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Hey guys,

So i am working on painting up an army of Blood Angel Dreadnoughts and i am having serious trouble with doing anything outside of a base coat.

Based off of a youtube video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EcbDJpwvMA
I was going for the shadow affect that he used. Here is what i did:
Primer- Army Painter - Uniform grey
Vallejo Fire Red for main color
Mahogany for darker areas/shadows
Vallejo Red or i have even used Light Red to brighten up where the light would be hitting.

The result is just red, red, and more red. You can't see the bright or dark areas, just a dirty Fire Red. I just don't know how to get the model to pop or look like i am actually putting in work to shadow/brighten the colors. Am i going about this wrong? My next step may be to primer white to see if you could then see the shading.

Also i tend to cut my airbrush paints with thinner, try to go for milk consistency.
And what PSI should i be doing this blending on?

Its really my first time diving into my airbrush, so any tips would be really appreciated. Thank you!

If it were a case of grabbing an airbrush and immediately being able to shade, a lot of people would've thrown their brushes out by now.
The answer I'm afraid is practise and experimenting. It will "click", but it's pretty unlikely to be on day one.

Also you need to angle the brush, so it's not hitting everything like a primer spray would.

Edit: From skimming that video, it looks like he put yellow down beneath his red.

I bought my airbrush 2 Weeks ago and at first I was like "dude, it looks not much better and it's not even faster than with my brush!"

Now I came to this realization:

1) I was quite good with the brush, so there was a huge Skill Gap between the airbrush and my regular brushes (and still is!) Therefore the results were dissapointing at the beginning.

2) Getting used to the AB takes time and effort!
I just painted my 3rd tac squad and it finally starts to look decent.
I thought following a tutorial step by step will give me awesome results, so I bought 3 Tac Squads and started painting them.
Guess I wasted 2 ,-)

3) Consistency is key, and IMHO it's even harder to achieve with an airbrush, because you work with much more shades of your colors.


Watch Tutorials --> practice --> find your own workflow --> TAKE NOTES OF WHAT YOU DID AND WHAT COLORS YOU USED xD

I find with the airbrush I spend more time now trying to manage overspray (masking, templates to cover areas...).

Managing airflow / pressure / paint thickness / paint opacity / distance from subject / needle-size all are variables you have to get used to (or where to minimize the variation).
I have "block painting" down, snazzy for painting graveled bases or hard to reach spots.
Using little hand templates (or mask) to create harder edges.
AB is very handy for Zenithal highlighting.
Yeah, when you have the skills with the hairy brush, airbrush is a whole different way of doing things: takes a while to train your brain to see things differently.
There have been many "ah-ha!" moments for me and I am sure there will be many more.
There are many things that airbrush does not easily replace to do with brush so do not be afraid to use the old skills when things seem too fussy.
Good luck!

Thanks guys for the feedback. Any other tips on making faces more apparent, or popping?

Also I heard a school of though with shading with one color and then doing a thin color that I want. I.e. Dark green, med green, neon green, /'and then a thin layer of red? Or is it best to stick to gradients of your base color?

What PSI do you all tend to use?

Your issue isn't your PSI or how you're thinning your paint - if it's spraying consistently and not spiderwebbing/clogging, you're fine. It's just a matter of practice - as another person above mentioned, it's a new skill just like a brush was once, and for a lot of folks that are skilled with a brush you pick up an airbrush and go "huh, this doesn't look nearly as good, why doesn't it work?" when in reality there's just a tremendous skill gap between your brush work and your airbrush work.

Here's an example of when I first started airbrushing: I barely got any gradients and was confused as I thought I was doing it right:



Sweet gradient on that silver and white right? I was doing multiple colors/shading as I thought was correct. In reality I was spraying way too much of the final colors and no matter how much dark primer/other colors I had, slapping a heavy coat of silver on top was just going to look exactly like what it sounds.

Now take a look at my better (but still not great) Tau. I tend to prime Black or a dark grey (vallejo) then trollblood base, then trollblood base/white. All the gradients were achieved just from managing how much I was spraying (either via the trigger, or distance to the model, or angle of spray). I did go back and do some Brushwork after the airbrushing as I'm just not *that* good of an airbrusher yet, but most of the gradients were all achieved in the airbrushing.



There are lots of different schools of thought for airbrushing, and I'm sure savvier folks then me will have better/more correct ways to do it, but if I were trying to achieve that effect, I'd start with a dark primer, likely do a fairly heavy (not showing much of the primer) coat of something like sanguine base (dark red), then shading it all using your main red (fire red) - not just spray the model as a whole, but controlled spray onto the individual panels to shade just the areas you want, then your brightest red on select areas

Man, that's some darn good work. AND how ever you did the photography makes the model shine even more. Just don't get tank shocked with those anchors down . Thanks for the tips.

Just practice a bit on some spare cardboard and plastic. Be aware spraying cardboard is easier than plastic because it soaks it up, so if you find you can't transfer a technique from paper/cardboard to plastic, that's probably why.

I'd also say Uniform grey might be a bit dull if you're trying to get a heavily contrasting red over the top.

This is the first model I ever airbrushed...

http://www.dakkadakka.com/gallery/images-59981-38683_Dark%20Angels%20-%20Airbrush%20Attempt.html

But I spent a good hour or two practicing on spare sheets of paper, plastic and the back of my hand before I even tried painting a model.

This post's title reminded me of a guy at my shop who tends to belittle my painting because I use an airbrush, and according to him airbrushing is just a free pass for great painting with no effort or skill…

More on topic, I think the guy from buypainted.com makes great videos, I learned a lot from watching them. But most of his final shots are done on a black background, with a lot of light. It accentuates contrasts and make some colors pop.
I realized that if I airbrush under a very good, strong light, I tend to make much weaker highlights. Sometimes I spend lots of time laying lots of different shades only to have a model that looks monochrome when seen under "normal" light.
Now, I use less light (I still use a pretty strong light when brush painting), and I get better results.

Not only all that... but red is damn tough to make pop!

It doesn't take much "adding contrast" to arrive at pink or orange marines.

fresus wrote:
This post's title reminded me of a guy at my shop who tends to belittle my painting because I use an airbrush, and according to him airbrushing is just a free pass for great painting with no effort or skill…

So why doesn't he use one? Is he some kind of masochist?

He's actually painting orange there. If you want a red tutorial from him, look at his chaos hellbrute video




I learned to airbrush from buypainted's videos, you can replicate his work easily enough. It just takes practice.

Yeah, i'm really thinking it may have to do with the priming of the models. The darker and dirtier the primer (uniform grey), maybe the darker finish you get.

Anyone have thoughts on the painting it green for shading and then doing a light red layer over-top? That was an "ancient Chinese" secret by Nextlevelpainting. No pink models there.

 Scott-S6 wrote:

fresus wrote:
This post's title reminded me of a guy at my shop who tends to belittle my painting because I use an airbrush, and according to him airbrushing is just a free pass for great painting with no effort or skill…

So why doesn't he use one? Is he some kind of masochist?

Because it's easier to complain then to actually give it a try.
When I ask why, he says it's too expensive (like most people who don't own an airbrush). I get that for people who are just starting, or people with limited resources, but the guy is neither, and spends a lot of money on miniatures that he doesn't even build (to quote him, he has 3-4 full armies still on sprues…).

fresus wrote:

 Scott-S6 wrote:

fresus wrote:
This post's title reminded me of a guy at my shop who tends to belittle my painting because I use an airbrush, and according to him airbrushing is just a free pass for great painting with no effort or skill…

So why doesn't he use one? Is he some kind of masochist?

Because it's easier to complain then to actually give it a try.
When I ask why, he says it's too expensive (like most people who don't own an airbrush). I get that for people who are just starting, or people with limited resources, but the guy is neither, and spends a lot of money on miniatures that he doesn't even build (to quote him, he has 3-4 full armies still on sprues…).

Well, one fellow from dakka ended all arguments of methods of painting being "cheating": read at your own risk... I was stunned by the brilliance of it:.
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/394884.page
I would say anything that can get your vision of how the model should look out of your head and onto the model is fair game.
NOTE: Some have opened the topic of using real rust... sure that is ok, how about real blood? ECK! that has been universally condemned.

The fellow quoted obviously has not used an airbrush: "painting with no effort or skill" is being rather ignorant, I wish it had been less effort and needed less skill or I would do a lot more of it.
Heck, a few suppliers are now putting out coloured paint in rattle-cans, you can practice many techniques with just those limited tools (though nozzles can be had with different properties, Liquitex I have been liking for this.).

I keep having flashbacks on threads where people who prefer to see painted models on the tabletop were labelled as elitist.
These days I think I am willing to accept if the model has the majority of it's parts on.
I tend to play with historical guys and you do not play until you got your stuff painted, it is not even a consideration.
Luckily, these kinds of guys have gazillions of painted models they will loan for you to play...

Something about doing your best and getting it on the table is very satisfying for me.
It is a bonus if my opponent likes them as well.
The only feeling I would want for my opponent is to enjoy the look of my models and possibly inspire them to paint more (inspire, not guilt!).

Airbrushing red you say. I just so happen to have done a photo montage that showed how I did red with my airbrush.

Primed grey (because my primer is grey),
Black all over making sure to get into all cracks and crevices,
A mid-brown sprayed only from above, not from the side, only from above, (a few layers)
Then red, mostly from above, but making sure to at least tint every surface.

The transparency of red helps here. The shading comes from the black to brown transition.
The only areas to get a "solid" coat of red were the upper surfaces.

The main thing to think about when airbrushing (and is also worth keeping in mind while hairy-brushing) is to not be tempted to get a full coat of total coverage in one go; build up colours with many thin layers.
The brown and red above took 3 to 4 layers each to get to the points in the photos.

Having done all that, I did the rest of the paint work (highlights, details, etc.) with a hairy brush.

Hope that helps
Good luck.

The picture taking I can't take too much credit for - the first one I actually did take with a DIY photo box (a cardboard box, some cutting, tape, and parchment paper with a desk lamp)

The second was because I entered it at nova in a painting competition and they have someone actually good at photography take pictures, lol.

When I was first learning I practiced a lot on models, and just on the inside of the box itself. I also watched a lot of videos from the wargameconsortium and a few others:

https://www.youtube.com/user/WGConsortium

He was definitely the main one i watched

 Dr H wrote:
Airbrushing red you say. I just so happen to have done a photo montage that showed how I did red with my airbrush.

Primed grey (because my primer is grey),
Black all over making sure to get into all cracks and crevices,
A mid-brown sprayed only from above, not from the side, only from above, (a few layers)
Then red, mostly from above, but making sure to at least tint every surface.

The transparency of red helps here. The shading comes from the black to brown transition.
The only areas to get a "solid" coat of red were the upper surfaces.

The main thing to think about when airbrushing (and is also worth keeping in mind while hairy-brushing) is to not be tempted to get a full coat of total coverage in one go; build up colours with many thin layers.
The brown and red above took 3 to 4 layers each to get to the points in the photos.

Having done all that, I did the rest of the paint work (highlights, details, etc.) with a hairy brush.

Hope that helps
Good luck.

I know this is not a place for guides, but what to replace the brown with If I am doing this with a darker blue?

 DalinCriid wrote:
I know this is not a place for guides, but what to replace the brown with If I am doing this with a darker blue?

Look at a colour wheel.

The brown/red-orange is right next to the red.
For blue I would suggest a very dark purple (blue-purple?).
In each case, the initial colour seems darker than the top layer but is complimentary enough where if the top layer is rather transparent it is not noticeable.

 DalinCriid wrote:
...I know this is not a place for guides, but what to replace the brown with If I am doing this with a darker blue?

For blue, I would do the shading with greys. Unlike red (brown for warm, pink for colder), there's not really any warmth variations of blue, so a neutral basecoat is all you need.

 Dr H wrote:
For blue, I would do the shading with greys. Unlike red (brown for warm, pink for colder), there's not really any warmth variations of blue, so a neutral basecoat is all you need.

I was tempted to state the same thing.
The trick is to find a grey sufficiently dark and yet differentiate from a black undercoat (Mechanicus Grey?).
I was leaning toward what was called a "Leviathan Purple".

The advantage of airbrushing is that you can use pretty much any grey over the black, and the thin coats will keep it dark and allow you to highlight up as bright as you like with multiple layers.

Although I would start with a dark grey and then use lighter and lighter greys until I got to the tone I wanted.

If you are going over with a dark blue it'll tone down the grey you used and smooth out the blending (which should already be quite smooth from the airbrush).

I do like the purple idea though, I just don't use a dedicated purple paint myself, so don't think of it as a colour to shade with.

Can't help with paint names, they're not the paints I use.

Thanks so much guys, especially Dr.H. That's a great example of one way to go about it, certainly will give it a shot on my next ground up models. Now I just need to figure out what to do with my guys that were already painted fire red over the dirty grey primer. May need to re primer them and start from the ground up.

If you want a really vibrant red, I was just painting this guy today. Primed light grey, spray the darker areas blue, then pick out the "highlights" with white (if you're anything like me, you'll want to do the blue first because the white will be required to fix up overspray from the blue areas).

Then I used Tamiya Flat Red and just built up layers until I got the effect I wanted. It's probably 3-5 passes with the red to get this effect. If there's an area that's too dark you can try and hit it with a few extra layers of red, or just switch back to white to touch it up and then back to the red to touch it up.





I then applied a gloss varnish because I intend to do an oil wash (will wait a couple of days for this to cure before I apply the oil wash) and then finish it off with a satin varnish...



I used a similar technique on Zael, he's got his oil wash and satin varnish already, but Zael was done with GW's old Blood Red mixed with just a touch of a flesh tone and it was a light grey instead of white shade to start off with, so he came out slightly duller and more orange (though it was a very light grey, it's still noticeable)...

Well I certainly had some success today. I tried practicing on a few bits with some masking. Multiple thin layers building it up. I would say my pre shade test like AllSeeingSkink mentioned came out better than the starting red and trying to shade from there. Have to prime a light grey I think. I did the white primer and initially it was pretty pink, came around after a few coats. So thanks for the tips guys.

Anyone have any tips on how to determine which areas you shade vs highlight?

It's mostly an artistic choice. I tend to spray my shades near crevices, on lower parts of models and around details that will be painted a different colour and I want them to pop more (like the design on the back of that Terminator's power first). I also try and accentuate natural shading, so areas that are naturally going to appear darker I make them even darker again to increase contrast.

I always finish off with an oil wash as airbrush shading usually isn't sufficient, it's too soft and doesn't contrast enough.

Some people pick a light direction and spray their shades on the opposite side of the model. That can look good but does take a bit of artistic ability to pull off.

Some really great work here!! AB'ing does take practice, but you will find your greatest leaps in consistency and quality by simply being consistent.

I was a professional illustrator for years and what works for me may not work for the next person because they have a different brush, use different paints, paint with a higher/lower psi, etc. Find a good quality paint and stick with it. Find a good psi and stick with it. Here are my tricks:

1. PSI at 25-30. Most brushes do not like higher psi and it can actually damage some brushes
2. NEVER shoot acrylic paint through your brush. A lot of people do and never have issues, but I will never. I only shoot enamels or inks. The reason I will not do acrylic is the P/V/C ratio (pigment/vehicle/carrier) and the way an AB atomizes the paint, you will find your finer brushes will clog. Also, when Acrylic dries it is extremely difficult to clean. Enamels will alway dissolve back under mineral spirits and the pigment/carrier ratio makes shooting through a very small hole much easier. it also atomizes into much smaller particles, which means a thinner coat.
3. Only use a compressor with an air tank
4. Always disassemble your brush and clean right away. Get to know exactly how to clean your brush and take care not to bend your needle.
5. Always have a scrap piece to spray onto to get your mixture right and practice your stroke before you hit your model.
6. Paints not specifically thinned for airbrushing must be thinned, but not too much, otherwise you disrupt the PVC ratio and you will get poor coverage. Also, thinning helps keep the paint flowing smoothly while also keeping the paint nice and wet before it hits the surface - this keeps you from getting the gritty, grainy, dusty, etc. look.

Have fun!!!

MDSW wrote:
1. PSI at 25-30. Most brushes do not like higher psi and it can actually damage some brushes

That's too much pressure for general duty miniature work. Personally, I do all of my work at no more than 15 psi and will often drop to less for close-in detail work. Trying to paint a 28mm miniature at 30 psi is probably asking for trouble, especially if you're going for accuracy.

2. NEVER shoot acrylic paint through your brush. A lot of people do and never have issues, but I will never. I only shoot enamels or inks. The reason I will not do acrylic is the P/V/C ratio (pigment/vehicle/carrier) and the way an AB atomizes the paint, you will find your finer brushes will clog. Also, when Acrylic dries it is extremely difficult to clean. Enamels will alway dissolve back under mineral spirits and the pigment/carrier ratio makes shooting through a very small hole much easier. it also atomizes into much smaller particles, which means a thinner coat.

Terrible advice again. There is nothing wrong with using acrylic paint especially considering most hobby paints are acrylic and modelers have been using them for years in airbrushes. I use regularly use acrylics and lacquer paints with no problems.

3. Only use a compressor with an air tank

Unless you can't afford one. Sure, compressors with storage tanks are preferred, but there are plenty of nice quality tankless compressors out there that will work just fine.

6. Paints not specifically thinned for airbrushing must be thinned, but not too much, otherwise you disrupt the PVC ratio and you will get poor coverage. Also, thinning helps keep the paint flowing smoothly while also keeping the paint nice and wet before it hits the surface - this keeps you from getting the gritty, grainy, dusty, etc. look.

Decent enough advice, but often times extremely thin layers of paint are need for certain effects.

MDSW wrote:
Some really great work here!! AB'ing does take practice, but you will find your greatest leaps in consistency and quality by simply being consistent.

I was a professional illustrator for years and what works for me may not work for the next person because they have a different brush, use different paints, paint with a higher/lower psi, etc. Find a good quality paint and stick with it. Find a good psi and stick with it. Here are my tricks:

1. PSI at 25-30. Most brushes do not like higher psi and it can actually damage some brushes
2. NEVER shoot acrylic paint through your brush. A lot of people do and never have issues, but I will never. I only shoot enamels or inks. The reason I will not do acrylic is the P/V/C ratio (pigment/vehicle/carrier) and the way an AB atomizes the paint, you will find your finer brushes will clog. Also, when Acrylic dries it is extremely difficult to clean. Enamels will alway dissolve back under mineral spirits and the pigment/carrier ratio makes shooting through a very small hole much easier. it also atomizes into much smaller particles, which means a thinner coat.
3. Only use a compressor with an air tank
4. Always disassemble your brush and clean right away. Get to know exactly how to clean your brush and take care not to bend your needle.
5. Always have a scrap piece to spray onto to get your mixture right and practice your stroke before you hit your model.
6. Paints not specifically thinned for airbrushing must be thinned, but not too much, otherwise you disrupt the PVC ratio and you will get poor coverage. Also, thinning helps keep the paint flowing smoothly while also keeping the paint nice and wet before it hits the surface - this keeps you from getting the gritty, grainy, dusty, etc. look.

Have fun!!!

What!? I use Airbrush from couple of days with mister hobby paints, but Acrylics sprays just fine. Just put a drop or two of flow improver if you have any or thin it with more water and it sprays just fine. I've heard that most primers like Vallejo are sprayed at 40 PSI, but 20+ Is just insane.... 15-25 as The Skink advised me and it is just fine.

MDSW wrote:
1. PSI at 25-30. Most brushes do not like higher psi and it can actually damage some brushes

I think the range is more like 10-30psi. 10psi being "I'm doing super-fine details". I know some people who spray up to 40 and I think it can often make the work look a bit hazy rather than smooth, but I've never heard of someone damaging their airbrush at those levels. I crank it up to 40-45psi when I'm cleaning and have to clear a clog.

2. NEVER shoot acrylic paint through your brush. A lot of people do and never have issues, but I will never. I only shoot enamels or inks. The reason I will not do acrylic is the P/V/C ratio (pigment/vehicle/carrier) and the way an AB atomizes the paint, you will find your finer brushes will clog. Also, when Acrylic dries it is extremely difficult to clean. Enamels will alway dissolve back under mineral spirits and the pigment/carrier ratio makes shooting through a very small hole much easier. it also atomizes into much smaller particles, which means a thinner coat.

That's only partly true.

Enamels do most definitely spray smoother, the oil base lets them flow off the needle better. And you're right they clean up easier.

But those are hardly the only parameters in choosing a paint and with a decent thinner and a decent cleaner acrylics really aren't that far behind enamels and in some cases they are actually better (give me an acrylic Tamiya Flat Red and Flat Yellow over Humbrol and Testor's enamel offerings any day of the week). Acrylics often have a better flash off time as well, which is important depending on what you're trying to achieve. Acrylic fumes usually aren't as bad as enamel fumes. Also if you're following up your airbrushing with hairy brushed acrylics then enamel bases make it harder for the acrylic to stick.

I have a couple of draws full of enamels and a couple of draws full of acrylics, I find myself reaching for the acrylics more often than the enamels, though the enamels still get some use.