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So I am discovering here that paint appears quite different when it's applied with an airbrush as opposed to brushing on. The paint I'm working with in particular appears much lighter with a less saturated colour and a very matte looking finish with the airbrush.

Anyone have any tips for mitigating this? I don't want to have to mix whole new batches of colour for my army just for airbrushing...

Also, do airbrush specific paints like Citadel and Vallejo's Air ranges go on without as much of these effects?

The matte finish could be caused by either:

1. Paint partly drying in mid-air before it hits the target.
or
2. Improper paint atomization - blobs of paint hitting the target rather than tiny droplets.

Which it is will depend on your paint, temperature, humidity, compressor combination.

Didn't we have this conversation a while back? Or was it someone else who asked?

Yeah, sprayed paint pretty much always comes out more matte. You can reduce the effect by thinning more and dropping the pressure, but airbrushed paint is always going to look more matte. That's why Vallejo Air paints if you try and paint them by hand come out glossy, Vallejo intentionally mixed them glossy because when you spray them, they shift toward the matte side.

You also have the general texture effect, painting with a hairy brush has a different texture than painting with an airbrush.

Lastly you have coverage, you typically airbrush layers thinner and more transparent than you do when you hairy brush paint them. If you did a thin coat of paint over a white undercoat, you'll never get a match when you come back to hairy brush over it.

As how to fix it? I try my best to avoid having to touch up an area with a hairy brush after airbrushing it. Sometimes if I do have to touch up an area I try and use the airbrush to do it, or do a few super thin layers with a hairy brush (to avoid streaks) then use an airbrush to finish it off. Sometimes even if you airbrush on a different day you'll get a different result though.

At the end if you apply a varnish it'll tend to homogenise the surface and reduce the difference between hairy brushed and airbrushed paints, but it's still likely going to be slightly visible.

If it's an issue with the undercoat affecting the colour you can have a crack using different undercoat colours, or maybe using an intermediate colour between your undercoat and your main colour.

 WaveyRaven wrote:
The matte finish could be caused by either:

1. Paint partly drying in mid-air before it hits the target.
or
2. Improper paint atomization - blobs of paint hitting the target rather than tiny droplets.

Which it is will depend on your paint, temperature, humidity, compressor combination.

I did have the airbrush quite far from the model, and I think this may have been compounding the issue. What's the ideal distance to spray from?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Didn't we have this conversation a while back? Or was it someone else who asked?

Yeah, sprayed paint pretty much always comes out more matte. You can reduce the effect by thinning more and dropping the pressure, but airbrushed paint is always going to look more matte. That's why Vallejo Air paints if you try and paint them by hand come out glossy, Vallejo intentionally mixed them glossy because when you spray them, they shift toward the matte side.

You also have the general texture effect, painting with a hairy brush has a different texture than painting with an airbrush.

Lastly you have coverage, you typically airbrush layers thinner and more transparent than you do when you hairy brush paint them. If you did a thin coat of paint over a white undercoat, you'll never get a match when you come back to hairy brush over it.

As how to fix it? I try my best to avoid having to touch up an area with a hairy brush after airbrushing it. Sometimes if I do have to touch up an area I try and use the airbrush to do it, or do a few super thin layers with a hairy brush (to avoid streaks) then use an airbrush to finish it off. Sometimes even if you airbrush on a different day you'll get a different result though.

At the end if you apply a varnish it'll tend to homogenise the surface and reduce the difference between hairy brushed and airbrushed paints, but it's still likely going to be slightly visible.

If it's an issue with the undercoat affecting the colour you can have a crack using different undercoat colours, or maybe using an intermediate colour between your undercoat and your main colour.

'Twas not I.

It's a black undercoat, so that's not causing the lightness issue, and I did a number of layers, so I doubt that's the source of the desaturation either.

Last night I di try putting a drop or two of "Ardcoat in my mix, and really liked the result, but It clogged my airbrush almost immediately.

Anyone know of a good gloss varnish that won't clog?

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
Didn't we have this conversation a while back? Or was it someone else who asked?

Yeah, sprayed paint pretty much always comes out more matte. You can reduce the effect by thinning more and dropping the pressure, but airbrushed paint is always going to look more matte. That's why Vallejo Air paints if you try and paint them by hand come out glossy, Vallejo intentionally mixed them glossy because when you spray them, they shift toward the matte side.

Just realized my compressor is filling up to about 45psi. Pretty sure that's too high... What's the best psi to work with for basecoating, and do I want the gauge there when the tank is full, or do I want it to dip to that pressure while spraying?