One of the main things that you need to know how to do with airbrush art is how to take care of your equipment. Keeping your equipment in proper working order and clean will save you a lot of money and hassles. Equipment that is not kept clean and properly cared for will break down more often. Also equipment in is not taken care of and cleaned will not produce quality airbrush art.

First let's look at how to clean your airbrush. One rule of thumb to remember is the type of cleaner you use will depend on the type of paint you use. Solvent based paints should be cleaned with a solvent based cleaner. All water based paints can be cleaned with water or a commercial cleaner designed for airbrushes. Windex is useful when cleaner your airbrush between color changes while using your airbrush. Never soak or leave your airbrush exposed to Windex for any real length of time. You should not have to take your airbrush apart every night to clean it, it is alright to only do a complete break down and cleaning once a month. Just make sure you do not go any longer than that. When you take it apart to clean soak it in a commercial grade cleaner overnight. The next morning take an airbrush cleaning brush to it. Make sure to oil your airbrush up before putting it back together.

Most artists find the using their airbrush without the needle cap gives them more control. Removing the needle cap is fine but should you hit your airbrush against something or drop it you could end up damaging the needle itself. So to take care of your airbrush make sure that when you are not using your airbrush that you replace the needle cap back onto it. This will give a little protection to the needle itself should the airbrush happen to fall. A damages needle can be disastrous to your ability to create high quality art, because if you are unable to straighten a bent needle back out or the needle should break completely you will not be able to finish your airbrush art until you can get a replacement.

If you do end up bending your needle you can try and straighten it with either pliers. Place the tip within the pliers and gently try and straighten it back out. Remember to do this gently so that you do not break your needle.

The better care that you take of your airbrush the longer it will last. So keep your airbrush clean with the right cleaners and once a month do a full break down and cleaning. With needles most artist find that the airbrushes coming out of China bend easier than any of the other airbrushes. So look for one that is made elsewhere so that you do not have to keep trying to straighten a bend airbrush. The best airbrushes to use that are the easiest to take care of are name brand airbrushes. The knockoffs are harder to take care of because are made from cheaper parts that break easier than the name brands.

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Posted by christine - 14/01/12 - 0 comments

 

Sometimes when trying to come up with designs your mind can go blank. You find yourself unable to come up with a design for a certain project. While airbrush art can give you endless possibilities it can also leave you stumped on a design project. Finding inspiration though for your airbrush art can come from many forms. The different places that you can look for inspiration can help you when you are stumped on what to do with a project.

When you are feeling the creative block coming on then start looking around you. Anything can be a basis for inspiration, especially if you change your scenery and look around your new surroundings with open eyes. Cooped up in a studio too long, then go out to the park and open your eyes to everything that you see. Derive inspiration from various sights around you and incorporate them into one great piece of art. See two kids on a seesaw at the park? Turn those two kids into angels on a seesaw cloud in the sky. See a couple of kids playing ball? Then turn them into angels and the ball into a cloud. Now put all of this into one art design. See where I am going with this? You just took two things you seen incorporated them both together turned them into something else and now you have a unique floating cloud playground.

Inspiration can also come from books as well. Go to the library and check out some art books to help you get some inspiration to get you going again with your creative design. Sometimes by looking at other people's works you can get past your creative block and start creating your own airbrush art again. Any form of art will work to give you inspiration since after all you can airbrush any design you see. Take the time to look at the art in the books and see them as your own. Think of how you would have created that picture had it been yours. Then go from there and start drawing out how you would have made it look. Once you are happy with it then airbrush it on to your project to create your own unique airbrush art design.

If you don't want to get outdoors to look at new scenery and you don't want to go to the library then you can just surf the web. The internet if full of inspiration for your airbrush art. Start looking at various images and keep surfing until you find the one that gets your creative juices flowing again. Print the picture that help you so that you can keep it around as your muse for as long as you need it. It may take awhile but with the limitless supply of images and artwork on the internet it is sure to keep you supplied with some inspiration.

Sometimes you just need to step back and take a breather to get your inspiration back. If you find that you are not getting inspiration no matter where you are looking then it is definitely time you stepped away from the airbrush art for awhile. Take a few hours to do something other than airbrushing and let your mind go for awhile. You will be surprised how quickly your inspiration comes back and creative juices start flowing when you just take a breather.

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Posted by christine - 04/01/12 - 0 comments

 

When you are first learning something new, things can sometimes get a little tricky. You are trying to create a new form of art and are finding that some things may be a little difficult to get to happen. The experts showing you how to do something on a video make it look so easy. You will believe it is easy until you get out there and try to do it yourself. It is at this moment that you realize that you are not able to do what they did. To start with you need to practice with simple techniques until you get the hang of how to do them. Simple techniques will give you a better understanding of the process and allow for you to have a foundation in which to build on.

When you first try using an airbrush you need to use a cheap surface that you can just practice with. A simple black paint with work for this. No need to buy additional colors. The only thing you need to be doing is experimenting with the airbrush. Get used to how it works and feels in your hand. Practice spraying the airbrush at your cheap surface while you learn just what pressure is needed where. If you are using a double action airbrush you should be experimenting to see how far back gives you how much paint spray.

Once you are comfortable using the airbrush then you should work on creating shapes with your airbrush. Using a cheap surfaces airbrush circles, triangles, squares and rectangles. While this may seem stupid it will help you to learn how to create designs using your airbrush. Continue to practice with shapes until you are able to perfectly render airbrushed shapes. Once you have the ability to render the shapes, you can move on to rendering shapes in different textures. This means that you should work on creating shapes with thin lines and shapes with thick lines. This will help you to learn more how to use the airbrush to render broad designs as well as fine detail.

Now that you can render the shapes you should move on to using stencils. This will give you a feel for stencils as most beginning airbrush artists will use stencils to create their airbrush art. Practice using stencils on a cheap surface and still using your black paint. You will also gain knowledge from trial and error on how to remove stencils without disturbing the paint.

The type of paint that is best for a beginner just learning is Golden Airbrush Colors. These paints are ready to use and will save you from having to deal with thinners and such. Save those types of paints for when you have gained yourself some experience with airbrush art. Stick to ready to use black paint from Golden Airbrush Colors because it really does not matter how the paint looks at this point. The only thing that matters is that you learn the basic techniques so that you have a good solid foundation of skills in which to advance you forward with.

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Posted by christine - 28/12/11 - 0 comments

 

There are two forms of doing airbrush art. One way is that you can use stencils or masks to airbrush your artwork on to your project. The other way is that you can freehand the design onto your project without the use of stencils or masks. Most stencils and masks that you purchase are reusable. The stencils are made from different material depending on what the stencil will be used for. But no matter what material your stencils are made from they all have to things in common. One the stencils can start to get expensive purchasing. Secondly you are limited to only creating designs based on the stencils that you can get your hands on. While these stencils can greatly aid you in your airbrush art, they also can hinder your creativity. So the best way to deal with having you use stencils and reduce costs as well as leaving your creativity open is to create your own stencils.

If you can trace you can create your own stencils cheaply. All you need to do is find a design that you like and then trace it out onto paper. Make several copies of the design since you will be cutting on them. Also the airbrush paint will get them wet and they can start to tear. You will need to keep the original design so that you can refer back to it. After you have made copies of your traced design start cutting out the areas that you need to cut out. Then place the home made stencil onto your project and begin to airbrush your project.

If you want to use a more durable material to create your stencils you can use the plastic pocket folders. These can be picked up rather cheaply from the store in the office supply section or hit the back to school supplies. You will need an exacto knife to cut your design out. Depending on the size of your stencil you can probably create more than one stencil from this plastic folder. If you purchase the see through folders then you can use these for stencils even if you are limited to tracing your design onto the plastic folder prior to cutting it into a stencil for your airbrush art.

No matter what material you go with make sure that you remember to cut out your areas slowly. By taking your time you can make sure that everything matches up the way it should. If you are doing a stencil for say a dog then you would want to take your time and make sure that the eyes were the same size, the nostrils were cut out shaped the way they should be and so on. If you rush you could end up messing your stencil all up. The stencil is to aid you in creating your airbrush art and is a big part of the art process. If you have to then practice on a scrap piece of material till you get use to how the knife works and how to properly cut out the areas. This will help to ensure that you create a working stencil for your airbrush art.

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Posted by christine - 19/12/11 - 0 comments

 

All beginner airbrush artists should understand the parts of their airbrushes and what these parts do. After all how can your create great airbrush art if you do not truly understand your airbrush equipment? Take the time to gain knowledge of all the parts of your airbrush will help you to learn how to properly work your airbrush and also how to take care of it.

If your airbrush is internal mix then it will have a needle. The purpose of the needle is to control the paint flow. Any damage to your needle can cause very bad paint spray patterns. It is important to keep your needle from getting bend and either straightening the needle or replacing the needle.

The air cap and head assembly are on the front of your airbrush and they cover the tip of the needle. The purpose of these parts is to control atomization of the paint spray. Should these parts become dented or damaged in anyway you should replace them immediately. Damage to the air cap and head assembly will effect the performance of your airbrush. Thus like the needle you will be unable to create desirable airbrush art. Both the needle, air cap and head assembly can be purchased at almost any craft or hobby shop that sells airbrushes and airbrush parts.

The airbrush trigger is what allows you to actually operate the airbrush. In a single action airbrush the trigger controls the air flow. In a dual action airbrush the trigger controls both the air flow and the paint flow. Beginners should really take the time to practice on how the trigger works so that they can perfect their ability to airbrush. Your airbrush will have a back lever as well that acts to shut off the air flow and paint flow when the trigger is released. If this should be come damaged then you could have serious problems with your airbrush. Don't worry though it is not hard to replace these parts should there be any damage.

Your airbrush will have a handle on which you can hold onto the airbrush with. Airbrush models come with either a solid handle or a handle with an opening. The purpose of this opening is so that you can adjust the needle without removing the handle in a single action airbrush. Most experienced airbrush artists will actually take their handle off so that they can deal with clogging issues without delay. So the choice is yours as to whether or not you want the handle on or off of your airbrush while you are creating airbrush art.

Pay special attention to the threads on your airbrush. The threads are located on the head assembly and where the air hose connects to your airbrush. If these threads should ever become cross-threaded then you could end up with an air leak. An air leak will effect the function of your airbrush so make sure to take care not to cause any cross-threading in these areas.

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Posted by christine - 13/12/11 - 0 comments

 

Sometimes when trying to come up with designs your mind can go blank. You find yourself unable to come up with a design for a certain project. While airbrush art can give you endless possibilities it can also leave you stumped on a design project. Finding inspiration though for your airbrush art can come from many forms. The different places that you can look for inspiration can help you when you are stumped on what to do with a project.

When you are feeling the creative block coming on then start looking around you. Anything can be a basis for inspiration, especially if you change your scenery and look around your new surroundings with open eyes. Cooped up in a studio too long, then go out to the park and open your eyes to everything that you see. Derive inspiration from various sights around you and incorporate them into one great piece of art. See two kids on a seesaw at the park? Turn those two kids into angels on a seesaw cloud in the sky. See a couple of kids playing ball? Then turn them into angels and the ball into a cloud. Now put all of this into one art design. See where I am going with this? You just took two things you seen incorporated them both together turned them into something else and now you have a unique floating cloud playground.

Inspiration can also come from books as well. Go to the library and check out some art books to help you get some inspiration to get you going again with your creative design. Sometimes by looking at other people's works you can get past your creative block and start creating your own airbrush art again. Any form of art will work to give you inspiration since after all you can airbrush any design you see. Take the time to look at the art in the books and see them as your own. Think of how you would have created that picture had it been yours. Then go from there and start drawing out how you would have made it look. Once you are happy with it then airbrush it on to your project to create your own unique airbrush art design.

If you don't want to get outdoors to look at new scenery and you don't want to go to the library then you can just surf the web. The internet if full of inspiration for your airbrush art. Start looking at various images and keep surfing until you find the one that gets your creative juices flowing again. Print the picture that help you so that you can keep it around as your muse for as long as you need it. It may take awhile but with the limitless supply of images and artwork on the internet it is sure to keep you supplied with some inspiration.

Sometimes you just need to step back and take a breather to get your inspiration back. If you find that you are not getting inspiration no matter where you are looking then it is definitely time you stepped away from the airbrush art for awhile. Take a few hours to do something other than airbrushing and let your mind go for awhile. You will be surprised how quickly your inspiration comes back and creative juices start flowing when you just take a breather.

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Posted by christine - 07/12/11 - 0 comments

 

When doing airbrush art there are different types of airbrushes that you can choose from. Depending on what you are actually creating will also determine what airbrush you need. Once you understand the different options that are available and the benefits of each option you will be better able to determine which airbrush you need for which projects. For the paint you have an internal mix or an external mix.

The internal mix is when the air and the paint both mix inside of the airbrush. This will create a atomized fine dot spray pattern. This makes the internal mix a good choice for fine detailed work in your airbrush art. The point at which they come together is in the head assembly. The external mix is where the air and paint come together outside of the head assembly or the fluid assembly. These airbrushes create a large dot pattern. Larger airbrushed areas are better done with the external mix. Since with the larger dot pattern you are able to spray more areas in less time.

Airbrushes also come in single and dual action. This refers to how the airbrush functions. With single action only the air is controlled with the trigger. The trigger will control the air and the amount of paint that comes out is determined by the needle adjustment on the back of the airbrush handle. Dual action is when the trigger on the airbrush controls both the air and paint. The trigger is pressed down for the air and back for the paint.

Now when it comes to the feed on the airbrush there are three types of feeds that you can choose from. The type of feed you choose will also depend on what you are doing as well as what you are comfortable working with. The gravity feed is a top mount cup that uses gravity to pull the paint down into the airbrush. This feed is great for airbrush art designs that call for fine detail as the gravity feed uses less air pressure. The less air pressure means that you can use slower movements when airbrushing. The bottom feed is where the cup is mounted to the bottom of the airbrush and the paint is brought up via a siphon tube. It is for this reason that the bottom feed is also referred to as a siphon feed. Since the artist can attach the cup to the bottom of the airbrush the colors can be changed quickly by using different cups prefilled with the colors needed.

Airbrush art also uses airbrushes with a side feed. The side feed has a cup that mounts on the side. Since the side feed can be rotated the artist can airbrush either horizontal or vertical. Fine detail can be obtained with the side feed the same as the gravity feed. The advantage of the side feed is that unlike the gravity feed you do not have a cup mounted to where your vision is being obscured while you are creating airbrush art.

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Posted by christine - 01/12/11 - 0 comments

 

When doing airbrush art tattoos there are some things that must been done to ensure that the airbrush tattoo ink sticks to the skin and does not fade quickly. When the prep work is done right and the customer understands the care instructions they can get many days of realistic looking artwork on their bodies. With the time and cost of creating great realistic airbrush art tattoos one does not want it to fade within a couple of days.

While an experienced airbrush artist may know this a beginner may not, so it is worth mentioning. When doing airbrush art on skin make sure you are using airbrush paint that is designed for the skin. Usually this will be sold as airbrush body paint or airbrush temporary tattoo ink. These are the only types of airbrush paints that are safe to use on the human skin.

These paints will have a hard time staying on skin that is oily. A tattoo artist will rub alcohol on a person's skin to kill clean and kill germs prior to beginning to start a tattoo. In this case you are still going to use the alcohol but for airbrush tattoos it is to get rid of the oil on the skin and not to sanitize an area for a needle. Once you have removed the oil from the area the airbrush art tattoo will stick a lot better. This will give more life to the tattoo.

Now that you are ready to begin airbrushing the tattoo on, you need to take your time and be careful of what you are doing. There are no rooms for mistakes with airbrushing on a person's skin. So take your time to ensure you don't make a mistake on a person's body with the airbrush paint. While experienced artists understand this, again a beginner may not. So it was worth mentioning as well.

After the airbrush art tattoo is completely dry then you need to apply talc powder. The talc powder will help to absorb additional oily ensuring more life for the tattoo. An airbrushed tattoo should last for 7 days. A person with oily skin will only get around a couple of days from their tattoo. There fore you should tell your customers who have oily skin that they need to apply talc powder themselves several times a day to help get the most from their tattoo. A person with dry skin will get more than 7 days usually from the tattoo. It does not matter though if they have dry or oily skin you should apply talc powder as soon as the airbrush art tattoo dries.

Airbrush tattoos do cost money and customers are not going to spend that money if their tattoo does not last for at least close to what is expected. So make sure that you take all the prep and post steps to ensure that they do get a great realistic looking tattoo. Create a care sheet for your customers so that they will know how to take care of their new tattoo.

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Posted by christine - 22/11/11 - 0 comments

 

Micro Airbrushing is a valuable skill for all airbrush artists. Being able to do micro airbrushing will allow for the artist to create a more realistic and more in depth detail on all small areas of their airbrush design. It is in these small areas that a lot of artist miss the chance to really define the details because they are unable to fully create the detailed area. Micro airbrushing is needed to really capture the details of these small areas. Micro airbrushing is also a valuable skill for an airbrush artist if they airbrush small model cars. By acquiring the skills needed to do micro airbrushing the artist can capture more detail in their airbrush art on the model car.

Imagine being able to create realistic eyes on a dragon you just airbrushed onto the hood of a small model car? When a person looks strongly at your artwork on the hood of the model car they can really see the capacity of the skills that you have as an airbrush artist. Or imagine that no matter what size your project is, even the fine details are brought out to the point that they demand to be noticed. All this can be done if an artist takes the time to learn micro airbrushing. There are couple of ways that an artist can learn how to do micro airbrush art.

One way that an artist can learn how to do micro airbrush art is to obtain a video created just to teach micro airbrushing. AirBrush Action has a video titled Micro Airbrushing that features airbrush artist Robert Benedict. With this video you will be shown how to airbrush 23 skulls onto an area the size of a dime. This video will show you every thing that you would every need to know about working with micro airbrushing. A couple of great features of the video is that you will learn how to truly work with House of Kolors paints and how to work with low air pressures. Learn more about how to do freehand is also a great asset of this video. These are advanced techniques and will take you as an artist to the next level of airbrush art.

Another way an artist can learn micro airbrushing is to work directly with an expert. Take on a workshop that teaches micro airbrushing and you can learn with some hands on projects under the supervision of an expert. Working with an expert can also mean signing up for some private one on one lessons that will give you more direct attention from the instructor. This could give you a little bit more of an edge over taking a work shop where the instructor has many people to teach at one time.

Once you have mastered your skills in micro airbrush art you will be amazed at the amount of detail that you can place in any airbrushing project. This ability will help set you apart from the rest of the competition and allow you to reach the top of the airbrush art industry. Becoming a truly renowned artist in your trade is dependent upon just how much detail you can capture in your work compared to other artists.

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Posted by christine - 12/11/11 - 0 comments

 

By airbrushing art onto your automobile you can create a unique paint job that really shows off your style. Once you have the basics down on how to work the airbrush then you can pretty much create some great airbrush art on your automobile. It does not matter if you can draw or not. There is no need to be able to free hand you art work either. Stencils can be used to airbrush art on to your automobile just the same as any other surface or project. The art that you create with airbrushing is only limited to your own imagination. There are plenty of places to acquire stencils or get design ideas so that you can create your own stencils.

If you do create your own stencils for airbrushing your automobile do not use paper to create your stencils. Automobiles need lots of paint and this will damage paper stencils rather quickly. So stick with plastic or vinyl material for your stencils. A great cheap plastic to use for stencils is thin plastic folders. These can be picked up cheaply in office supply areas of most stores.

When doing airbrush art there are different types of airbrushes that are available. The best airbrush to use for putting airbrush art onto an automobile is a gravity fed airbrush. This is the one that professionals use and will give your artwork a high quality look. The paint can be automotive paint but make sure that you use a well ventilated area as the fumes can pose a health hazard. It is best when using automotive paint to wear a respirator at all times. When using automotive paint make sure that it is thin enough to flow through the airbrush. If the automotive paint that you have chosen does not flow then thin it down so that it flows. The paint should be thinned to about a milk thickness. A good automotive lacquer will work fine to thin down your automotive paint.

Different airbrush art calls for different psi on your compressor. PSI stands for pounds per square inch and for automotive airbrush art you need a compressor that has a psi of 55-65. Iwata is a great name brand to go with and they offer four compressors that will work for airbrushing automotives. Badger is another good name brand that you can go with. They offer several air compressors that will work when doing airbrush art on automobiles.

When it comes to any part of your actual airbrush equipment such as the airbrush and its parts as well as the compressor make sure to go with name brand. Do not use any knock offs a these will cost you more money and lots of headaches in the long run. You get what you pay for and when it comes to airbrush art you need to go with names that you can trust. A lot of knock offs also will give for a harder time finding replacement parts when they tear up. Knock offs will tear up quicker than the name brands. So save yourself the hassle of being in the middle of your airbrush art project on your automobile and find yourself unable to get replacement parts for your airbrush equipment.

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Posted by christine - 06/11/11 - 0 comments

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