Tuesday, January 10, 2012

The Joy of Airbrushing

The airbrush is an incredible tool. Can't believe it took me this long to get one. Sitting in my little studio, the paint flowing out of the brush making such beautiful and thin layers of paint. Wonderful blending. What a pleasure...

10 comments:

James Convy said...

I need to get one and start practicing.... Suggestions?

Tim said...

Yep. I use an Iwata Eclispse. I really like it. It is gravity-fed, which means the paint pot is on top of the brush. It's also dual-action which is what you want, so you can adjust the spraying, get more control. I bought mine for about 120 dollars at an art store (it's normally closer to 180). I had them match a price online. Felt kinda bad about it but they were happy to take my 120 dollars for an airbrush kit that was collecting dust on their shelves. I recommend doing the same.

Also, get a bottle of windex and mix your paints with that. Gives you a nice even coat that dries fast.

Air-compressor, You want one with a tank. Don't have a brand preference tho.

Before getting an airbrush you really need to think about where you are going to spray. my studio has a window that I spray up against, with a fan sucking the excess paint out the window. It's also got plenty of light which is nice. This is really your first consideration...you need a place to spray that has enough light, strong ventilation and is convenient for you. spraying outdoors really isn't convenient.

Ko'vash said...

I have a friend who has one who let me use it once for undercoating. Painting tanks was for once, really good fun.
Ko'vash

Tim said...

Airbrushing are amazing for tanks. I am not sure how they will work on infantry models though. GMM Studios uses an airbrush for everything though so we'll. I am getting excited about using an airbrush on some battlesuits though...

General Oadius said...

the Aztek from Testors is nice model for beginners to advanced air brush users. I just got it and it's a lot easier to change colors quickly. Also, having multiple tips takes some of the guess work out of what to use where and why...just my 2 cents. best of luck and keep it up!

John Stiening said...

Tim,

Welcome to the world of air brushing. You'll never go back!

I use airbrushing for all of my miniatures as well. Careful air brushing with good color transition followed by an air brushed watered down wash, is perfect for powered armor!

Marshal Wilhelm said...

It is surprising how we can hold out to the old way of doing something, simply on the basis of 'this is how we do it' and we can miss out on new and good things [such as the airbrush]. I'm not one to pioneer soemthing, but once others have already shown it to be good, then why not, eh?

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/06/warmachine-hobby-painting-retribution.html
http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2010/07/warmachine-hobby-painting-dawnguard.html
http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?48164-The-Colonel-s-Thread/page2

These are how I'm aiming to paint my RoS. Monkey see monkey do :D

Sebastian said...

Very nice finish. When I have the cash spare I'll check out this wondrous world of sprayed paint. :D

The evolution of your painting has been something to watch last few months man :)

- T.

AoM said...

You told me you had this commission. Even with the airbrush, I have sympathy for you.

At least it will move along faster. You're going to hate Alpha Legion after this.

Cobalt Cannon said...

Heya Tim and fellow commenters,

Just as a reference, I'm sure many of youhave seen Less Bursley's work on other websites and youtube. He has great tutorials on how to use the airbrush for painting figures. If you go to Awesomepaintjob.com and click his youtube channel link, you can see his tutorials.

Basically the airbrush is used for basecoating, vanishing, creating your lightsources on the figure, and painting the base. The details are still done with a brush. This still speeds up the process for painting a large number of figures at a time, while maintaining a consistency of quality.

Tim, the paint colors on your tanks are strangely relaxing me. Reminiscent of an aquarium, I find myself oddly pacified while viewing your vehicles. They could be a new treatment for stress. aaaahhhhh....

So, how much do you have yet to do on your chaos project?