How to: Air Brush Detail
Airbrushing is a way to paint quickly and easily. Airbrushing in detail can be a little harder than most paint tools as the aerosol paint is a gas and therefore spreads out in a somewhat chaotic fashion. You can control this by using painter's tape and stencils. Stencils allow for you to paint in detail by blocking the sprayed paint from going onto the sections of the canvas that you do not want to airbrush.
Things You'll Need
- Painter's tape
- Stencils
- Construction paper
- Scissors
- Scrap paper
- Safety goggles
- Face respirator
Instructions
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1
Put on your safety goggles and respirator whenever airbrushing as the paint can easily get in your lungs and eyes. The goggles should fit snugly but not be tight, and the face mask should surround your mouth but not hurt. The company 3M sells a line of full-mask respirators that also protect the eyes; they would be a worthwhile investment if you airbrush a lot.
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Sketch out your design idea first on a piece of paper. You do not need to be exact at this moment, you just need to get your ideas down on paper and establish ratios. Once you have an idea of what you want the design to look like, take a piece of construction paper and draw out stencils for your design. Cut away the excess paper with a pair of scissors.
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3
Place the stencil against a scrap piece of paper and airbrush the design out. Take the stencil away and see if the design is what you want. If not, then adjust further with your scissors or start a new stencil design. When satisfied, place the stencil against your canvas and tape it into place with painter's tape. Tape scrap paper over any nearby parts that you want to protect.
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Turn the nozzle on the airbrush to its finest setting and then paint over the stencil. Even though you have protected the other parts of the canvas with scrap paper, you should still avoid painting in areas that you do not want to paint to avoid any bleed-through. Take the stencil off the canvas when you are done to inspect the work.
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Touch up the design where needed by placing the stencil against the canvas by hand and using quick, small sprays. When satisfied, use another stencil on another potion of the canvas. Repeat this process until you have painted your entire work.
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References
- Photo Credit grainy texture of a painted concrete wall image by GoodMood Photo from Fotolia.com
