I fell in LOVE

Ok, so I had a private appointment for some sugar skulls and Saturday, they were going to a party, and I wanted to do a nice job as they sent me pictures of Silvia Ji's work, and wanted to be painted from the sholders up... so off the bat, I knew they had some high expectations.

I have a compressor and do airbrush tattoos, so, I thought I would get some white water based airbrush paint and see what happened. The base was so smooth and went on quickly and I could get every crease and crevice. It was just gorgeous. The rest I just painted, and I used mehron gold powder and mixing liquid to do the gold details, it looked like gilding. We picked and chose elemements from the Ji pics that they liked, and they both turned out great!

My husband has the photo on his phone, I will post it when I get it, and they may send me some pics with their outfits on.

Soooo...I want to do more airbrushing, anybody do faces? I am thinking of getting a top load brush so that I can keep it totally separated from the tattoo ink brushes, and that way, I can only use one of my ports from my compressor, and leave the others to my daughter (who does the tattoos.) What are your experiences? I am thinking bases, quick masks, details. Anyone? It was SOOOOOO much fun.

I do airbrush and have worked for a couple years now on trying to do air brush face paiting. My PREFERENCE is do do 90% with AB but still do line work by hand. I also stopped using a compressor altogether and opted for CO2. No electric needed and I got really tired of moisture in the line- (Florida here) I have played with almost every air brush paint I can get my hands on and am happy to share opinions and experiences. Still have not tried E flow yet.

One of the things I have played with that has given me more of a sense of creativity with the air brush is to buy 4 X 7 index cards and cut or tear them as needed to make temporary stencils and shields depending on what I am painting.

If you do faux jewels, you can do some awesom things fast with the AB as well.

I would like to get to a place where I can do fine lines free hand, and do even less linework by hand.

Be aware- some insurance companies will want you to have a seperate policy for this, and some clients find the experience VERY unpleasant, so there is a nack to learning how to keep them comfortable, speak to them, and transition onto their face with the air, rather than suddnely hitting them with a blast which leads to flinching.

I have not had any trouble with moisture in the lines, but ohio is not so humid! The Co2 seems like a good idea to have too, at least as a back up and when there is no electric.

I did notice that some people did not like it! I was at an event, it was an odd setup, so I did a festival all day, there was a 3 hour break, and then a halloween Ball, so I had the private appointments in the middle, and the two sugar skulls were great, no problems tollerating the AB, I did a couple of skulls, the Crow and a vampire at the ball, no problem, but this guy who wanted to be the person from Dead Preisdents was a huge flincher. I would tell him when I was getting ready to spray, start with just air far away, and then move it in closer, but he still flinched a lot. Can you do a test to see if people will hate it before you start?


I will check on my insurance too, but I already include my tattoos, and I don't know if that would be the same. I have been wondering if I should have an age to cut off, I would not try a kid under age 9 or 10, but wonder if it should be higher? We airbrush tattoos on kids that age all the time, but the eyes really worry me, even if I were to cover them, I can still see a worst case scenerio. I can see kids wanting the masks if they are on my board, even if they are too young, and so I will need to be able to paint something simular.

I had Mehron white, just to give it a try. It seemed thick to me (compared to the tattoo ink) but it went through the air brush fine, and I loved how it looked, and how fast it went on. Which do you like the best? I have three Holliday events coming up, and I want to come up with some very quick AB masks, with jewels and snowflakes and glitter.

I have not begun to really play, but I am itching to do that. I can get Mehron in a costume shop down the road, they have everything Ben Nye, do they have a waterbased paint? I like fab in the cakes, I like most of it honestly, you just have to know how to work with each one, but I like FAB's price. Do you use a siphon gun, or a top load?
So many things to think about...

I started airbrushing less than a year ago when someone gave me a compressor with a couple single-action airbrushes. Quickly switched to Double-action brushes and have recently invested in the ZeroG which I absolutely LOVE. Still working out some techie stuff but I LOVE the minimum set-up/teardown & 1 hose verses multiple. You use waterbased paints for airbrush facepainting & alcohol-based paints for the tattoos. They're good for 7-10 days as long as they take care of the tats. My personal fav is VIBE & ENDURA paints, but I haven't used much else. You probably could get some quality paints right here on the Facepaint Forum store. I would discourage top feeders for general use. If you do festivals & events equivalent to that, dust & etc would be easier to get into your paints. When I went to FABAIC convention, everyone there was using bottom feeder ab brushes.

Some forums/sites to look at...
European Body Art forum
Tatstore.com
Donna Nowak on YouTube

Again, talk to Metina. She may have some insight into this and be able to help from her store, these are areas that I've used in my research. Good luck & yes, it's loads of fun!

Graftobian is WONDERFUL in terms of lasting power and not clogging the brush. It is a highbred makeup, (SD40 based) won't sweat off, is actually water resistant AND washes off with soap and water. Cons- Price and alcohol.

Air Stream has nice colors, but I had many issues with clogging.

The new paint from European Body Art called VIBE is REALLY NICE! Water based. But will sweat off easily.

I have used Endura when I need it to STAY but you have to use alcohol to remove so not for faces. (Ok I have used it on MY face... but I suffer the consequences when time to remove)

Temptu is wonderful and has similar qualities of Endura and comes in MANY more colors and bigger bottles if you want... I also like their palletts.

I use top feed. I have used bottom, but you have to shoot at too high pressure. Anything going on the face should be shot at 10 PSI or lower. Vibe, and Graftobian can be sprayed at like 5.

I carry extra nozzles, so if they get badly clogged I can pull off the tip and replace it. Ultrasonic cleaner will be your friend! I keep tooth picks on hand to clean out too.

I was NOT a fan of FAB The bannanna smell made me want to wretch. I have tried the Ben Nye and Kryolan liquids and thinned them down, but they really get too watery.

In the UK I am TOLD by someone in the UK they have the client hold plastic spoons over their eyes. I thought that was a bit odd.

OH- the eyes.... One thing I have run into is MANY air brush paints will crack on the eye lids. For this reason, I often will dab over the eye lids with Kryolan cake or similar product.

I loathed airbrush face painting. I use it for make-up applicaiton when working large theatrical productions when we have six artists working to get foundations on the cast.

I tried to do the base with airbrush, the detail with brush... but I do not like working with mechanical equipment. Too many variables - power and water sources, set-up, equipment problems, cleaning it...

I stick to sponge and brush ... I do this because I enjoy the art of it, and airbrushing is not fun for me, so...

I really admire people who create art with airbrushes, I just have no interest in it other than as a tool for larger jobs for mass application.

I use my compressor most of the time, but switch to CO2 when power is an issue - just because I don't like using CO2 as much. I keep a separate set of airbrushes for tattoo inks (alcohol based) vs face paint (water based) - I use some bottom feed brushes for colors that don't change (white, black, red) and some top feed brushes for things that tend to have variation, (then I can just put in a few drops at a time) add some shimmer, use less shimmer, make a green more blue like, or more yellow like etc etc. I use quick connects for the top feed brushes to switch between them and have a manifold for the bottom feed brushes so they are always handy and ready.

I currently am using (up) Mehron, Kryolan Airstream, OCC and even some Temptu Aqua..... I will move towards a hybrid in the future, but for now, I have so much to use up still. I thin the Mehron and Airstream just a touch with distilled water (in the bottle so I get the ratio right).

I have a lot of stencils already, but I also design and make my own to have what I need specifically - I do freehand some lines, but I prefer to use a stencil if only because I don't like the fuzzy edges if I take my mind off of what I'm doing for a split second.

Noella, do you use the 10% water 90% mehron to mix?

Also, who makes the shimmer additive?

Good advice about the red, white and black. I planned on starting with some stencils, and painting my line work, I am not ready to freehand, but I loved the effects and wanted to try more!

Which hybrid are you going to try, do they come off with soap and water, or do you need alcohol?

I am jazzed to put in an order!

I don't think I use quite that much water.... I use about 10 drops in a 1/5 oz bottle. I use more water if it is still thick, if it is too thin I add more from my bigger bottle of straight paint of the same colour (but I normally just add a drop at a time till I get it "right"). I used to mix in the airbrush but found it was inconsistent no matter how much I back bubbled.... and I'm working to fast to thin as I go....

I have shimmer in the Airstream and OCC - about 5 of my Airstream colours (I only have 23 or 24 total), and 5 of my OCC are shimmer. I have more shimmers in the tattoo inks. I also have the pigments (just loose colour) and have an OCC clear water base so I have made custom shimmers (like a really great emerald green) that does just what I need it to.

I'll probably go with the Graftobian, maybe Eflow - depends on who has what when I get to a trade show - last 3 shows I've been to no one has had the colour range of a hybrid available. Plus I've probably got about 2 years of paint still here to use up..... and about 5 years of tattoo ink (I really need to stop buying "great deals" that mean I have 50+ ounces of something on hand).

I'll go for a hybrid that comes off with soap and water - if I want to remove with alcohol, I'll use the inks - one ink I have will come off with soap and water anyways - that's been my "go to" for years for corporate events.... too bad I'm almost (finally) out of it.

Here is the picture, I wish it were better quality! Still hoping that the client sends me some with them in their outfits. She had a big black hat with red and purple flowers, and his hat was black with white and green feathers. Really cool.

Noella, do you just mix a simular shimmer with a matt to get the shimmer colors you want? I am hopping to have a shimmer blue and white for the holiday stuff I have coming up. Picked up a bunch of blue bling on sale...

@ grinmpt...I missed your post, thanks for the links! I will send Metina a note and see if she can get any of the airbrush paints. I did not see anything but cakes. Silly farm has them...and I can get mehron and ben nye at a store in my town. I agree, it is great fun!

What PSI do you use with your siphons?

I have 6 double action master brushes for tattoos, I am thinking about getting more, or splitting them up, so that I use them for only one or the other, but I clean them well, and I am now thinking seriously about the sonic cleaning unit.

I like the brushes I have now pretty well.

If I can mix a shimmer in to get what I want on the fly I do, but if I want a custom colour (for a specific design) I just make it by adding loose shimmer pigment at home and mixing it up....

That is so cool Noella, is the lose pigment by airstreem or OCC? Where do I find lose pigments? The possiblities are just multiplying here! So cool!

I got on the TAT Forum, and saw some of their products. Have you ever invested in the closed system (forgot the name, it was last night) where you put seven colors in and just use one brush to access and mix them? It looked really interesting, but expensive. Just wondering if it was worth looking forward to someday.

Airstream has pre mixed shimmers, OCC has a few, but that's where I've gotten many of my loose pigments. If they are fine enough to go through your airbrush they can be mixed with any base.....

I don't have and haven't used the closed system (Spectrum I think?) - most brands I use work better well shaken regularly, I work in small quantities of a variety of colours, and I hate waste. I've watched an artist work with that system and they did a lot of shading between colours and spraying out to a paper towel. Between all colours I use at an event I maybe use 1/2 an ounce total - and that's with well over a hundred kids. I'd really waste a lot with a system like that - most of my designs have 4-5 colours.

Thanks so much Noella! You have been a huge help, love the OCC site! So very cool!

Just ordered some pure shimmer pigments! Thanks so much Noella! We should have an airbrush section in the forum, and you should moderate!

I would love to try it sometime... just the finances are holding me back (I've spent too much on other face painting supplies )