ProAiir / Dips question

Question for those who have used ProAiir and/ or DIPS.

Do you charge extra for these waterproof paints?
Thanks!

I am using them with the sponge not airbrush, I am not charging more but I see other painters do, using them for sponging is time consuming as you have to serve the colors individually or they will dry, and you use a lot more product.

I use them only for outlining powders in the heat. I don't charge more.

How is it as a base? I tried to watch the jest paint video on it and she kept saying that it's just for brush line work, then towards the end she used it as a base for a small design.
MeeMee is there a reason you only use it on powder for line work?

RickyMUA,
I was advised by Jestpaint to use ProAiir for bases and Dips for linework....which is what I do.
Sponge absorbs too much paint and it dries too fast. Less waste of paint and faster, if you apply base with a big flat brush. I did use sponge to blend two colors used for base.

These paints are definitely different than their water-based cousins. I used them exclusively for a gig recently and they slowed me down considerably. I think it was mainly because it dries too fast and I had to keep reloading frequently.

For above mentioned reason...I am leaning toward charging extra for these paints, if it's a ProAiir/Dips exclusive gig.

hey, if that's the case, you're the boss of your company....charge at your own discretion.

personally, i charge less if i only use snazaroo products...and any time i have to buy materials like gems or sponges, i charge the client in advance.

if i had to order dips, i would charge the party for the cost of dips.

it's my company, and i refuse to eat the costs.profit is not a dirty word.

Yes, you are right nikkili26. There is no feeling like owning your own little business, being your own boss and charging what you feel is right!  

One more thing about Proaiir I would like to mention...which almost got me in trouble at the gig.
I bought three basic colors -red, yellow and blue...plus black & white - Proaiir. My thought behind it being,,,I'll mix the primary colors to make secondary colors like green and purple.
That did not happen! I would recommend not mixing since it does not give you true colors. Red +blue gave me a muddy color...not a purple.

My two cents..

red and blue, in paints, always requires white to get purple. white is what adds the tone, while black adds the shade.

i learned that back in second grade rings true still.

another trick is to use PINK, like magenta or fuschia, mixed with bright blue like cyan or neon/electric blue to get your vibrant bold shade of purple.


your basic colors will be find-but i suggest you expand your set to include white and black...and i've seen excellent results with the gold and silver

nikkili26...I had added white to the red & blue mix...it still came out muddy for me. Unfortunately, I tried mixing the paints for the first time while at the gig.  

I'll have to try the gold and the silver upon your recommendation! I already have black & white ProAiir.

The trick to mixing secondary colours from primary ones is this....
always mix cold colours with cold colours.
Red is a warm colour, right?
Well, there are cold reds and warm reds.
Cadmium red is a warm red.
Alizarin Crimson is a cold red.

Blue is a cold colour, right?
Well, there are warm blues and cold blues.
Cerulean Blue is a warm blue.
Ultramarine blue is a cold blue.

Mix Alizarin Crimson and Ultramarine Blue and you will get a luscious PURPLE!

Mix any warm red with cold blue or
cold red with warm blue or
warm red with warm blue and you will get MURPLE.

Happy Painting!

Ricky, I couldn't get a good coverage on my skin tone and I paint a lot of skin that is darker than mines. So I gave up on them for sponging. I imagine they would work better with an airbrush as you could easily layer the paint.

Lisa I learned a lot from your illustration to use on my oil paintings, but the dips face painting don't come in different kinds of blue, just dark blue or light blue, so mixing them is a learning curve.
Something I did learn my past gig is that any proaiir color will look beautiful mixing with white.

DIPS are actually the ProAiir Hybrid in concentrate, made for line work. They are not formulated for base work. Use ProAiir Hybrid for bases, You can mist it from a bottle and apply a base, you can blend it somewhat. Or airbrush it on, it's great makeup.

The tricks with DIPS help...thin it with 99% alcohol and clean your brushes and subject's skin with liquid soap, best one with alcohol in it.

Good point about mixing I always advise people to buy the color they want...mixing sometimes will give you a great color, sometimes not. Always pre-try something new before a gig. And some brand mix differently than others.

The quick dry that your experiencing is because Proaiir is a hybrid of alcohol and water based. To activate it again add a little alcohol. If you haven't tried airbrushing this stuff it's amazing. It is definitely a fast way to apply your base. I recently had the pleasure of meeting Donna Nowak a local artist and the creator of Proaiir/Dips. Wonderful woman! Answered many of my questions. You can email her with yours from her website showoffsba.com They have some great stencils too  :

Wow a lot of good and useful info here.... I have never tried dips of proair as I am only a year in and tend to stick with Wolfe Tag and starblends just getting use to all of those.... I have wanted to play with dips and will keep an eye on this. Thanks to everyone for the info.

I can't imagine using Pro Aiir with a sponge. I use it with an airbrush. I use it quite often for full face designs, but only with an airbrush and paintbrush for black outlines. With an airbrush I love using it. I don't love when the person squishes their eye really hard because you get areas where they didn't get coverage. I have many of their colors. With a sponge I would imagine using up too muck ProAiir. With an airbrush it lasts a Looong time. You don't need much.

Since I only use them with airbrush I charge more for the airbrush face painting and tattoo package. Sometimes a client gets lucky and I throw it in for no extra charge if I happen to bring it.

VictoriaS,

I bet it is easier with air brush!
I am curious about air brush since my last body painting (my first one. .lol). It must be very helpful to cover large areas.

What should one know about airbrushing before they get into it?
Any pointers about the equipment, and recommended resources?

Thanks÷

Joshi wrote:VictoriaS,

I bet it is easier with air brush!
I am curious about air brush since my last body painting (my first one. .lol). It must be very helpful to cover large areas.

What should one know about airbrushing before they get into it?
Any pointers about the equipment, and recommended resources?

Thanks÷

Joshi,

I'm not expert. I'm always learning and my system is a bit different from others. It can be helpful. I don't have tons of airbrush guns like others so my set up is a bit different. I used this forum to gather tips before I started. There are threads on here that are helpful than I could be. You have to ask yourself how much you are willing to spend, how much equipment do I want to carry around from gig to gig, are you going to keep up with the extra cleaning, etc. The cost of most of the airbrush makeup is more expensive. Pro Aiir has a good price though. I use Co2. I can't imagine carrying a loud compressor with me everywhere. The smallest kids are kind of scared of the airbrush because they are just too little. Search around this forum and you will find some good info. Good luck.

I use an iwata eclipse airbrush and I love it. Iwata is a great brand, I also use their ninja compressor that has a max psi of 18. It isn't that loud and has plenty of power. You will normally use psi of 10-15. You can also get a gravity feed gun from them. I think they just came out with a airbrush called the neo. Smaller less expensive,but I have heard good things. I haven't personally tried it. Good luck

Thanks VictoriaS... I'll look up the info.

Shades82.... Are these the extra 32 shades than the 50 we areall aware of?
Sorry. .. couldn't resist!  

Thanks for the info Shades! If I ever go for airbrush,  it would be for body painting only.  I recently did a gig where they wanted waterproof face painting for restaurant servers...those are the only scenarios when I would prefer airbrush for faces.

I have only done one body painting so far.  Whether I would go for airbrush would totally depend upon the demand for body painting here in Chattanooga!
All in all I am impressed by airbrush for its smooth and fast coverage over large areas!