Learning How To Use An Airbrush

Above: Photos courtesy of airbrushboston.com

The world of airbrushing is interesting and exciting, but takes some knowledge and practice. If you want to learn how to use an airbrush, and become familiar with what might be involved, you have come to the right place. My teen daughter has been hand drawing and using a spray bottle to apply paint to her graffiti sweatshirts, so an airbrush is certainly on her list of must haves! (Mom will have to learn more first, so let’s dive into this together, shall we?)

Origins of the airbrush gun
The first patent for an airbrush gun, the so-called “atomizer”, goes back to Francis Edgar Stanley and was registered in 1876. A similar model was patented by the physician Allen De Vilbiss in 1890 in the US state of Ohio. The compressed air spray gun, later developed by his son Tom, was intended to make it easier to administer fluids to patients with respiratory diseases by simply spraying the medication into the throat. Tom’s update, on the other hand, opened the possibility of using atomizer for painting work. To this day, the airbrush technique is used to commercially paint cars non-stop using spray paint. Thanks to the short drying time and simple processing, the airbrush technique today often replaces working with brush and paint – also in the artistic and home decor field.

Advantages of the airbrush technique
Airbrushing is particularly popular with some artists because the technique allows fine transitions within an illustration, and larger areas can be filled with paint in no time at all. While many graffiti artists use aerosol paint cans (which are like airbrushes, just not controllable) professional artists with graffiti or street art style of course opt for an airbrush gun. It is true, airbrush style isn’t exactly what most of us would call “art” but it can be great on t-shirts and fun accessories, meaning perfect for summer or casual events anytime.

As more and more artists and DIY enthusiasts are learning to use the airbrush to apply images to every conceivable surface, from walls and human skin to canvas, those of us who love crafting might find an airbrush to be a very useful tool, (think huge brush lettering!) so lets learn a bit more about how to actually use an airbrush.

Design and Preparation

While you may have big dreams, start simple and learn to use the airbrush before diving into something large and/or complicated. While many airbrush artists use an airbrush for free hand illustration and lettering, most folks will likely be more successful using stencils and masks to define shapes, which will then be filled in with color using the airbrush. Then again, maybe airbrush art is your calling and in no time you’ll be whipping out impressive art, and if so, go for it! Okay, that is not most of us, so lets take this process step by step.

1. Lets start by painting an airbrush motif onto paper or cardboard. Design your motif by sketching it out actual size on paper or cardboard. To achieve defined edges, you will make stencils, templates or masks for individual parts of your picture. You can buy masking foil and don’t forget to get specialized cutters or stencil knives for this purpose in hobby shops or at the artists’ supply store, in order cut out the object with precision.
2. Transfer the lines of your sketch to the mask by tracing on a lightbox or window, or using carbon paper. Cut out the template and place it on the painting surface. Alternately you can cut out pieces of your design drawn on cardboard, and trace around those onto the mask material.
3. The closer your mask is to the painting surface, the more defined the outlines will be, as no ink can run under the stencil or mask. For best results use adhesive masking film (though this is for one time use only) or fix the stencil/mask to the the surface with small pieces of masking tape or consider using low-tack stencil adhesive if you can find a product that is neither toxic nor aerosol. Magnet boards can also work, as can pins with a piece of cardboard underneath, so be creative and keep those stencils and masks in place!

Learning To Use The Airbrush Gun

While airbrushes or paint guns come in many sizes, the airbrush used for art and illustration is often not much bigger than a pen. The airbrush gun is especially popular due to its double lever function, also known as a double action gun. With this type of airbrush, air flow and paint quantity can be controlled separately, giving the user more control over the results. Buying the necessary parts to get started might be too complicated for the novice, so do consider buying an airbrush kit, which includes everything you need to get started, and might be a good cost effective idea for beginners. To find the best airbrush kit for your needs, take a look here.

Connect the airbrush gun to the compressor and the compressor to the power outlet. Now fill the airbrush gun with paint. Make sure there are no animals or little children around to distract you, as you’ll need to concentrate on this. The first spraying attempts may not go as smoothly as you imagine, as using the spray gun takes practice! In order to avoid damaging your airbrush or making a total mess, follow these tips for handling the device. Consider the following before starting to paint:

• The paint container on the airbrush should only be filled to about half its capacity so that the paint does not run out when airbrushing.
• Dilute the paint with a few drops of water for a finer application of paint.
• Besides spraying dots and circles, you can also airbrush strokes and fill entire areas with paint in no time at all. For strokes, simply 
guide the airbrush straight along a pre-drawn line.
• Take a look at how the speed of your hand movement affects the saturation of the paint. The longer you hold on to a point, the richer the color becomes.
• For an even stroke width, maintain the same speed a you move the airbrush.

Apply the first masking film and start filling the area. To do this, guide the airbrush evenly in s-shape motions across the paper. Repeat the process until the desired saturation and consistent coverage is achieved. As soon as filling a shape or area with airbrushing comes easily, you can tackle more complex projects. Start simple and practice, practice and practice again.

Important to know:

• To avoid splashes on your surface, avoid large fluctuations in air pressure by controlling the air and paint supply separately.
• Always press the lever down first to allow air to flow in. Then start the paint flow by pulling the lever back.
• Always turn off the paint supply first and then the air flow.
• If you are just starting to learn how to airbrush, you should try your hand at airbrushing on a scrap of paper. This way you will quickly find out how the intensity of the air and paint supply as well as the distance to the background will affect your painting. Usually the airbrush is guided perpendicular to the surface to spray even circles of paint. The closer you work to the surface the smaller the radius of the paint circle, and the more opaque the paint.
  Note: If you airbrush at a short distance, there is a high risk that the substrate will be over saturated. The consequences are sometimes runny colors or buckling of the surface if using paper.
  The greater the distance from the substrate when airbrushing, the larger the area that gets painted. However, opacity decreases with distance from the object, so you’ll need to spray longer in one place to get dense color if desired.

One Step Further: Setting the air pressure on the compressor
When airbrushing, however, not only does the airflow set on the airbrush gun plays a role, but also the air pressure produced by the compressor. The air pressure is usually 1.5 to 3 bar. The higher the pressure, the finer the paint is atomized. If, on the other hand, you want to spray uneven textured surfaces, you can reduce the air pressure. The appropriate air pressure strength to use also depends on the pigment thickness of the paint and the respective substrate. Highly diluted paints require less pressure, while viscous paints are sprayed at over 2 bar. Certain surfaces, such as textiles, absorb the paint more than paper, which is why you will need to work with higher compressor pressure to achieve the desired coverage.

Which nozzle size to choose?
The dot and line width of your airbrush art also depends on the nozzle size. The nozzle diameters range from fine to coarse – from 0.15 mm to 1.2 mm. You can find out which nozzle size is the right one for you consult the directions which come with airbrush paint, as coarser pigmented airbrush colors requite a larger nozzle to avoid clogging.

Health information for airbrushing
If you work with paints and do not only use water-based acrylic paints for airbrushing, please take a few basic precautions for the sake of your health and the health of those with whom you may share your working/living/crafting environment. When airbrushing with solvent-based paints, you should always wear a breathing mask to prevent absorbing toxic spray mist through your nose and mouth. This is especially important for model builders, who otherwise run the risk of inhaling the aerosols. Many model builders therefore use an additional suction system when airbrushing. If you do not have one, at the very least work with good ventilation. So open the windows, or better yet work outdoors.

Further fields of application
Would you have known? In addition to the automotive industry and painting, there are numerous other areas of application for airbrush technology. From spray tanning and body painting to sprayed make-up, model making and the textile processing industry. Everywhere paint is applied to skin, metal, fabric, wood, or walls of any kind, there is likely an airbrush gun doing the work behind the scenes!

Okay, I hope you learned something from this introduction to the world of airbrush painting, I know I did! And who knows, maybe we’ll be posting our own airbrush painting DIYs and crafts in the future, so stay tuned!