First time airbrushing ever - be kind please, lol

Today, I opened my airbrushes and used them for the first time - EVER. I watched a lot of "theory" and "how-tos" and came up with the 3 designs here. They are painted on mixed media paper using Spectra TEX paints. I will need to keep working on technique and muscle memory just like face painting, but I'm pretty pleased with the results my first time out! These are all free hand (no stenciling). I LOVED doing it. I sat down and started painting at 11:45 and looked at the clock next at 3:00! I'll have to go over my "Fantastic Faces by Becky" with white at some point in the future. That really made a difference on the other 2 posters.

Beautiful!

My husband said "I can tell you did everything freehand - no stencils" but he said it in a way that meant "it wasn't perfect." LOL. No, of course it's not PERFECT LOL!

Men!

You are going to want me to get into airbrushing now!

Congrats!

Becky521 wrote:My husband said "I can tell you did everything freehand - no stencils" but he said it in a way that meant "it wasn't perfect." LOL. No, of course it's not PERFECT LOL!

Men!

Let him try it -- I find that usually shuts the mouths of critics!

martha wrote:

Becky521 wrote:My husband said "I can tell you did everything freehand - no stencils" but he said it in a way that meant "it wasn't perfect." LOL. No, of course it's not PERFECT LOL!

Men!

Let him try it -- I find that usually shuts the mouths of critics!

I think it's cool..I would like to try it sometime...nice job.

I think I might have a new addiction to add to my brush and sponge painting addiction! YIPES!

GREAT first start. Have you done all the basic exercises> (Daggers, dots, connect the dots etc) If you seriously do those for like an hour a day, in a week, your muscle memory for the air brush will start to be there better.

Looks like the main thing you need to work on is making your movements very planned and intentional. Know exactly what you are trying to do before you pull back on the trigger- assuming you are using double action brushes.

My toughest thing was to remember to always push down, and not to keep stopping and starting the airflow. Also, if you decide to do air brush face paint, you will probably find the prodcuts are a bit trickier to work with.

I did a little bit of the dots and connect the dots exercises, but didn't find the dagger exercise until after I'd cleaned everything for the day. I tried "rat tail" exercises from one of the FABA videos, but i dont think I've got the dual action coordination down yet. The airbrushes I have seem to have much finer apertures (and needles) compared to the Iwata brushes I see most face and body artists use. I don't think make up will flow through them very well. I'm not sure about alcohol based inks for tattoos though. But, it's a good start for learning technique I think. Thank you for the tip on not letting up on the air. I think that may have caused some of my splatter issues.

I'm sure this will be an adventure!

And, once you pull back... KEEP MOVING until after you slide fwd again.

What brand / size did you get. the finer ones or mostly .35 .5 works better for air brush, thought Graftobian flows through anything I've ever used it in.

First set was really on the cheap - central pneumatics sold by Harbor Freight. I took my 50% off coupon at Michaels today and since I'm visiting the parents in Delaware, I got 1 Badger Anthem 155 (siphon feed, dual action, internal mix) to compare different brands. I basically got 56% off when you take off tax (no tax in Delaware) until PA State tries to collect the sales tax. I can feel the difference in the trigger even without paint. I'll let you know how I make out when I try it later!

Well done! This is great!