F
foreveryoung001
Guest
Hi everyone. I'm kind of new to airbrushing, and new to this forum, but thought I'd kill two birds with one stone and intro myself and seek advice in one post. So long story short, I picked up a Paasche VL a few years ago to help me put sunburst fineshes on guitars I was painting for a local builder. He moved to Nashville to be closer to the "music scene" and I put the airbrush away, figuring I'd never need it again. About a month ago, a friend asked me paint a bunch of shirts for her for when her son was born. I took the gig, grabbed the airbrush and painted a few hearts, the babies name, nothing fancy, but she was pleased and from her referral, I got more tshirt jobs.
Then as I was talking to some guys at work about it, they both asked if I could customize their motorcycles over the winter. I said sure, and then realized I would need to practice A LOT!!!!!!! So for the past 3 or 4 weeks, I've been painting every night, watching youtube videos, reading the forums, and then painting some more. Having a blast, but could really use some advice on an issue that is causing me a lot of frustration.
In the pictures, the flag and flaming skull was my first attempt at flames about two weeks go. They are not good. The flames are not defined and the colors are awful. Then there is the other one on a small money box that my wife and I had around the house. Everything came out a lot better, and I'm happy with the noticeable improvement, but the flames themselves are still a struggle. I think its over spray, but being a relative novice, I'm not positive how to correct it. around the flames its all grainy and it feels like the edges of the flames could be more well defined. I see some of the pics from the veteran airbrushers and am amaze at how sharp and crisp they can get their flames and am wondering what techniques I can practice that would really help get the flames better defined. I mean every night I fill several sheets of paper with dagger strokes, dots, lines and shading, and maybe as my skills progress, I'll keep seeing improvement, but it just gets so frustrating. Any help, pointers, or advice would be really appreciated.
I am researching other brushes, (leaning towards the Krome), but for now its the Paasche. All the paints are just a mix n match of plain createx and spectra tex. Was wondering if better quality paints such as Wicked my help knock down some of the over spray too, but so far, for the learning curve, I'm just picking up whats available at the craft stores in my town.
Thanks again,
Jason

Then as I was talking to some guys at work about it, they both asked if I could customize their motorcycles over the winter. I said sure, and then realized I would need to practice A LOT!!!!!!! So for the past 3 or 4 weeks, I've been painting every night, watching youtube videos, reading the forums, and then painting some more. Having a blast, but could really use some advice on an issue that is causing me a lot of frustration.
In the pictures, the flag and flaming skull was my first attempt at flames about two weeks go. They are not good. The flames are not defined and the colors are awful. Then there is the other one on a small money box that my wife and I had around the house. Everything came out a lot better, and I'm happy with the noticeable improvement, but the flames themselves are still a struggle. I think its over spray, but being a relative novice, I'm not positive how to correct it. around the flames its all grainy and it feels like the edges of the flames could be more well defined. I see some of the pics from the veteran airbrushers and am amaze at how sharp and crisp they can get their flames and am wondering what techniques I can practice that would really help get the flames better defined. I mean every night I fill several sheets of paper with dagger strokes, dots, lines and shading, and maybe as my skills progress, I'll keep seeing improvement, but it just gets so frustrating. Any help, pointers, or advice would be really appreciated.
I am researching other brushes, (leaning towards the Krome), but for now its the Paasche. All the paints are just a mix n match of plain createx and spectra tex. Was wondering if better quality paints such as Wicked my help knock down some of the over spray too, but so far, for the learning curve, I'm just picking up whats available at the craft stores in my town.
Thanks again,
Jason

