AirBrushes and Scanners:

[Kittywolf13]

I have two general questions which are not related to each other in any shape or form.

:?: 1.) i'm trying to get into airbrushing. I have a cheap airbrush and a compressor (somewhere.) I know i'll need better equipment later down the road, but for now, i need to just practice and get the hang of things...any suggestions for starting?

Like type of paint to use? the airbrush has the small jars that screw into the nozzle/pen part.

work area? is there a particular work area? i'll have to work outdoors, cause my art room is not big enough to make a designated work area for airbrushing...at least till i get a better handle on it so i dont spray everything includeing myself.

and if you can recommend some good airbrush brands so i can look into it and re-search for futue investments.

:?: 2.) i need a new scanner. so suggestions for a good scanner would be highly appreciated. :) the scanner at work is pretty nice and fast. its an HP i think...and other then scanning a little on the light side, it works well. suggestions?

thank you ahead of time for any looks and answers given. :D

[creature]

OMG! someone finally asked a question I know something about...

Airbrushes that is. An excellent brand of airbrush is Iwata, I have several and use them daily. The "eclipse" model is a great one to start with and a fair value price wise. I have heard that Richpen and Grex are also a good brush but I've never tried one and can't speak to their quality.

As for paint, most of my airbrushing ends up on cars and motorcycles so I use automotive urethanes. These can be quite toxic and ample ventalation is a must. Createx is a line of water based paints that don't have near the mutanagentic properties and would probably be your best bet.

Work area - You can use an air conditioner filter taped to a simple box fan to pull the overspray and fumes away. The filter will capture most of the dust and keep it from getting all over everything.

Also, there are a ton of airbrush forums out there that have a wealth of information all about airbrushing. You might want to check out some of them to get more airbrush specific info.

Goodluck and have fun, just remember to practice, practice, practice!

Creature

[Kittywolf13]

thanks for all the info creature! i'm sure that will help me out. i would be interested in painting cars/motorcycles if i can get to a level of that. can you suggest any non-auto paint for practice purposes? i figure it has to be waterbase, but i dont know. :P also any good links for forums to start out at? thanks heeps!! :D

[Scubasteve]

I just purchased an airbrush and compressor from ebay to do a mural job I have. Im using cheap Hobby Lobby acryilcs, Thining the hell out of them so they don't gunk up the brush. I didn't think people used them anymore outside of automotive art. Good to hear it isn't a lost art!

[creature]

For practice I would suggest Createx, it's water based and can probably be found at your local hobby lobby or art supply store.

http://www.createxcolors.com/

Another cool water-based paint is Auto Air. These are paints made specifically for automotive applications but still water based.

http://www.autoaircolors.com/

One extremely important concept to know regarding airbrush - use of transparent colors. In the automotive world these paints are called "candies" since they mimick the effect of a candied apple - hence "candy apple red" etc. What you will see over and over again in the airbrush world is that most paintings are done in an opaque white and then over laid with transparent colors. The reason I mention all this is that when you go to get your paint, don't just get all opaque colors. Get a few transparent or "candy" colors to experiment with.

A good site with lot's-o-info for the beginner is:

http://www.airbrush.com/

Check out some of the tutorials, there was one just posted on a step by step of a dragon. This will illustrate what I mean regarding the use of transparent colors.

If you do get into the whole airbrush thing and want to do cars and bikes, you can make some reasonable money doing it. I make anywhere from a thousand to 2 grand a month in extra income doing custom motorcycles as a side job working at nights and weekends. The reward is there if you are willing to put in the work. For me it's awesome - I have people pay me to paint demons, monsters, skulls, fire (all the best things in life). Right now I'm working on an "Evil Clown" theme bike. You gotta love the biker community, where else could I get to paint evil clowns...

c.

[Scubasteve]

waterbased automotive paints? Sweet!

[Justice41]

I do some airbrushing. I use an Iwata with a small compressor from Iwata called the Smartjet. I use liquitex acrylics watered down. I also use Gouache and PH Martin dyes but they can be a real mess. I've wanted to get into doing moto's and cars but working on a curved surface's can be daunting as well as tiring. You'll have to learn to use an exacto knife and waste a lot of paper and vellum or sheets of plastic for masking off areas when you paint others.
You can find a fairly decent and cheap large format scanner here. It scans in 11"x17" artwork. http://www.provantage.com/mustek-9810400050~7MSTD00L.htm.

[masque]

choice of an airbrush (both make & model) is often determined by its intended use. hobby 'brushes may not be suitable for fine illustration work. fine illo 'brushes would probably suck for automotive applications. the differences are in the flow control and spray patterns the available mechanisms, tips & needles can provide. choice of medium can also strongly influence the choice of 'brush. so be sure to study up on how airbrushes work and what they can do before shelling out the money for one, and get what works best for your intended tasks.

Paasche is another brand that offers a wide range of 'brush types, they've been a name in the biz for a loooong time.

last advice: if you start 'brushing a lot, get a respirator mask, or at the very least a tight-fitting "surgeon's-style" over-the-mouth-and-nose filter mask. unless you're working directly under a high-volume vent fan, you will otherwise be inhaling overspray, and some pigments and media can be harmful to your lungs and nasal passages. you might not be able to work outdoors effectively if there's any wind, or unless it's in a very sheltered area, but in any case, take precautions for your health. it can be annoying to use a mask, but it beats lung disease.

[Kittywolf13]

thanks for the oodles of info guys! i will certainly look into it. i have to do serious research because finding supplies will be a little diffcult in my town, as theres only a Michaeles here. its a small town. for right now my purposes will probably be just paper and maybe fabric air brushing. id love to be able to do automotoives and bikes but since i'm just beggining, its obvious thats waaaaay out of my league. :) thanks for all the advice. :D

[bat]

I run a large Yahoogroup dedicated to airbrushing, you are free to join and ask questions there as well.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/airbrushing/

The best airbrushing supplies can be found at:

http://www.dixieart.com/

[Kittywolf13]

thanks for the info bat. :)

[NikitaDarkstar]

AS for the scanner question, I can't really tell you whats good, but don't get a Lexmark scanner got one myself and it honestly sucks and the few other pepoel I know who has Lexmark scanners aren't happy with them (they should stick to printers, thats what they do best), also try to not get a multi machince the scanners in them always seem to be of lower quality than a normal, simple flatbed scanner. From what I've heard HP and Canon does the best scanners so I'd look into either of them if I where you.

anyway thats just my own personal experience of a few different machines, some pepole may agree so may not, but yhea.