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The following lesson is also on video tape How
To Airbrush # 1 , 48 minutes long with an added section on Airbrush cleaning
and maintenance & taking your airbrush apart and putting it back together .
Check it out on the video page HERE
The most of the picture's in this lesson below are still
image's taken from my video How to Airbrush # 1 which you will have access to
watch right now On Line when you become a Airbrush Artist Magazine member
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
What you will need to complete this
lesson: A good double action airbrush , either gravity feed or bottom feed,
air hose , air source be it a compressor or CO2 tank , pad of news print ( this
you can buy at most art or hobby stores get the largest size pad you can ) ,
one bottle black airbrush color either Golden Airbrush Colors, Dr Ph Martins
airbrush colors, Comart will work the best for this lesson, an easel or
something to lean your pad of newsprint against ( you might find these easier
to do standing up , an easel is a great help if you have one)
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Please use airbrush ready paints while
learning, either DR Ph Martins or Golden Airbrush Colors, even food coloring
will work for this. You will learn much faster and enjoy it more if you didn't
have to hassle with paint that's hard to use. The paint mentioned above are the
best to use, craft paint, textile paint, hobby paint are all fine to use after
you learn the basics. Make life easy on your self in this respect, trust me use
the colors I suggest, please.
Relax and have fun with these exercises, by
doing these you are training your mind , finger to control this tool called the
airbrush . If I can learn to airbrush anyone can.
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Move beyond the basics
100's of airbrush, custom painting tutorials and lessons, instructional
movies
Members only support forum for live help
Airbrush
Technique/Airbrush Artist Magazine
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HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION |
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Hold your airbrush
much the same you would a pen but with your index finger on top of the trigger
as pictured below. You can drape the air hose over your forearm to keep it out
of your way. Airbrush should feel comfortable in your hand don't hold it real
tightly, relax. Both your hand and upper body should be relaxed. For now always
hold the airbrush perpendicular to your painting surface.
Pictured above you
can see Cody is holding his airbrush much the same you would a pen, relaxed and
loose in his hand at this point. |
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Pictured above Cody
is gentle pushing down on the trigger of the airbrush. At this point you should
only have air coming out of your airbrush. Get in the habit now of always
leaving the air on while airbrushing, even between strokes or applying paint.
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Pictured above you
can see Cody is not only pushing down on the trigger but has also pulled the
trigger back, at this point you should have not only air but paint coming out
of your airbrush. With a double action airbrush the further you pull the
trigger back the more paint you will apply. So the amount of paint you spray
with a double action airbrush is regulated by how far you pull the trigger
back, the further back the trigger travels the more paint will be applied. The
amount of air or PSI as it's often referred to should be regulated at your
compressor not the airbrush trigger; you always want your index finger to
depress the trigger fully downward.
Summary:
With a double action airbrush pushing down on trigger gives you air, pulling
back gives you paint, do both you get both air and paint. While airbrushing
always leave the air on trigger fully depressed, air always on.
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Now let's look at how the
distance you are away from the surface you are spraying paint onto comes into
play. If you have ever played with spray can's of paint you know that the
further you are from the surface the larger an area you cover and the paint
pattern is very fuzzy or defused. Move closer with the spray can to the surface
and you will notice the paint covers a smaller area and becomes more defined.
The same holds true with an airbrush. In the two pictures above in the top
picture my airbrush is several inches away from the paper: notice how large the
dot is I sprayed. In the lower of the two pictures my airbrush is half an inch
or less from the paper; notice how small the dot is I
sprayed.
Summary: The further you are from the surface the paint
you spray thru your airbrush will cover a larger area and not be well defined.
The closer you are with your airbrush the smaller an area you will cover and
the pattern will be more defined. |
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1: First thing we will
do is airbrush a simple line across the page. Keeping your wrist locked move
the airbrush with your hand and whole upper body keeping your wrist locked .Use
both hands to steady the airbrush as you move slowly across the paper. AIR ON
FIRST AND THAN START MOVING YOUR AIRBRUSH THAN APPLY COLOR. (You apply color by
pulling gently back on the trigger while keeping the trigger of the airbrush
fully depressed)
Refer to diagram below.
- air on
- start motion
- pull back on trigger for
paint
- push forward on trigger to reduce
paint flow
- follow through with air on off edge of
paper
I believe its best to learn to
leave air on, finger down on trigger all the time even between strokes. Please
do not form bad habits now by pushing up and down on the trigger continually
while doing these exercises.
You will notice that the size,
width of the line you are airbrushing is directly affected by the distance that
the tip of your airbrush is from the paper. The closer you are to the paper the
smaller and thinner the line will be. The further away from the paper you are
the larger the line will be.
2: Lines: Now airbrush
small lines straight across the page about 3 or 4 inches in length. Air on,
start moving your airbrush than apply paint as you near the end of the line
start forward with trigger shutting the paint flow off and follow through with
the air still on. As you go from making one line to the next keep the air on.
AIR ON FIRST THAN START MOVING YOUR AIRBRUSH THAN APPLY COLOR.
Do several pages of just these
lines tring to keep them as straight as possible all the way across the
page.
3: DOTS: Now that you
have mastered straight lines lets move onto DOTS. Again going across the paper
make nice round dots not spats but nice round uniform dots . With airbrush
square to the paper ( 1 ) air on ( 2 ) pull back on trigger just a little
making a nice round dot ( 3 ) push trigger forward paint off ( 4 ) air still on
move to the right a little make your next dot . Keep going all the way across
the paper slowly. Do several pages of these until you feel comfortable with
rendering nice round dots.
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4: PUTTING THEM TOGETHER: So you have now mastered dots and lines, let's put the dots and lines
together. Airbrush nice round dots all over your page, in no order just all
over the place. Now connect all the dots with nice straight lines. With the air
on all the time, even between lines airbrush a line from one dot to the next
dot, stop on that dot before going on to the next dot. Nice straight lines from
one dot to the next, do not change the shape of the dots as you go. Again
notice how the distance of the tip of your airbrush from your paper affects the
line you are airbrushing. Close - small tight line, far away - big fuzzy
line.
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5: SHADING: Next we will
work on shading techniques with the airbrush. We will start on the left side of
your paper with the tip of your airbrush several inches back from the surface.
Start moving your airbrush straight across the page and lightly apply color as
you go. Remember to start moving your airbrush with the air on than gently pull
back on trigger to apply color, as you near the opposite edge of the paper
start pushing the trigger forward shutting the color off and follow through
with air on only. Now with the air still on go back to the left side of the
page and start all over again. Your goal is to have nice shading (color) all
the way across and down the paper with no signs of starting or stopping. Nice
even tone all the way across and down the page.
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Now put your airbrush shading
skills to work with this circle. First consider which direction your light
source will be coming from than apply shading as the light source would
indicate it to be. By pointing the tip of your airbrush in towards the center
of the object you can contain most of the over spray within the circle. Make
sure to follow the shape of the object, in this case the circle. Do not try
shading the circle by going straight across the circle but around with the
shape of the circle. Going straight across the circle will produce a flat round
dot on the page not a nice round looking circle. Imagine it to be a ball and
try to bring it to life with your airbrush. Put your shading skills to work on
other objects as well, a children's coloring book is the perfect place to test
your shading skills.
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6: DAGGER STROKE: The
dagger stroke is next. You'll find the dagger stroke to be a very useful skill,
rendering hair for example or in lettering. The dagger stroke goes from wide to
a very thin point. At the widest part of this stroke you want to have your
airbrush back away from the surface and as you travel down the paper move your
airbrush closer while reducing the amount of color you are applying. This is
done with your whole arm and upper body not just your wrist, keep your wrist
locked. Dagger strokes should look like the 4 on the right below and not like
those on the left.
You can now watch "Master the Dagger Stroke" on youtube
below. Watch for more basic videos on our youtube channel
AIRBRUSH
MAGAZINE
The three examples on the left
(above) the paint was applied before I started moving the airbrush not what you
want to do. These are much easier to accomplish if you do them big at first; as
you become comfortable doing them big start making the smaller.
Once you get
the dagger strokes down from wide to thin try them thin to wide, right to left
etc.
Once you have mastered the dagger stroke in
a down ward motion practice them going right to left and than left to right.
7 LOOPS: Practicing
doing loops is another good exercise for helping you learn to control your
airbrush. The goal here is to airbrush loops all the way across the paper
keeping them all leaning the same direction and all the same height and width.
Once you are comfortable doing that try rendering them fat on the down stroke
and thin on the up stroke. So one side of the loop is fat the other is
thin.
Another good exercise to
practice for control are these curls using the dagger stroke
again.
Once you have mastered the above move onto lesson #2 on this
web site. Here's a link to all the lessons and articles on this web site
LESSON INDEX CLICK HERE.
Discuss this tutorial in our
forums
Hope you have fun with these exercises and
they help you become comfortable using your airbrush . I will add to these as
time allows . Any questions just drop me a e-mail . If you found this web page
helpful please let me know,. Don Johnson , Airhead Airbrush .Com ,
Inc.
| Copyrights :Airhead Airbrush.Com , Inc. Reserved No
part of this tutorial may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, electrostatic, magnetic
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Airbrush. Com , Inc. |
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