Airbrush Help For Beginners
Airbrush Basics
Cleaning your airbrush doesn’t need to be torture!
Feb 11th
I am a realist. I don’t believe cleaning your airbrush needs to be a huge, drawn out procedure that you have to endure every time you use your brush.
I don’t believe it’s necessary, or worth my time, to pull my airbrush entirely apart to clean it every time I use it. I only do what is necessary to keep my brush in good working order – and every once in while, I give it the royal treatment.
(NOTE: This does not apply if you are using non-acrylic paint)
Think of cleaning your airbrush like your cleaning your car’s exterior… More >
Getting Started in Airbrushing: A Little Patience Goes A Long Way!
Feb 11th
Some of the most common things I hear from people just getting started in airbrushing is:
I know these feelings very well …. and I am here to drop the bomb on you … they never go away!
The one that really gets me though is …
“I’ll never be as good as [insert famous airbrush artist name]“
I know this one gets said because you see some amazing artists work and you aspire More >
Learning Airbrush: 10 Things You Should Know
Feb 11th
1. Learning airbrush is easy…
… but it does take practice. Lots and lots of practice.
2. The best lessons are learned by making mistakes…
… lots and lots of mistakes.
3. Speed takes time…
… so don’t be discouraged when you watch all those youtube videos of people painting t-shirts at breakneck speed. Remember that they paint t-shirts day-in, day-out.
4. Start simply…
… don’t tackle a full wall mural in your first week. Relax – you’ll get there.
5. Break it down into smaller pieces…
… so you don’t get overwhelmed.
6. Know there is always more to learn…
… so once you ace More >
Professional Airbrush Artist: How Long Will It Take?
Feb 11th
I hear from a lot of people who want to become professional airbrush artists and they always want to know “How long do I have to practice before I can go pro?”.
And my answer is always “I don’t know.”
But I am beginning to think that my answer is somewhat of a copout – I mean I may not know exactly how long it will take but let’s take a minute to break this down a bit and see if I can answer this question a bit more throughly.
SIDE NOTE: Remember … I am not a professional airbrush More >
Basic Airbrush Lesson: Dots, Lines, Daggers and More
Feb 11th
For this airbrush lesson all you need is:
- your airbrush equipment
- paint in any transparent color you choose
- scrap paper
This airbrush lesson is not about producing a masterpiece but instead getting to know how your airbrush works and what you can do with it.
Don’t get hung up here – you don’t have to master these prior to moving on to the projects.
I recommend spending 5 to 10 minutes doing these exercises before you start painting each day. Fill a page with practice and move on…
OK… speech over.
Scroll down when you’re ready.
Warm UpGettin’ loose! That’s what this is More >
Basic Airbrush Lesson: Six Color, Color Wheel
Feb 11th
In this airbrush lesson, I’ll show you step-by-step how to make the color wheel shown above using six colors.
or this airbrush lesson you will need the following:
- your airbrush equipment
- something round to trace a circle (bigger is better for this exercise
- a pencil
- exacto knife
- fisket (sticky back transparent film)
- red transparent paint
- blue transparent paint
- yellow transparent paint
- purple (or violet) transparent paint
- orange transparent paint
- green transparent paint
- white paper
This particular lesson is going to be pretty prescriptive … and it’s on purpose… it took me SIX tries to get the colors to over lap properly!! So follow the steps and remember to have fun!!
A word More >
Basic Airbrush Lesson: Edges (Part One)
Feb 11th
For this airbrush lesson you’ll need the following equipment:
- your airbrush equipment
- transparent paint in any color
- exacto knife
- pencil
- scrap white paper
- small piece of cardstock (any scrap card material will do)
- six pennies
The skill we will be focusing on is – you guessed it – edges!
Why Edges?
Beginners typically choose one of two paths when they first start painting… either they try to paint everything free-hand, or they try to use masks for everything.
With free-hand work the results tend to be fuzzy and loose with no crispness.
With masks, all the edges are crisp and the piece looks sort of like a jig-saw More >
Basic Airbrush Lesson: Edges (Part Two)
Feb 11th
For this airbrush lesson you’ll need the following:
- your airbrush equipment
- transparent paint in any dark color
- a piece of cardstock (any stiff card will do)
- white scrap paper
- a handful of pennies
For this basic lesson we’ll be learning about edges…again.
This lesson just re-enforces what we learned in
Scroll down when you are ready to begin!
Step 1Gather all your materials (if you haven’t already).
Step 2Place your piece of cardstock (your “shield”) onto your white paper and hold it down firmly. Spray the edge as shown below.
Step 3Now remove the shield and examine the edge. See More >
