I'm only 15 :p
 
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