How to Airbrush

You can create beautiful accents and wearable art using an airbrush and a few simple tricks and techniques. The techniques aren’t difficult to learn, though they require a bit of practice. Once you’ve mastered them, though, there’s no limit to the surfaces you can decorate— from car hoods and motorcycle helmets to t-shirts and leather jackets. Here’s how to get started airbrushing using a stencil to guide your design.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Surface to be painted
• Airbrush
• Air compressor
• Airbrush ready paints
• Face mask
• Exhaust fan
• Masking tape
• Stencil

Prepare Your Work Area

1. Work in a room with adequate venting, or outside if possible.

2. Use an exhaust fan to blow air out of the room while you are painting to avoid breathing in the fumes.

3. Clean the surface you are going to paint. This is especially important if you are painting a hard surface like the hood of a car. Any grease or dirt will affect the way the paint adheres. If you are airbrushing a design on fabric, wash the fabric to remove any sizing.

4. Mask any areas that will not be painted. For large surfaces, use newspaper with masking tape. If you are working on a small surface, masking tape alone may be enough.

5. Spray the back of your stencil with spray adhesive. This gives a much better result than taping the stencil in place as it will prevent paint from running behind the stencil and smudging.

6. Position the stencil on the surface you will be painting. Press firmly from the center outward to remove any air bubbles.

Prepare your Airbrush

7. Choose an internal double action airbrush if you’re buying new and can afford it. The extra control you get with a double action trigger and better coverage from the paint will be worth the additional expense.

8. Follow the instructions with your airbrush to fill the paint cup with paint and attach the airbrush to an air compressor.

Paint your Project

9. Practice on scrap paper or wood first. Do this even if you’ve used an airbrush before. Practicing by making dots, lines and daggers on scrap material before tackling your project will limber up your arm and loosen up your grip so that you’ll be able to paint more freely.

10. Holding the airbrush several inches from your canvas, press the trigger forward to start the flow of air.

11. Move your arm to move the airbrush into the area where you want to apply paint.

12. Press the trigger to start the flow of paint once your arm is moving. Release the paint trigger when you want to stop the flow of paint, but keep the air flowing throughout your work.

13. Fill in the larger areas with swooping, smooth movements of your arm and upper body.

14. Move further from the canvas for wider, fuzzier lines of paint. Move closer for more precise details.

15. Build paint in layers rather than trying to apply a single dark coat.

16. Add details with a paintbrush.

Tips & Warnings

• Use airbrush ready paints for best results, especially when you are first starting.
• Safety First! Always use a mask when airbrushing even in well-ventilated areas.