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i need help to replicate the look of an airbrush with out using one.
i have tried to buy one but here in Canada they are a tad on the expensive side and i cant afford one.
so if anyone could help me out that would be great.

Carefully using Rattle cans?

Or the original way of using brush and blends.

Be really good at brush painting!!

You can get super cheap airbrushes which are probably the cost of 3 rattle cans - they will do a horrible job, but no worse than rattle cans for precision.

That said, what airbrush look do you want to replicate?

Zenithal highlighting? Easy as pie.

OSL? No chance.

kb_lock wrote:

OSL? No chance.

This guy seems to manage pretty darn well.

http://handcannononline.com/blog/2011/08/05/tutorial-advanced-object-source-lighting/

kb_lock wrote:
You can get super cheap airbrushes which are probably the cost of 3 rattle cans - they will do a horrible job, but no worse than rattle cans for precision.

That said, what airbrush look do you want to replicate?

Zenithal highlighting? Easy as pie.

OSL? No chance.

i want to do something like this.
the cheapest airbrush and air-compressor combo i can get here is $175 that's from amazon.ca though from a store $250.

Amazon has lower end airbrush and compressor for like $50.

And my wife does osl all the time by hand.

 pretre wrote:
Amazon has lower end airbrush and compressor for like $50.

And my wife does osl all the time by hand.

i can get just the airbrush for cheaper but i only have a big air-compressor meant for heavier work

Paint_To_Redemption wrote:

kb_lock wrote:

OSL? No chance.

This guy seems to manage pretty darn well.

http://handcannononline.com/blog/2011/08/05/tutorial-advanced-object-source-lighting/

Is that with a rattle can? Nice, I stand corrected.

rainbowcthulhu wrote:

kb_lock wrote:
You can get super cheap airbrushes which are probably the cost of 3 rattle cans - they will do a horrible job, but no worse than rattle cans for precision.

That said, what airbrush look do you want to replicate?

Zenithal highlighting? Easy as pie.

OSL? No chance.

i want to do something like this.
the cheapest airbrush and air-compressor combo i can get here is $175 that's from amazon.ca though from a store $250.

That looks achievable to me. Have a look at harbor freight for a compressor, or ebay for cheap alternatives

People were doing osl without rattle cans or airbrush for a while.

Also, further chance to brag on my wife:

kb_lock wrote:

Is that with a rattle can? Nice, I stand corrected.

Pretty sure it's just with a brush actually. He talks about two-brush blending a bit. Read his guide for it and I'm gonna try it out a bit with some regular highlights before moving on to OSL.

Winterdyne only uses a brush due to control, and he's one of the best painters I've seen.

I was also only suggesting that osl with a rattle can is impossible, or really difficult

Drybrushing can look almost like airbrushing if it's done with a nice soft brush very lightly and built up in multiple layers, but it's hard to avoid it looking a bit grainy.

But if you want to create something like that eldar army, you'll be drybrushing forever

That Eldar army you pictured has big large gradients so in some ways you don't need fine control to do it, though I still think you'll struggle to do it with a rattle can. But even a cheap airbrush you should be able to do it.

It you want to do it cheaply, look at what fittings you can buy for your big air compressor to adapt to an airbrush (you just need the right sized fittings and a regulator that works well in the 5-30PSI range) and then get a cheap airbrush to go with it.

rainbowcthulhu wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Amazon has lower end airbrush and compressor for like $50.

And my wife does osl all the time by hand.

i can get just the airbrush for cheaper but i only have a big air-compressor meant for heavier work

Then all you need as an airbrush and a regulator/water trap and some piping to finish that up.

Hell amazon sells masters regulator moisture trap combos.

The only issue is the noise with the bigger compressors though if it has a BIG tank it shouldn't be as bad.

rainbowcthulhu wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Amazon has lower end airbrush and compressor for like $50.

And my wife does osl all the time by hand.

i can get just the airbrush for cheaper but i only have a big air-compressor meant for heavier work

In that case, you could use the big air compressor to fill a portable air tank (that you later hook a moisture trap and pressure regulator to) for silent operation in your house. Below are a few examples of the size of container I'm thinking of. This option will let you airbrush a lot longer than the tiny compressors (like the one I bought) since the compressors heat up and need a cooling off period.

http://www.harborfreight.com/11-gallon-portable-air-tank-65595.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-gallon-portable-air-tank-65594.html

Pretre, your wife did an incredible job on that. You have good reason to be proud.

rainbowcthulhu wrote:

i can get just the airbrush for cheaper but i only have a big air-compressor meant for heavier work

Use a regulator. And ideally an air tank. Apart from the probably much louder noise of it running, the big workshop compressor is way way better than a little half a horse power airbrush compressor that overheats in 30mins and spits water.

Those who say use a paintbrush blend... erm no. airbrush can do things tht paintbrush cannot. (and vice versa) the marks that each makes are not possible with the other tool. Both have a their place.

edit ~ on a budget you can run an airbrush off a spare tyre with the appropriate valve.
http://www.wirelessmadness.com/badger-spare-tyre-adaptor-to-use-with-propel-regulator-50-200-ba50029?language=en¤cy=GBP&gclid=CKaGl_uv5MYCFUcOwwodgaYG2Q

You use one of these to convert the tyre valve into an 8th inch airbrush hose valve, then run it through a regulator and to the airbrush. You could foot pump the tyre up if need be but most local garrages will have a tyre filling station that costs pennies a go.

You could then get a splitter and a couple of one way valves so you could have the pump connected at the same time or use quick connect couplings to make swapping brush and pump over easier maybe.

If you didn't decide to buy an airbrush, I have found one alternative to airbrushing.

Oil drybrushing, I've been playing around with it recently and you can actually create some surprisingly smooth blends using nothing but a few hairy brushes. Because the oil takes longer to dry and goes on more smoothly than an acrylic, you can spend time working on blending from one colour to another.

I've been having decent luck applying the brighter colour first using an acrylic, waiting plenty of time for it to cure (day or so) and then applying the darker colour with an oil paint and then using drybrushing to blend the darker colour in to the lighter colour. If you create something you don't like, using a brush very lightly moistened with white spirit you can clean it off and try again.

I'm just using soap and water to clean my brushes.

I don't know how well it'll hold up over time, I imagine you'd have to wait a few days for it to dry and then hit it with a varnish to protect it.