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Hey guys,

Edit: Please see my later post on this page for my first models

Basically so far ive been using my airbrush on my orks for:

Base coating

Salt and hair spray weathering

varnishing

general work - so base colours on orks and vehicles

ghost tint minature paints - to create some nice effects onto a pre-shaded model

Flame effects (true fire and stencil)

Stencil work on vehicles

What I was hoping for is advice on what techniques and effects I can look into giving a go?
I use my airbrush on both my models and on canvas/board. I practice my line work and general airbrush control, I do flames in a larger scale on canvas in order to get my technique down and im slowly working it onto my ork vehicles to get good at getting it smaller. I have a few stencils that are a little too large for my models, but I practice on canvas again, I also create some stencils by using acetate and a scalpel. What techniques do you guys recommend I could start practicing? I have masking tape that I will use to try and create a hazard pattern on my ork battlewagon, but I have no idea what is a sort of next level up effect? Fading? I would love to practice this but can't find any videos on how to get better at it, or even if im attempting it right. I will be looking to do some OSL too. Basically I dont want flames on all my vehicles! which is what will happen if I dont find something else to try soon!

Beginner airbrusher looking to improve

Patterns like hazard have more to do with masking control. My suggestion to work on is gradients and color fades. This will allow you to airbrush shade and highlight as well as all kinds of cool effects

OK thanks Il do some digging into gradient techniques. As far as I can currently think on it, I could approach in two ways?

First being to do black and white gradient then to spray a colour over the top to create a gradient of the said colour.

The other being to simply apply more and more colour towards one side, using a lighter shade as a base. I am really interested in colours fading into other colours (like a rainbow effect), as I basically did some true flames the other day where the first layer was a dark blue, the second layer after adding more white flames on top I did with a yellow, this created an awesome sort of fell flame look where the blue went green and the white went yellow.

Can I transition from a light to dark? or is it always easier the other way? In conventional painting id go light to dark typically, but ive found the opposite true with airbrushing.

Try drawing a picture with it. Seriously
Get some paper, and practise generally controlling the airbrush untill you can draw with very thin hairlines. And then you will have the control of the airbrush down and have an easier time with any technique

 tdwg83 wrote:
Patterns like hazard have more to do with masking control. My suggestion to work on is gradients and color fades. This will allow you to airbrush shade and highlight as well as all kinds of cool effects

I couldn't agree more.

Yep.

Many years ago, I started out by doing exercises like writing my name, writing the alphabet and other things to get a handle on brush control. Keep getting smaller and smaller as you get better with it.

Working on flats is pretty cheap. You can get a bunch of paper for a few bucks afterall. However, you also might run to a dollar store and pick up $20 worth of cheap toys. This allows you to practice masking off areas, painting around curved surfaces and the like.

Try working with shields as well. Some people have a hard time using them, but you can do a lot of work quickly without having to mask off.

Color choices in airbrushing really will depend. Because of how many of the miniature painters paint, it is easier to go dark to light...but there is nothing specific that prevents you from going light to dark. Ive gone through and painted on shadows and the like in the past, but most the time I try to build up light.

Mostly just play with it. Try different things out and see what works for you and your abilities. What works for some people may not work for you due to vision or hand control.

Thanks for the great replies spent a ton of time last night just doodling and playing; while i didn't get a model done I certainly felt like I improved

Could you explain what a shield is? I assume that it is a masking technique where you hold the mask rather than tape it down or attach it?

Also, what tac do you guys recommend? I have masking tape and blue tac or white tac, but im worried with how thin the airbrush layers are that when I tac over an area or mask it, that il peel of the paint beneath?

Solar Shock wrote:
Thanks for the great replies spent a ton of time last night just doodling and playing; while i didn't get a model done I certainly felt like I improved

Could you explain what a shield is? I assume that it is a masking technique where you hold the mask rather than tape it down or attach it?

Also, what tac do you guys recommend? I have masking tape and blue tac or white tac, but im worried with how thin the airbrush layers are that when I tac over an area or mask it, that il peel of the paint beneath?

Tamyia Yellow Tape works really well for masking and holding down stencils. It has a very low tack, even less than blue painters tape. Also, if you have primed, and properly let the model dry between layers you should be ok when it comes to how durable your paint layers are. As far as thing to practice, try the alphabet, and your name in normal print and cursive, repeat it over and over, it is a great way to learn brush control.

A.

 Redfinger wrote:


Tamyia Yellow Tape works really well for masking and holding down stencils. It has a very low tack, even less than blue painters tape. Also, if you have primed, and properly let the model dry between layers you should be ok when it comes to how durable your paint layers are. As far as thing to practice, try the alphabet, and your name in normal print and cursive, repeat it over and over, it is a great way to learn brush control.

A.

Thanks for all the advice guys, ive been doing some doodling and practice I am improving, but still a long way to go. Thanks for the advice on the tape and tac, I think I have some around here that I will test out on sunday.

I got all excited and just had to have a go on some models, I have added the pictures below, could you guys please give me some tips, il list where I had problems etc too and I would also like adive on what colours I could use on the Big Mek for this clothing; in order to give him a little bit of 'pop' as they say. I was gona do a musty, grubby white look but im not sure.

EDIT: I havent actually started his clothing, which is what my last sentence could read as. The colours on the clothing are overspray from the skin, I am looking for advice on what colours to use to make him stand out. Bold contrasting colours? Reds? Whites?

Process:

Grey primer

A light purple base coat

Followed by a dark blue in the reccessed and undersides of the skins

A light blue added to highlight the blues and over some of the purple upper areas

A white highlight on the blues along wiith the top sides of the skins

A light yellow over some of the whiter areas and some of the light blues

Finally a ghost tint in green to bring the blues and yellows together

And a matt varnish for the ghost tint shine

My problems:

I found it hard to get the white to go on without clogging up super fast, I did thin it but it didn't seem to help, was about 10 seconds before it clogged the tip.

I found that it was tough to get small areas done without splattering, I was using a 0.2 needle at about 15 PSI and was varying the mix of air and paint trying to get a good level.

I was trying to get a result like this for reference:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWV6GMr07qo - which is where he used these sort of colours

I also found that it was tough to get the yellows to show up at all without using white in order to allow the yellow to sit on top of it.

What I liked:

I really enjoyed the actual spraying and felt the big meks right arm came out the best, I like that I managed a better blend here then anywhere else

I also liked his face and feel that once painted up the colours should look pretty good for amateur work

Please let me know what you guys think I did the other models at the same time as I was having an abundance of paint even with only a couple drops in the airbrush.





On this dude I tried to use yellow to bring a change in skin tone towards the front of his face and on his cheeks etc. However the photo makes him out to be much darker than he is, even though the rest of the photos worked really well.



On this guy the ghost tint got a massive overspray on his face because of some clogging, so the reccesses seem to be very dark and obvious

Solar,

I don't use an airbrush for skin on my orks, but I am very interested in watching you progress with this. It's very striking so far, I can't really give any advice as I just simply have no experience in what you are trying here.

I look forward to more!!

Boss Drach