Pascal's airbrush experiments

You might think you have used too much paint but hold on a bit until you start blocking in the skin tone, then you will probably find that its not as dark as you think. I'm sure it can be adjusted anyway with a bit of erasing. Your doing fine so far.

Lee
 
Yes but the reference picture was much lighter. To fix it the skin tone everything has to be much darker than the original.
I don't know how to erase. So far I tried overpainting with white paint but that gives a color difference or stains.
Here's an example of my previous exercise:

Stain.jpg
 
That's the exact reason I didn't mention using white, it causes a shift. eyes are darker than you think, they are NEVER white and can be quite dark and look ok. Erasing, what are you painting on? This does dictate if you can erase or not. Also it depends on what paints you are using..
 
I have a question: Is reducer meant to make the paint thinner?
from internet:
When you need to retouch the paint on your car or truck, you need the paint just right in order for the paint to blend easier with the original paint job. A paint reducer or thinner helps you get your paint to the right viscosity for your touch-up paint job. Paint thinner also keeps the paint flowing through your paint gun easier for any paint job.
 
Yes, reducer makes the paint thinner/reduces viscosity. Remember that if you thin your paint you will likely need to reduce your PSI as well or you will get spidering. Reducing also means your pigments spreads out more so the paint will appear more transparent so you’ll likely need more passes to build up colour. If you just want to make the paint ‘more transparent’ then use “transparent base”
 
Hi !
I place some of my tests. I always mess up in my own way.
Here I used way too much paint for the eyes.

View attachment 65783
That’s one of the fundamental philosophies of operating an airbrush: never try to do too much with one color. Airbrushing lays on color and tones in a translucent fashion and each layer builds upon the other. You have to think about your art in that way and think about how certain colors and combinations of colors and the order in which you spray them on will build upon each other to achieve the look you want.
 
Thank you. I also still have problems with keeping the airbrush clean.
When I don't do a complete cleaning and 2 or 3 days later start again, I often bump to problems like paint stuck or bubbles in the cup.
Does an airbrush need a complete clean after every use?
 
Thank you. I also still have problems with keeping the airbrush clean.
When I don't do a complete cleaning and 2 or 3 days later start again, I often bump to problems like paint stuck or bubbles in the cup.
Does an airbrush need a complete clean after every use?

Typically you won’t do a detailed clean until the end of the day. If you’re using properly thinned paints, emptying the brush out into a cleaning pot, wiping out any traces of pigment from the color cup using a cotton swab followed by blasting 2-3 color cup fulls of cleaner through the brush while cycling the trigger back and forth will make for a pretty clean airbrush. And you’ll be surprised how little deep cleaning you have to do at the end of a painting session if you follow this advice.

The air brushes should be cleaned out thoroughly after extended use, to remove residual traces of paint which can build up in the crevices of the gun. But that is not required simply between color changes or for light spraying. Use of transparent colors also makes it a much easier job to clean out an airbrush, either between changing paints or at the end of the day.

if you are getting bubbles in the color cup or encountering other spray problems there may still be some residual paint left in the nozzle. If the problem is not remedied with a good cleaning of the nozzle and needle tip, you may have a defect in either or both which requires replacement parts. Much of this can be remedied by never allowing an airbrush to sit loaded with paint for extended periods, without cleaning it out. Airbrushes are sensitive instruments, much more than paintbrushes or pens and less tolerant of dried paint in the tip.
 
Thank you. Then I will buy a reducer too because I still use the paint 100 % like it is.
As a guide, the smaller the needle the thinner the paint and the lower the PSI needs to be.
Many ‘airbrush ready’ paint assumes a .35/.5 needle and 50psi (typical t-shirt/craft work setup)
For art work a needle less than .35 and a psi of ~20 is more the norm.
 
Oh ok. Thanks. I always hold my aurbrush pretty far from the paper for soft gradients. About 10-15 cm. Maybe a bigger needle can be handy then.
 
the smaller needles are used at lower pressure so you can do details . be careful you don't get to far away from your paper when you spray, you risk getting 'dry spray' - the paint dries before it gets to the paper.

if you are doing large pictures then the need for tiny details isn't needed, you can use a .35 for 'details' easily.
 
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