This was an interview I did a number of years ago.

CREATING YOUR FIRST PAINTING

We are at the point of painting. We have our design that we have created or gathered from books magazines or internet. As mentioned, if you can use an image editing software in goes a long way towards visualizing your mural before you even start painting. I use these composites to show the customer what the mural will look like from all gathered reference materials. I have a tattoo design site and I have cool designs there you can use as a resource. liquidskyn.comSet up your airbrush and mix your paint. Depending on the type of paint your using mixing ratios will vary. I use a test sheet to test the flow of paint. if you see a grainy flow the paint is to thick, thin it a little more. If it splatters it is too thin. High pressure on your compressor will also do this. Make sure it is set between 40 and 50 psi. Experience will tell you if yuor paint is mixed properly. Using an exacto knife and cutting board, carfully cut your design out. Start with the basic shape first. Tack it with masking tape and spray in the basic shape. Be careful to not build an edge on the shape. Cut out various other parts to get the basic shape and lines. Once you have up your general sgape you can start to freehand all of you details in.

Wicked Trunk Mural by Magik

I posted this Video some time back on you tube. Watch my hand movements and how guide my airbrush.  it is important to be relaxed and fluid. 

Well I discussed a bit on getting started if you have drawing abilities.  But if you are a little lite on the drawing part of it it disn;t mean your out of the airbrush game.  With computers it is easy to design and print out your own airbrush stencils.  You can pick up Photoshop CS3 a lite version of Photoshop for around a hundred dollars.  Or you may already have less sophisticated app to re size crop and composite photos and artwork in your computer.  Many times they are bundled with you printer software. You can use an online photo editor to create your stencils.  A good one I found is at  http://fotoflexer.com/

You can then print out the design you have created and using an xacto knife cut out you stencil from standard paper.  This can be used as a lite stencil.  You just want a lite shape, you don't want any hard edge build up.
So you can get by with less ability, but my best advise is to practice practice and more practice. Airbrushing is an art form and must be understood as so. 

Many get the idea since it is a spray gun it is like using a spray gun to paint a house or car.  The better the artist you are, the better the finished project will look and the better the chance you will succeed becoming an airbrush artist.

Your First Project

Now your ready to go!  Well you have no customers right now, because you have no samples to show.  Everyone has a different level of ability and talent,  I'll assume if you are really interested in airbrushing you have been drawing or painting a for some time.  If you are at this level than it will be a matter of making up some sketches for some ideas.  You can also go online and look at some great airbrush art.  Now your creative juices are cooking.  Your first airbrush paintings can be fairly simple just to get the feel of painting with an airbrush.  Depending on how realistic you want your work to appear it will depend on your knowledge of light and shadow.  How ti get textures with airbrush also can prove to be a challenge.  But that challenge and others can be overcome.  You can use illustration board to create your samples on, and then spray a little gloss over your work to get rid of spray patterns that occur on your work.   If you are doing T-shirts than just create some sample T-shirts. If you want to show how your work will look on metal than a trip to the auto dismantling  yard.  Now get painting!

Choosing Airbrush Paint

Alright you got your compressor, you picked out your airbrush, but wait there is something missing....paint.  Depending what you going to paint pretty much dictates what you going to use.  If your planning on painting T-shits, than you will need a good textile paint.  If you going to paint a sign, a durable enamel will do.  A custom vehicle, automotive paint you will need.  Now I started out with  One Shot which is a sign painter and pin striping paint.  It had great flow and was relatively inexpensive, we're talking thirty years ago.  It is a solvent based paint and you need a well ventilated area and should wear a industry approved paint mask.  I was concerned about the health risk using this kind of paint. In the early 90's I switched to the new water based enamels. I loved them! I enjoyed painting so much more. Easy to use, easy to clean up, and much less clogging. I started with a brand called Deka. It had a great flow and worked well with free handing. I used it for about ten years until it was discontinued.  I was upset over this and I had to find to a suitable replacement.  I tried Auto Air from Createx which I could buy locally.  I was not happy with the flow of the paint.  Then Createx came out with Detail Colors as part of their automotive line. It was a new formula, and it had a great flow, I was a happy camper again.

Createx has since discontinued the Detail Colors line and they incorporated the new formula into their standard Auto Air line.

Begining to airbrush.

Image via Wikipedia

When you first pick up an airbrush it feels a little different then what you are use to, as with a pen or pencil. With a single action airbrush you will use it more like a spray gun to paint small areas like model cars and such.  But with a double action you can use it like a pen and spray gun.  This is the power of a double action airbrush.  For the novice it will take some time getting use to the trigger action.  Pushing down for airflow control and pulling back for paint volume. Now you can start by painting dots of various sizes and placing them at equal distances.  Making dots smaller you will learn about volume control. You will probably splatter a few but that's alright you need just to get use to trigger. Next you can start to arc your spray pattern to get a shaded effect. Move the airbrush close to the surface to get a sharp line and pull away and pull back on the lever to to widen to a shaded effect. A slight flick of the wrist will go a long way here.  Once you feel comfortable with the triggering action of your airbrush you are ready to paint something simple.