Mikey's Log

Mikey

Young Tutorling
Hello everyone. Hopefully, I am posting this in the correct spot. I am new to airbrushing (and have very little experience using online forums as well). I consider myself crafty and have some experience with wood and leatherwork. I have no experience with artistry or drawing/painting. This is only a side hobby for me but I do find it enjoyable. I have been setting aside about an hour a day for painting dots, lines, and doodles. Today is my 10th day, and I decided to try a fine lines practice sheet made by Art-Tehnika (Lion) that I found on this forum. It was nice to break up the monotonous practice that I have been doing. Also, I have included my only attempt at actually painting anything so far. I painted the galaxy on day 7 using a YouTube follow-along. I want to start an artist's log to track my progress. I spent about an hour on these two lion practice sheets. Overall, I have enjoyed myself and I am happy with my progress so far. Therefore, I will probably continue to invest time (and $$$) into this hobby and I ordered myself a GSI Creos PS-289. I chose this model as my first "real" airbrush based on advice from this forum and some Youtube reviews. I anxiously await its arrival!

The airbrush used in this practice was a cheap unbranded model AB-130 .3mm airbrush that came with a compressor kit. I used 30 psi, Createx Airbrush Colors black - 3:1 mix with Createx 4011 reducer. Everything was painted on regular 8.5 x 11 printer paper. I know these are inconsistent and far from perfect, but it was practice and I was trying different things in different areas.

I welcome any criticism, input, and suggestions for improvement. I have pretty thick skin and my feelings are not easily hurt. Everything I have learned so far has been self-taught using YouTube and this forum. How am I doing? Maybe in the distant future, when I move past the kindergarten stage, I can change my handle from Mikey to Big Mike?

My analysis of these practices:
I think the dotted lines are from tip dry and the runs or spidering happened when I was holding the airbrush at an angle to the paper because I was trying to see past the airbrush. The main things I learned from this practice were to hold the brush perpendicular to the paper (for fine lines), wipe the tip dry earlier, look where I am going not where I've been, and that I need to only view my work in thumbnails - not full-size! Maybe one day soon I will be able to follow the lines accurately and fast enough that they are much smoother.

20230328 Lion 1.jpg
20230328 Lion 2.jpg
20230325 Galaxy.jpg
 
Thats some good work for Your first real go, things do get easier with practice, I couldn't get along with doing the practice sheets so just went ahead and picked some subjects I was interested in and started painting, some were pants but some were ok :)

I like the galaxy, it looks really good :thumbsup:

I have the ps289 too, its a good brush and will serve You well :cool:
 
....
The airbrush used in this practice was a cheap unbranded model AB-130 .3mm airbrush that came with a compressor kit. I used 30 psi, Createx Airbrush Colors black - 3:1 mix with Createx 4011 reducer. Everything was painted on regular 8.5 x 11 printer paper. I know these are inconsistent and far from perfect, but it was practice and I was trying different things in different areas.

My analysis of these practices:
I think the dotted lines are from tip dry and the runs or spidering happened when I was holding the airbrush at an angle to the paper because I was trying to see past the airbrush. The main things I learned from this practice were to hold the brush perpendicular to the paper (for fine lines), wipe the tip dry earlier, look where I am going not where I've been, and that I need to only view my work in thumbnails - not full-size! Maybe one day soon I will be able to follow the lines accurately and fast enough that they are much smoother.
Glad you made a log, it will be fun for you when you look back, you'll see how much you have progressed.
OK, Critique, and please know I'm not picking on you ... diving headfirst into something is a great way to see where your strengths and weaknesses are.
Firstly congrats, I can see the top piece is a male lion so that's a start :)
Firstly the paint... 'airbrush colors' can be used 'out of the bottle with a .5 brush. I rarely find this is the case in real life, most need a little reduction, so pushing it through a .3 brush will require reduction of around 1:1 - drop your psi to around 25.... why do I say this ? Well let me try and break it down...

This - often called spidering- is often caused by:
PSI too high
moving too slow
paint too thin
sometimes a combination of all of the above.
1680044236634.png

These dotted/broken lines are often caused by
Paint too thick
PSI too low
Tip dry

1680044442228.png

Wobbly lines are normally just that you are moving too slow, speed will come with practise.

I'll leave it at that for now.
Don't underestimate practise or even the exercise sheets you'll see around. They will help with your control and accuracy. Once you have control and accuracy then you can consitently get the results you are after

Your analysis on where you are having problems are pretty spot on so you're definitely on the right track.
FYI printer paper is pretty unforgiving and will spider easily but its great practise to minimise those spiders, who knows, you may end up wanting to paint on hard surfaces like cars, motorbike tanks etc
 
I'm glad I made the log too. I hope I can look back and see some improvement in the future. I don't feel like you are picking on me at all. Suggestions on how to improve are exactly why I posted these photos. Thanks for taking the time to look at these and give me some advice. It is greatly appreciated. I will reduce the paint to a 1:1 ratio next time and try a lower PSI.
I am having trouble with combining the acts of following someone else's lines and doing so at a decent pace to keep the lines from being wobbly. I feel like I need to go slow to match those lines and they get wobbly. I think I have dots, lines, and dagger strokes down when I paint them at my own pace and size on blank paper but I am struggling with putting them exactly on the lines of the practice sheet. I will continue to work on this throughout the week and maybe I can post an update at the end of the week with better control and accuracy. Thanks again for your suggestions!
 
The lion head: this is awesome but you’re insane using an airbrush for such line work :)… I would revert to a pen or pencil right away to do it. Kudos for the attempt and practice, though!
Lots of fine-line practice that is not as repetitive as the worksheets is what I was after. All of the lines and dots I have drawn over the last week are probably what drove me insane. Thanks for viewing!
 
I hear what you’re saying with following existing lines is hard on the ‘proper’ sheet, I do the same thing, it’s because there is no pressure on a scrap piece of paper !
you’ve probably already seen this thread
but the exercise sheet I put below (video is in the thread above) is a great way to learn control of when to start /stop paint and airflow. there is a need to build muscle memory of the whole air on/paint off side of things so that you don’t even think of it anymore.
1680065361257.jpeg
just remember the process
1680065440730.jpeg
 
I hear what you’re saying with following existing lines is hard on the ‘proper’ sheet, I do the same thing, it’s because there is no pressure on a scrap piece of paper !
you’ve probably already seen this thread
but the exercise sheet I put below (video is in the thread above) is a great way to learn control of when to start /stop paint and airflow. there is a need to build muscle memory of the whole air on/paint off side of things so that you don’t even think of it anymore.

just remember the process
JackEB, you nailed it. My paint was too thick, and the PSI was too high. I can control the brush much better at a lower PSI with thinner paint. Thanks so much for your help. Everything I have heard and read said the reduce the paint to the consistency of milk. I had trouble with that comparison. I would compare what I have now to ink - thinner than "paint" but thicker than water. Now I get what flow means. I can almost feel it flowing more smoothly and, more importantly, predictably.
 
Great start man. You’ve already received some great advice, so I have nothing to add. But keep in mind that the line projects are designed to be a challenge, so finding them tricky is no bad thing and you shouldn’t beat yourself up for it. I don’t find them easy either, but again that’s the point lol. Great job getting going and I’m looking forward to seeing what else you get up to.
 
More practice:
This week, I have continued to practice using the practice sheets. I have been focusing on reducing to the correct viscosity and have begun to experiment with textures and mixing colors. The clouds picture and trees picture were from YouTube follow-alongs. The landscape started as a practice sheet using various textures and templates on blank paper, then slowly formed into what it is. I may continue to add to it/improve it in the future. It was just a practice sheet and was not intended to be a completed picture.

In the clouds picture, I would like to focus on the accuracy of my shading. The trees would look better with finer lines and "mistier" mist. I think I just put paint on paper with this one to see what would happen. I will probably do both of these again soon and focus on the details. Hopefully, I will see some improvement.

I still cannot post a perfect lion head. Maybe one day! In the future, I want to start using photographs of landscapes I have taken and attempt to paint versions of those. I have a photo from atop the Hoover Dam in mind with colors, lines, and textures that I would like to try. But first, I need to continue learning the basics.
 

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Looking good dude :) Love the clouds, they look superb :thumbsup: Keep at it, You are progressing nicely :cool:
 
Nicely done man. If you’d like to make the mist “mistier”, try adding a decent amount of transparent base to the white and focus on laying down a nice light coat.
 
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