Do I have to have an airbrush to make things look good?

[painting]

I just can't afford an airbrush and air compressor right now and won't be able to for a while. I can afford primer like Rustoleum Painter's Touch or the lead/metal figures and Krylon for my plastic ones, but after that I have acrylic and paint brushes.

Am I doomed to failure? Is it almost impossible unless you are "the best" when you don't have an airbrush? Thanks.

 

[Spoontoes]

To my knowledge an airbrush is just a tool, same as a paintbrush and no more or less essential for mini painting, I'm sure it has applications that it is more suitable to use than a brush, but vice-versa is also true. Personally I don't own or use one - but then I'm only a beginner so wouldn't use that as an argument for or against particularly.

Having said that - personally I'd think you'd get most use out of an airbrush for bigger models (e.g. vehicles) rather than smaller figurines.

 

[gohkm]

Spoontoes is absolutely right - the airbrush is simply a tool. It requires a different skillset to use to the utmost, as opposed to a paintbrush. I would suggest that you focus on a blending technique that works for you - the best paintjobs have beautiful blends, with high contrast and solid colour choices.

The airbrush is great for covering large areas quickly, and with sufficient practice and control, one could blend quite seamlessly with the airbrush. But such control is difficult to learn and achieve, no more different than trying to achieve the smoothness of blends done by, say, Jennifer Haley.

Different tools - different skillsets. Just pick one which you like and start practicing. That's really the only way to become the best.

Something else to consider with the airbrush is its cleaning requirements - airbrushes require plenty of maintenance. 15 minutes of spraying might net you another 30 minutes of cleaning ...

 

[me_in_japan]

agreed - I've been painting for twenty years, and only the last two of them have been with an airbrush. The airbrush doesnt make it any easier. It's just another tool, and like a regular brush it takes years (and years) to become skillful in its use. While I've certainly found it handy for quick undercoats or applying smooth blends over whole minis, or quick zenithal highlights, the only time I've found it invaluable was when I was doing a bunch of nurgle space marine vehicles, and i used it extensively for base coating and weathering. For single minis I'd say even if you had an airbrush you'd still be better served just painting them with a regular paintbrush.

 

[Dragonsreach]

Do I have to have an airbrush to make things look good?
The most simple answer is of course not. Time, Patience, Practise and the desire to paint well are better tools than an airbrush.
For 28mm figures, such as a the vast majority of figures on here, the added control and smoothness that an airbrush can give is wasted on something so small. It's when you look to busts and Figures in the 1/6th - 1/10th scale and vehicles that it comes into its own.

Am I doomed to failure?
"Failure is always an option"...Adam Savage, Mythbusters. I'm going to be honest everyone stuffs up a paintjob now and again, that's why Dettol, Simple Green and Oven Cleaner have been discovered to strip paint off a mini. It may be annoying at the time but people learn by mistakes. (Well some of us do eventually)

Is it almost impossible unless you are "the best" when you don't have an airbrush?
Hell No! Forty years ago Lynn Sangster used to knock socks of people painting 54mm figures in Oils. Way back then airbrushes were so expensive that only professional graphic artists could afford them. As I've said an Airbrush is simply A tool and not a critical one either. Far better to invest in good quality brushes that suite your painting method, perhaps a painting DVD and plenty of miniatures on which to practise.
Thanks.

No problem.

 

[MrPickles]

everything in my gallery was done without an airbrush. take a look and judge for yourself.

 

[freakinacage]

I think an airbrush seriously helps for larger stuff, but no, it is NOT essential

 

[airhead]

I love my airbrushes, but would not dream of using them on 28 mm minis except for priming or base coating. But I use rattle cans for that. Duplo automotive primer comes in several colors and is too easy compared to setting up and later cleaning an airbrush.

 

[painting]

No problem.

Thanks (everyone). Are there good tutorials which do not use an airbrush?

edit: sorry. I saw the articles up top. I can probably find something in there.

 

[Tommie Soule]

i DO own one. i CAN use one. i DON'T use one. Why? Just cos really. I agree it's just a tool with it's own strengths and weaknesses.

T

 

[Mourner]

I own, and use an airbrush, and I must say it's great... but only where it works...

Some things are just easier with a brush and others are easier with an airbrush.
I've only used my airbrush on basecoats so far, simply painting "large" areas in the color i want them to be, and preshading and highlighting them.
Basically the same thing I used to do with a traditional brush, just faster and easier.

Once these steps are done, I switch back to traditional brush to clean everything up, add more colors and smooth any transitions I've set up using my Airbrush.

So my airbrush is just another tool to improve and speed up my painting.
Any paint you see on the finished model is done by brush, the preparations underneath that are airbrush.

So, bottom line.... IMO, brushes and brushskill are more important than any gadget.
Airbrushes are nice, but they only paint area's, and only in one color.

 

[RuneBrush]

Just reiterating what's been said really, that an airbrush is just a different kind of brush for painting. You can achieve gradients that would be difficult with a bristled brush and blending between two vastly different colours can be easier.

Personally I wouldn't be without my airbrush, especially for large models. However if you're only just starting out with painting I'd steer clear until you've got to grips with painting traditionally. There is just as much practice needed with an airbrush as with a bristled brush and it's better to have "traditional" skills as a foundation. Additionally it's a lot cheaper

 

[Tommie Soule]

Just reiterating what's been said really, that an airbrush is just a different kind of brush for painting. You can achieve gradients that would be difficult with a bristled brush and blending between two vastly different colours can be easier.

Personally I wouldn't be without my airbrush, especially for large models. However if you're only just starting out with painting I'd steer clear until you've got to grips with painting traditionally. There is just as much practice needed with an airbrush as with a bristled brush and it's better to have "traditional" skills as a foundation. Additionally it's a lot cheaper

yes. well said.

 

[Ydouneed2nomyname]

I have an airbrush. And I don't use it often. It's just a pain to try and set it up properly in a ventilated area and all that. Plus you can't do any advanced techniques like blending, layering, glazing, etc. with it. I only use my airbrush for vehicles, terrain, and one color-oriented miniatures like Space Marines. And in order to really get the best out of an airbrush is you need a really nice airbrush and a really nice compressor. So don't get one unless you can afford a $200-400 airbrush and a $150-$300 compressor. I have a $100 kit with an airbrush and compressor and its just not worth it. Hope my opinion helped!
P.S-Many Golden Demon winners don't use airbrushes...

 

[QuietiManes]

Plus you can't do any advanced techniques like blending, layering, glazing, etc. with it.

Well, you could, you'd just need to practice hard for a few years non-stop with a quality fine tip airbrush and fine detail paint, urethane, ink, whatever. THEN you could do something worth using an airbrush over a spray can with the airbrush, until then, it's just a cheaper (long term) and more versatile version of a spray can. At least, for just about everyone who's ever used them on their mini's. As mentioned, no one really does much with an airbrush on mini's smaller than a few inches.

Tutorials can be found through your favourite search engine. Youtube has tonnes. These sites are also a wealth of knowledge (and of course there are plenty others):

http://www.airbrushtutor.com/how-to-airbrush.html

http://airbrush-guidance.com/

http://theairbrushforum.com/

They're not about mini painting with an airbrush, but the surface doesn't matter. Well, you need to control the paint and pressure differently on different surfaces...but yeah, you'll need to learn it all anyway, to get anywhere with airbrushing.

 

[Ydouneed2nomyname]

Well, you could, you'd just need to practice hard for a few years non-stop with a quality fine tip airbrush and fine detail paint, urethane, ink, whatever. THEN you could do something worth using an airbrush over a spray can with the airbrush, until then, it's just a cheaper (long term) and more versatile version of a spray can. At least, for just about everyone who's ever used them on their mini's. As mentioned, no one really does much with an airbrush on mini's smaller than a few inches.

That's what I'm saying. It's just not worth it unless you get a really nice setup. If you're just basecoating a large figure, a spray can is much better. I use my cheapo airbrush kit just so it's not sitting around getting old. But I totally agree with you. You can do the things you mentioned. I made a mistake.

 

[Einion]

Well, you could, you'd just need to practice hard for a few years non-stop...

Totally not - you're thinking of them used in a much more detailed or meticulous way than is necessary for a 3D object.

As long as someone already knows how to paint well (good handle on colour etc.) and can get the airbrush to cooperate they should be able to get up and running airbrushing miniatures in a single session, literally within the first hour or two.

Although obviously there is a lot of scope for improvement with more experience zenithal spraying should easily yield results someone would be happy with in the first session.

...with a quality fine tip airbrush and fine detail paint, urethane, ink, whatever.

These were done using a single-action plastic airbrush that cost about 20 bucks, with paint that started out roughly the consistency of toothpaste

Einion

 

[QuietiManes]

Well...yeah, but you've got more art knowledge in your head than an encyclopedia! ") How large are those and was only the airbrush used?

I meant painting everything with an airbrush on 25-50mm minis (very meticulous). As in, doing the details like eyes and all the colours and highlights and shading. Takes a long time to build up the muscle control even after you gain the knowledge and experience (for most people, as far as I know). I guess it depends, a "fine detail" type of artist might pick it up in no time.

 

[Einion]

Well...yeah, but you've got more art knowledge in your head than an encyclopedia! ")

This was long before I had that installed

Seriously though the spraying techniques used are really simple and only the basic colour modelling was done with the airbrush like is now shown in a number of guides - a couple of layers of shade and highlight over the base colour. Everything else was done by brush including tidying up the sprayed areas and tweaking them where needed (this is the hardest thing about this technique, seamlessly blending brushwork with the airbrushing).

I can't remember the scale of these two busts, 1/9 and 1/6th? The Rainy Mountain Charlie bust is roughly 70mm from the bottom edge of the blanket to the crown of the hat, the Cossack about 60mm from the cutoff to the crown of the head.

I meant painting everything with an airbrush on 25-50mm minis (very meticulous). As in, doing the details like eyes and all the colours and highlights and shading.

Oh yeah, totally. I don't think anyone does that for small-scale work anyway, I can't imagine even trying*. My point was that you don't need to mess with anything like that to make it worth using an airbrush for more than basecoating (making it essentially a glorified spraygun). Zenithal spraying really is just as easy in practice as it looks or sounds from a demo or a written description.

Einion

*Even for larger stuff I don't think it's worth the effort to do much in the way of detail spraying - up to the equivalent of the airbrush work done on modern AFV kits would be about as far as I'd take it.