Getting Your Airbrush Basics Down Pat

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Getting Your Airbrush Basics Down Pat
What's happening when you spray?

Let's explore the basic underlying concepts of spraying with an airbrush. Once you know what's happening and why, you'll be able to bend or even break the normal rules to create stunning effects and techniques.

Remember...

"Knowledge is power"

Aerosol spray

Airbrush basics start with the spray. Knowing what's happening gives you the power to control and modify the effects you're trying to achieve.

Technical jargon warning.

An aerosol spray is a mixture of two or more liquids with a gas. The liquid gets separated into tiny droplets, atomized. The atomized liquid is suspended in the gas, usually air.

Liquids in suspension tend to settle. It gradually falls to the floor.

End of technical jargon.

When the liquid hits the air stream the force of the moving air breaks up and atomizes the liquid into small globules (think tiny spheres but not nearly so neat and perfect as a sphere should be).

When the globule hits something it forms a dot. The height and width of the dot is determined by how much the droplet dries before impact with the surface.

Greater air pressure = smaller dot = drier, rougher spray texture

Lower air pressure = larger dot = wetter, smoother spray texture

Thousands of these tiny dots (many of them smaller compared to you can see) form larger shapes as determined by the user.

Users try to spray with as little pressure as possible, but enough to actually break up the paint being sprayed.

Thicker, chunkier paint = greater pressure to drag and atomize the paint

Runnier, more uniform paint = less pressure to drag and atomize the paint