Please be patient with me...

Johnny

Double Actioner
So far I've bough a butt load of cheap acrylic paints from Michael's. My original intention was to weather (dust) some of my model freight train cars. They seem to do that just fine with a little rust color and grime color. I've always been pennywise and dollar foolish always learning the hard way. Now to my question and dilemma.

I started watching some of the fine artistry you guys (and gals) are doing. It's simply amazing. I can only dream of becoming 1/1000 that good. But I digress....

I've been attempting to imitate Mitch Neill's 'Grim Reaper'.
(3) 15 Minute Painting- Keep it Simple - YouTube
He painted on powder-coated aluminum. I don't know what brush, paint, needle or pressure he used. So, I bought some black poster board from Hobby Lobby but it was much to absorbent, soaked up the paint and curled. Then I cut up some pieces of high quality glossy inkjet printer paper that I have and couldn't lay down enough color. My issue seems to be flow and opaqueness. Mitch gets nice heavy thick or narrow lines with just one pass of the brush.

To keep my cheap Master brush and cheap paint from clogging the brush I need to thin 2% milk consistency or thinner. My first inclination is to not thin as much and shoot t a higher pressure. I'm reluctant to do that because deep cleaning the brush has become a pain in the ass.

Can it be the paint? I could really use more than one insight here. I'm getting a headache.

Thank you
 
I took a quick look at the vid - I am guessing the brush to be a .3, and the paint to be Createx Illustration. I could not tell if he was reducing - but, if he did, it was not much. Looked to me like he went straight from the bottle.

You need to keep fooling around with your particular brush, and paint combo to find it's happy medium. The Master brushes can be a little hit or miss, but I have had more of them that worked than not. I did this quick sketch with one -

Master AB Sketch.jpg

A cheap craft paint may not have enough pigment load (especially in white) to be over-reduced the way we need to in order to feed it through an airbrush. In the long run, even though you may think you are spending more money purchasing a name brand paint to work with - it may save a ton of time in the learning process. Even if it is just a color or two to help familiarize yourself with what you and the brush may be capable of
 
Last edited:
I took a quick look at the vid - I m guessing the brush to be a .3, and the paint to be Createx Illustration. I could not tell if he as reducing, but if he did, it was not much. Looked to me like he went straight from the bottle.

You need to keep fooling around with your particular brush, and paint combo to find it's happy medium. The Master brushes can be a little hit or miss, but I have had more of them that worked than not. I did this quick sketch with one -

View attachment 65314

A cheap craft paint may not have enough pigment load (especially in white) to be over-reduced the way we need to in order to feed it through an airbrush. In the long run, even though you may think you are spending more money purchasing a name brand paint to work with - it may save a ton of time in the learning process. Even if it is just a color or two to help familiarize yourself with what you and the brush may be capable of
*******

Dave - what material did you paint this on? Paper? Glossy? Flat? In between?
 
*******

Dave - what material did you paint this on? Paper? Glossy? Flat? In between?

It was just fooling around, maybe the first 15 minutes after taking the brush out of the box for the first time. Pretty sure this was regular 20lb copy paper using Golden High Flow (could be Createx illustration with 4012 reducer).
 
Mick usually paints with a thick mix. It’s likely he didn’t reduce at all, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I can’t get on with any paint straight from the bottle, it becomes a very personal thing where some reduce a little and some reduce a lot. The most frustrating part for a beginner is that nobody can give you a straight answer, but that’s because there really isn’t one. Hell, I’m still playing with thicker or thinner mixes. If I’m doubt, spray a couple lines and take a picture. Load it up here and we’ll give you some help if we can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
The only input I have is that if your paper is curling then you are laying down way to much wet paint.
Multiple light layers are needed for airbrushing not a thick wet layer.
Getting a couple of bottles of ‘decent’ paint will lessen your frustration.
 
Mick usually paints with a thick mix. It’s likely he didn’t reduce at all, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. I can’t get on with any paint straight from the bottle, it becomes a very personal thing where some reduce a little and some reduce a lot. The most frustrating part for a beginner is that nobody can give you a straight answer, but that’s because there really isn’t one. Hell, I’m still playing with thicker or thinner mixes. If I’m doubt, spray a couple lines and take a picture. Load it up here and we’ll give you some help if we can.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
*****************************

So - is it possible to shoot thicker than 2% milk without spattering? or clogging? It appears that's what Mick is doing. If so - how? High PSI??
 
The only input I have is that if your paper is curling then you are laying down way to much wet paint.
Multiple light layers are needed for airbrushing not a thick wet layer.
Getting a couple of bottles of ‘decent’ paint will lessen your frustration.
********************

Jack - I totally understand that. When you watch Mick paint hose trees, he's getting a nice heavy dark line with a single stroke.
 
*****************************

So - is it possible to shoot thicker than 2% milk without spattering? or clogging? It appears that's what Mick is doing. If so - how? High PSI??

I have some paint from Spraygunner (Chroma Air - it is re-branded Createx) as well as Createx illustration colors. Out of the bottle, they look like thick, gooey mud, mixed with a touch of thinner fluid. A drop will stay in a lump, with some bleeding off around the sides. You would never think it to spray from an airbrush. Yet, it does without issue. I can spray the stuff even from a .18 Micron, but normally use a .2 or .3 for most of my work. I usually work around 25 PSI, but generally have a MAC valve on my hose, at least partially closed... For doing finer details, I do reduce the paint and lower the pressure.

Sometimes you just gotta try stuff. It may work, it may not... but, through trial and effort, you learn.
 
********************

Jack - I totally understand that. When you watch Mick paint hose trees, he's getting a nice heavy dark line with a single stroke.
I’ll watch he video later tonight and see if I can shed some light on this but from what you say it may just be he’s using an opaque rather than something more transparent
 
Ok, I had a quick look and from the bottle he has on the table it’s an Illustration bottle so I’d guess its Opaque White and the way the Black is laying down I’d say that is an opaque as well. Sounds like his PSI ~ 25.
If you notice he also blasts air at the freshly laid paint to dry it off.
thick lines a created by holding the airbrush further from the substrate ( but not so far the paint dries before hitting the paper - yes that’s possible :) )
Thin lines are achieved by getting closer to the substrate.
The paint you are using is probably not helping at the moment.
Best guess the brush is an Iwata Eclipse CS with a .35 / .5 needle judging by the amount of paint flow.
 
*****************************

So - is it possible to shoot thicker than 2% milk without spattering? or clogging? It appears that's what Mick is doing. If so - how? High PSI??
Yes, generally thicker paint will need higher psi and thinner will be less psi. It’s a bit of a balancing act, but you’ll get there with some practice and experience.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
So what it the intended use (from the manufacturer) of the cheap acrylic... is it a house paint or is it an airbrush specific paint... anything other than airbrush specific will be problematic.

next thing to consider, paying down paint like that comes with experience and time practicing the ABC's of airbrushing... dots, lines, daggers, reverse daggers, fades and blends (dots and daggers...) - these are the equivalent of scales... master these and you are well on your way. It also gives you an appreciation of line weight, paint reduction and pressure and how they work. Airbrushtutor.com has a good set of lessons that will help you along with that.
 
So what it the intended use (from the manufacturer) of the cheap acrylic... is it a house paint or is it an airbrush specific paint... anything other than airbrush specific will be problematic.

next thing to consider, paying down paint like that comes with experience and time practicing the ABC's of airbrushing... dots, lines, daggers, reverse daggers, fades and blends (dots and daggers...) - these are the equivalent of scales... master these and you are well on your way. It also gives you an appreciation of line weight, paint reduction and pressure and how they work. Airbrushtutor.com has a good set of lessons that will help you along with that.
****

Mark - I started with very cheap craft paint from Michael's but noticed that a slight step up to Artist's Loft, also from Michael's, carries MUCH more pigment.
 
****

Mark - I started with very cheap craft paint from Michael's but noticed that a slight step up to Artist's Loft, also from Michael's, carries MUCH more pigment.
So airbrush specific? I have no idea what Michaels is... not in my country :)
 
So airbrush specific? I have no idea what Michaels is... not in my country :)
Artist’s loft is a brand of generalised hobby/craft paint.
It’s primary use seems to be aimed at hairy brush or the trendy Acrylic pour art works.

@Johnny, you will see much better results if you get the appropriate paints. ive just checked on Michael’s website and they sell golden high flow Acrylics in 1oz bottles. Grab a black, white, blue, yellow and red (6.99 less if you put in their coupon code$ and you’ll notice a huge difference! I know it seems a lot of money for such a small bottle but they go a long long way and your frustration level will be significantly lower
Don’t get the ‘Createx airbrush Colors’ that series of Createx is aimed at textiles and not for artworks
 
Artist’s loft is a brand of generalised hobby/craft paint.
It’s primary use seems to be aimed at hairy brush or the trendy Acrylic pour art works.

@Johnny, you will see much better results if you get the appropriate paints. ive just checked on Michael’s website and they sell golden high flow Acrylics in 1oz bottles. Grab a black, white, blue, yellow and red (6.99 less if you put in their coupon code$ and you’ll notice a huge difference! I know it seems a lot of money for such a small bottle but they go a long long way and your frustration level will be significantly lower
Don’t get the ‘Createx airbrush Colors’ that series of Createx is aimed at textiles and not for artworks
******

Thanks Jack - I picked some up. It does require a bit of tweaking. I'd still like to find a better medium to practice on. Black poster board isn't cutting it. I think it's too porous.
 
******

Thanks Jack - I picked some up. It does require a bit of tweaking. I'd still like to find a better medium to practice on. Black poster board isn't cutting it. I think it's too porous.
Golden high flow is awesome. There is a poster board you can get that isn't porous. Nice to paint on and good for texture work.
 
Golden high flow is awesome. There is a poster board you can get that isn't porous. Nice to paint on and good for texture work.
*************************

"There is a poster board you can get that isn't porous"

Wish I could find some locally.
 
Back
Top