Iwata HP-CH replacement

[Steven]

Hi guys,
I'm looking for some advice on a new airbrush for portrait illustration.
I used to use an Iwata HP-CH before I moved to more digital work, but I'm back doing traditional work now. It's been a while since I used the airbrush so I'm guessing I'll have to learn trigger control all over again (It was never good to begin with anyway )
My illustrations won't be 100% airbrush so I won't need super high detail, that'll come with pencils/brushes. Just the basic form. But I would want to be able to do some portraits as small as 2x2 inches (actual face size) up to about 7 inches.

Here's a sample of my digital portrait stuff I'd wanna recreate in acrylics & pencils.

Would an Iwata HP-C plus, or Eclipse HP-CS be suitable?
I really like the look of the nozzle on the Eclipse, and how it seems much easier to clean and maintain overall. But if there is big difference in performance between them I'd prob go for the HP-CP, even though I hated cleaning that 0.3 nozzle.

I was also checking out the Creos PS-289, which seems to be identical to the HP-CH I had.
Or the PS-270, though the 0.2mm nozzle scares me a little. I was never very 'surgical' diluting my paint, I just mix it straight on the palette from the tube.
I do like how I wouldn't have to remove the actual nozzle on these for cleaning though.

Any advice on these would be great, cheers.

 

[erwin de pan]

You already have a good airbrush.
And when cleaning, it is not necessary to remove the nozzle every time.
The only time it takes when you get paint when you just give air, and can't fix it by resetting your needle.
I think you're better off investing in airbrush paint.
Most paint from tubes have a coarser pigment and are less suitable.
Thinning is the most important thing to get a good spray pattern. Next to your pressure.
Fine lines low pressure more dilution. Opacity thicker paint more pressure.

 

[erwin de pan]

Oh you don't have the airbrush anymore?
For cleaning, it doesn't matter much what size you take.
A larger nozzle can spray thicker paint.
But your paintings are very small. With a .2 and good paint you might have a little more control.

 

[Steven]

I use Liquitex Pro soft body acrylics. I mix and thin them on my palette tray. I went by look & feel rather than counting drops.

The Creos PS-270 0.2mm seems to be getting good reviews, and might be an option especially with the larger paint cup if there is no major issues thinning the paint. I hear they're made in the same factory as Iwata's, is the trigger response as good?
Too many brushes to choose from .

 

[erwin de pan]

Liquitex is a good paint. I don't know about the tubes you use, but the
Liquitex acrylic ink
sprays very well.
I don't have Creos myself, I haven't read anything bad about it yet.

 

[Tapper]

I'm no expert, but I'm pursuing the same goal - portraiture. I can recommend the GSI PS-771, and Createx Illustrator colors. Works well. I think the currently most popular brush, largely because its what Dru Blair uses, is the Iwata Micron Takumi. The 771 works well, the Takumi is easier to use, with a similar result. Both are detail brushes, which is pretty much all I see used by people a lot better than I am

Honestly, finding the right paper is the hardest part.

 

[SiRoxx]

I don’t think anything smaller than a .3 is a good idea if you plan on continuing to use the tube paints and like to reduce by feel. Anything smaller than .3 was primarily designed for an ink like consistency and while they can obviously work well with airbrush paint, they’re very reliant on correctly reducing paint. The HP-C is a brush that I can recommend. It’s very capable and resilient without being too crazy expensive.

 

[Steven]

I'm no expert, but I'm pursuing the same goal - portraiture. I can recommend the GSI PS-771, and Createx Illustrator colors. Works well. I think the currently most popular brush, largely because its what Dru Blair uses, is the Iwata Micron Takumi. The 771 works well, the Takumi is easier to use, with a similar result. Both are detail brushes, which is pretty much all I see used by people a lot better than I am

Honestly, finding the right paper is the hardest part.

Very tempted to try a 0.2mm Creos brush to see if I can lightly tint very small drawings.

I also heard great things about the H&S .2mm brushes for detail and atomisation. Unfortunately I'm allergic to nickel, otherwise I'd grab one of there entry level brushes in a heartbeat. £50-60 and all parts are interchangeable, that seems nuts .

 

[Steven]

I don’t think anything smaller than a .3 is a good idea if you plan on continuing to use the tube paints and like to reduce by feel. Anything smaller than .3 was primarily designed for an ink like consistency and while they can obviously work well with airbrush paint, they’re very reliant on correctly reducing paint. The HP-C is a brush that I can recommend. It’s very capable and resilient without being too crazy expensive.

Yeah, ink is fairly fugitive and for illustration art the lightfastness is terrible. I like how permanent acrylics are.

One option is to maybe try out Golden high flow or something for small b&w work. But if it can't take the Liquitex then I'll be limited.

 

[erwin de pan]

The airbrush inks that are most commonly used are a pigment acrylik base.
And these are just as lightfast as the normal paint.
The inks you don't want to use are the dye base inkt which are not lightfast and will fade quickly when exposed to normal daylight.
The Golden high flow paint is very good even with a 0.18.

 

[SiRoxx]

Yeah, ink is fairly fugitive and for illustration art the lightfastness is terrible. I like how permanent acrylics are.

One option is to maybe try out Golden high flow or something for small b&w work. But if it can't take the Liquitex then I'll be limited.

Sure. I mentioned ink more as an example of the viscosity needed for the smaller nozzles rather than a recommendation of the medium. I use Createx Wicked and Illustration in my smaller brushes all the time. But they’re obviously designed for use with an airbrush as opposed to the tube paints.
Golden is another great recommendation though.

 

[stefanvalent]

The most helpful airbrush reviews I've ever seen can be found on The Art Workshop's Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@theartworkshop/videos

He really gets into just about everything one might want to know - How they paint, how easy they are to clean and maintain, price point, etc. And in the last year he's covered most of the brushes mentioned in this thread... If you're painting 2" by 2" portraits you might be especially interested in his "Buying a detail airbrush?" video from about a year ago.

 

[Kingpin]

I am a big Fan of theartworkshop too, very informative

 

[Steven]

The most helpful airbrush reviews I've ever seen can be found on The Art Workshop's Youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@theartworkshop/videos

He really gets into just about everything one might want to know - How they paint, how easy they are to clean and maintain, price point, etc. And in the last year he's covered most of the brushes mentioned in this thread... If you're painting 2" by 2" portraits you might be especially interested in his "Buying a detail airbrush?" video from about a year ago.

I've been checking out all his reviews over the past few weeks, amongst others. Very good review channel.

I recently watched a vid by youtuber Dred FX. It was about 'fixing' the trigger responsiveness on H&S airbrushes by adding a few washer seals behind the trigger. Now I'm very tempted the Evolution crplus or Infinity because of that. I really like their design.
Apart from the trigger, I've only heard great things.

 

[erwin de pan]

I've been checking out all his reviews over the past few weeks, amongst others. Very good review channel.

I recently watched a vid by youtuber Dred FX. It was about 'fixing' the trigger responsiveness on H&S airbrushes by adding a few washer seals behind the trigger. Now I'm very tempted the Evolution crplus or Infinity because of that. I really like their design.
Apart from the trigger, I've only heard great things.

The washer trick didn't work with my 1st model evolution, maybe something has changed over time.
But if you only use 1 airbrush, the response time doesn't matter that much.
You get used to it.
It becomes a thing if you use them side by side, for example iwatta and h&s.
Then you have to look all the time for the point where the paint starts.

 

[Nada]

Very tempted to try a 0.2mm Creos brush to see if I can lightly tint very small drawings.

I also heard great things about the H&S .2mm brushes for detail and atomisation. Unfortunately I'm allergic to nickel, otherwise I'd grab one of there entry level brushes in a heartbeat. £50-60 and all parts are interchangeable, that seems nuts .

The 270 is really a very good detail brush. There is not a very large gap in how well it performs versus a 771 or a micron. It also is for a .2 fairly forgiving in paint. I realize my reply may be a little late :/

 

[Steven]

The 270 is really a very good detail brush. There is not a very large gap in how well it performs versus a 771 or a micron. It also is for a .2 fairly forgiving in paint. I realize my reply may be a little late :/

I haven't got one yet. Do you have the 270?
I think I remember seeing that the entire front end can be removed with the nozzle attached. Can't find the vid I saw it in to confirm tho. If that can be done (with any creos brush) I think I'll defo get one. I'd be much more comfortable cleaning it.
I had so much trouble with the little Iwata nozzles in the past, and they aren't cheap to replace.

 

[Nada]

I haven't got one yet. Do you have the 270?
I think I remember seeing that the entire front end can be removed with the nozzle attached. Can't find the vid I saw it in to confirm tho. If that can be done (with any creos brush) I think I'll defo get one. I'd be much more comfortable cleaning it.
I had so much trouble with the little Iwata nozzles in the past, and they aren't cheap to replace.

Yes ive had mine 3 ish years now. Its a very very good brush. Good enough i don't even use my micron or my 771 except occasionally. I did a video review on it way back then.. I plan on updating that soon. Mine has seen a lot of paint in that time, and i only changed a needle/nozzle once when i dropped it off a table.
The head is removeable and that is usually the best way to clean it if any disassembly is needed at all. It may have been my video. I run a striping brush through them to keep from unscrewing the nozzle.
The 289 and 270 are sister brushes with a slight difference in the cup appearance. Parts wise everything will swap. It can also as im sure Dave has posted before interchange with a micron/771 head. There are a couple differences in the head assemblies but they work the same way.
The only thing about those brushes they are a bit long. it is not enough to bother me but when I first got it I didn't think id like it. But that quickly vanished. If you are in the USA I don't think there is an airbrush that provides a better value for the dollar proposition than either the 289 or 270. Absolutely excellent in every way.

 

[Steven]

Yes ive had mine 3 ish years now. Its a very very good brush. Good enough i don't even use my micron or my 771 except occasionally. I did a video review on it way back then.. I plan on updating that soon. Mine has seen a lot of paint in that time, and i only changed a needle/nozzle once when i dropped it off a table.
The head is removeable and that is usually the best way to clean it if any disassembly is needed at all. It may have been my video. I run a striping brush through them to keep from unscrewing the nozzle.
The 289 and 270 are sister brushes with a slight difference in the cup appearance. Parts wise everything will swap. It can also as im sure Dave has posted before interchange with a micron/771 head. There are a couple differences in the head assemblies but they work the same way.
The only thing about those brushes they are a bit long. it is not enough to bother me but when I first got it I didn't think id like it. But that quickly vanished. If you are in the USA I don't think there is an airbrush that provides a better value for the dollar proposition than either the 289 or 270. Absolutely excellent in every way.

Lol, it was your vid. Didn't realise you were the same guy haha. You replied to a question on the 289 review, so cheers for that.
I watched the recent Eclipse review when it came out, which is why I can't make my mind up on which is best suitable . I take it that it's the only Iwata that has that nozzle design?
The light shading in the vid at 6.13 would be similar shading & size to some small portraits I'd like to be able to do like this sample - link.
My paint palette looks similar to this (link), which makes me think the Eclipse, or .3mm would deal with the Liquitex if I didn't thin it enough from time to time.
Versus the .2mm might be easier with detail & low pressure, but not deal with the paint every time.

Great vids btw, I've been watching a lot.

 

[Nada]

Lol, it was your vid. Didn't realise you were the same guy haha. You replied to a question on the 289 review, so cheers for that.
I watched the recent Eclipse review when it came out, which is why I can't make my mind up on which is best suitable . I take it that it's the only Iwata that has that nozzle design?
The light shading in the vid at 6.13 would be similar shading & size to some small portraits I'd like to be able to do like this sample - link.
My paint palette looks similar to this (link), which makes me think the Eclipse, or .3mm would deal with the Liquitex if I didn't thin it enough from time to time.
Versus the .2mm might be easier with detail & low pressure, but not deal with the paint every time.

Great vids btw, I've been watching a lot.

There is a tough choice.. if your going to use tube paints, for certain the eclipse can deal with thicker paints better.. its just very good at that.. However the 270 will shade and atomize much smoother than the eclipse. The line size of the eclipse is right there with any brush, but the 270 will definitely shade much easier. And i've done some really small work with the eclipse, but i have no question when its super small shading the 270 is far better at that. Make no mistake if you saw my eclipse review It by far is my overall favorite brush. But I paint a LOT of 11x14 and 16x20 size canvases. When I switch over and paint 3x5 inch stuff im almost always reaching for my 270 and its paint flow is a bit slower from beginning paint to more paint. The 289 will do everything the CH did for you.. the 270 will go in a little tighter than that.

I used to be much more active here on this forum.. I joined the week I started just about 9 years ago. And i met some great folks and had a lot of fun in those days here. Good place to be I'm just stretched well beyond thin these days ;0