Ultimate Guide to Airbrushes - Beginner guide

if I told you that there's one tool that

can make you paint faster make your

paint jobs look smoother and give you a

better understanding of what makes a

good paint job all in one tool I'm

pretty sure you wouldn't believe me but

at the end of this video I'm not only

going to show you why the airbrush does

that but also how to use it how to not

break it and best of all how I use it to

get the most from my airbrush let's get

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started to make your life easier this

video will be spit up into five

categories and you may want to replay

some of these to really get a great

understanding of how to get the most

from your airbrush and to make your life

easier while using it and here's the

categories what is an airbrush and why

would you use it what should I buy and

what do I need to get started the basics

of using an airbrush how to clean your

airbrush and how to not break it and

lastly what are your next step to get

the most from your

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airbrush

chapter a what's an airbrush and how

should I use it the airbrush is

essentially just another painting tool

in Your Arsenal of painting tools where

you add paint up here in the cup you

push in air through the bottom of the

airbrush and force them both to the

front to get a nice smooth spray of

paint and not only do they give you a

really nice flow but with the right

airbrush workflow you can get really

nice smooth finish to your paint jobs

speed up your painting process by

probably three four times even more

vibrant colors than you do today and

using an airbrush should never fully

replace the work you do with a regular

paintbrush it should complement it is

quite similar to how a screwdriver

doesn't replace the work the hammer does

it just speeds things up and can be used

for a couple of things that the Hammer

Can't do in its Essence it's a

compliment to the

brush most of the things I will talked

about today will be Through The Eyes of

a miniature painter because that's what

I am but even as an artist painting on a

canvas or maybe a tractor or a hockey

helmet you'll be able to get something

from this video as a ton of these tips

are applicable across all Hobbies the

biggest Improvement and the biggest

thing that the airbrush unlocked for me

is how it made painting my Warhammer

armies way more bearable and cuts down

my Army painting Time by at least 80%

and when I do my high-end paint jobs not

only does it speed up the painting

process but it also helps me get a paint

job that's a lot smoother and it helps

me get the general shapes of the paint

job way more accurate than it does when

I paint everything with just a regular

brush and of course at a way higher

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speed chapter B what should I buy and

what do I need to get started there are

three main things that you need to pick

up to get started with your airbrushing

the first and obvious one an airbrush

but you also need a compressor and a

hose that leads between the compressor

and the airbrush so let's get started on

which airbrush you should buy because as

a beginner it can be quite overwhelming

to pick the right one and most all

airbrushes are good at at least one

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thing when painting miniatures and Scale

Models like I do a gravity feed dual

action airbrush tends to be the way to

go this is the most common airbrush and

just like the name in first the paint is

being forced down with gravity to the

front of the airbrush and then pushed

out with air and dual feed means that

you can control the air flow and the

amount of paint released through the

airbrush separately by pushing down the

trigger you introduce air to the

airbrush and by pulling back the trigger

you release the paint and the further

back you pull it the more paint is

released through the front of the

airbrush and this is the order you

should always do things pushing down the

air first and then releasing paint but

we'll talk more about that in just a

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second there are tons of of different

airbrushes to pick from from the super

cheap Chinese no brand airbrushes to the

decent low price airbrushes like sparm

Max and Badger to the mid-range and

high-end airbrushes like iata and harder

in Steinbeck and all these airbrush

brands are to some extent a Precision

Tool but to make things easier for you

I'm going to categorize them from my

personal experience using all these

kinds of airbrushes and then let you

know which airbrush I think you should

pick up depending on where you are in

your airbrush Journey let's start with a

cheap noname brands that you can get off

wish or

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Amazon this is two airbrushes from wish

this one cost $50 with a compressor and

this one cost $15 in my personal opinion

this airbrush that we picked up is not a

good airbrush because it does not give

you a lot of control and it's quite

difficult to use this one however did

give a decent spray and for $15 you

might think that this is a great

beginner airbrush but let's talk more

about that because not only is it a

50/50 if you get a good airbrush when

you buy these cheap ones because of the

quality control being really subpar but

my main issue with it is that it feels

like it's been engineered by someone who

doesn't airbrush themselves they are

difficult to clean and difficult to

control and will make a beginner

airbrusher just as miserable as a

cryptos sue investor but if you are an

experienced painter and want a throwaway

airbrush one that it's okay if it breaks

maybe you have stuff where you spray

with PVA glue or enamel paints things

that easily break up your finer

airbrushes that are a little bit more

expensive this is a perfect airbrush for

that type of use where you maybe don't

need the best control you just need

something that doesn't matter if it

breaks so it does have a great purpose

so to summarize a great tool for a very

specific user at a very low

cost it's time to jump onto our next

category and this is the kind of low

priced mid-range airbrushes from more

serious airbrush manufacturers on the

cheaper lower end we have sparm Maxx and

Badger and then to the more mid-range we

have the cheaper versions from iata and

harder and steam Bay and the last one

named I am quite biased about because we

are sponsored by harder and steam

Bay but 100% transparency this is also

the brand that I used way before I

started this YouTube channel and started

collaborating with the Mesa brand and

all of these airbrush Brands make at

least decent airbrushes that will in

some ways be good for beginners because

they all spray well and are decently

easy to clean some may be easier than

others like the hard R steam they have a

very easy to remove front end compared

to say The Spar Max where you need a

tool to remove the nozzle and normally

these cheaper airbrushes are fitted with

a point4 needle instead of the smaller

ones that are2 or 0.15 that are really

difficult for a beginner to mix paints

for and having a bigger needle in an

airbrush means that you have a slightly

bigger air flow making them perfect for

the base tasks that a beginner will use

things like adding your first base coat

priming your miniature or maybe painting

on flat large surfaces like vehicles or

big monsters and Giants and here's a

little bit where my bias comes in

because one of the brands hard steam

have just recently redesigned a cheaper

airbrush to be an even better fit for a

beginner because instead of just making

it with cheaper materials but they have

changed the design of the airb so that

to the same price as the other brands

they've been able to add features that

make it easier for a beginner airbrusher

to learn how to use the airbrush giving

you different steps showing you how far

you should be from the subject depending

on which Step you have on the airbrush

so that you can't pull the lever too far

back and other things like designing the

trigger so that you can't pull it back

until you pushed it down to release Air

through the front meaning you'll have no

paint splatter and less problems with

clogged airbrushes so while all of these

airbrushes probably can get you the same

end result one of them will be slightly

easier to use for a beginner so while

this airbrush won't give you a finer

atomization of the paint it is going to

make it easier for the person who just

got started with painting to get the

most from a beginner airbrush and the

good thing is even if you're a beginner

now and pick one of these airbrushes up

all of these different airbrushes you

will be able to use even when you become

more experienced and picked up one of

the airbrushes we will talk about in The

Next Step and I've used at least three

of these iata farax and Harden steam

Beck and all three have delivered me

great results speaking off let's jump to

the mid-range airbrushes the $1 1220 to

$250 airbrushes like the harder and Ste

Evolution and iata Eclipse most of the

airbrushes in this range is designed to

be an every man's airbrush meaning a

tool that is great at everything but not

a master at

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anything this is the harder and

steenbeck evolution this have been my

Workhorse for about 5 years so since way

before I started this channel this

specific one is the one that we released

about 2 years ago as a limited edition

thing and today actually we releas

released another version of it together

with Harden Steck with some updated

features and a new design but we'll talk

more about that at the end of the

video I use this for about 80 to 90% of

my airbrush work whenever I need an army

painted fast wherever I paint a vehicle

where I need a little bit bigger spray

but also for some of the detail work

that I do when I want to be able to do

stuff fast without having big worries

and because of how well designed iata

and harder and steam backck airbrushes

are having an airbrush needle that's 35

or4 is never going to be an issue with

these quite the opposite it's going to

make your life a lot easier and you will

be able to paint pretty much everything

even if it has a bigger needle that's

technically not designed to give you the

finest control so this is an airbrush

that I recommend pretty much anyone even

the high-end users can have a good use

for this one but mainly people who need

an airbrush that is good at

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everything

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now on to the high-end airbrushes like

the iata Micron or harder and steam

Infiniti earlier in my career I used to

say that the best airbrush to buy is the

one that you can afford and is within

your budget but I don't really agree to

that anymore because the way that these

airbrushes are designed it is to give

you the utmost control of the finest

details and to get the this ultimate

control of the finest details you need

to be an experienced airbrusher and you

need to already have mastered how to mix

your paints for the finer details on top

of that painting this type of fine

detail requires a really Steady Hand and

a good control of the spray of the paint

think of it like a race car the same way

that a Formula 1 car requires a

completely different control in the gas

and braking and turning to say a regular

Audi this one and I what Micron does as

well so the high-end airbrushes I only

recommend to the people that need the

finest control for the finest details

and generally the more expensive the

airbrush is the smaller the needle they

come with this one comes with a 0.15 mm

needle and I want the Micron come with a

0.18 meaning that the spray that you get

from these is super narrow but when you

need that super fine detail and you have

that skill these airbrushes will give

you such an amazing

control

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to summarize for $15 you can get a

really good airbrush for a specific use

but it's going to give you a terrible

time especially if you're a beginner and

it might actually stop you from using an

airbrush to that extent where it will

help you and speed up your painting

process the $80 to $120 airbrushes are

great for beginners any of the brands we

talked about are good enough but my

personal favorite and my biy goes to the

hard and Ste Bic ones that are designed

for

beginners the $120 to $200 airbrushes

are great for everything and everyone

from beginner to professional as they

are easy to clean and easy to spray and

have a good quality of the spray and the

more expensive ones are designed for the

professionals so I do not recommend them

for beginners even if you can't afford

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it let's hop on to the compressor and

there's a plethora of options to select

from there are these Snap-on portable

compressors oil pistons and single

piston engine compressors there's a few

things to consider when buying a

compressor the two main ones what is my

budget and what am I using it for

generally it's better to first pick up

the airbrush that is best for your usage

and then adjust your budget for the

compressor because the airbrush will be

a bigger factor in the quality of the

spray y yet with that though there is

one thing that I feel like every

compressor should have and that is

control of the pressure and this one

does not have that some of these have

two steps you can have two different air

pressures but this one has one so

they're not really great for anything

but if that's the only thing you can

afford and you just want something to

help you prime your miniature and add a

base coat I guess it's okay for

that we then have the single piston

engines and these are kind of the low to

mid-range price airbrush compressors

they tend to come in a couple of

different variations but because of how

we as miniature painter use the airbrush

most of them tend to be just fine enough

some have a tank meaning that they fill

up the tank and then use that as a

reserve for your airbrushing and the

compressor only makes a sound when it

fills up the tank meaning that it's

quiet for most of the time and some

compressor don't have this tank and that

by itself shouldn't be a bad thing it

shouldn't give you a bad air flow

however some of these cheaper without

the tank are made with cheaper

components and might not have the finest

engine ering so that might be one of the

reasons it doesn't give you a nice air

flow and a cheaper compressor that has

an air tank might give you a more Even

Flow so if you're buying cheap and can

afford it it might be nice to have a

tank but if you're buying the more

expensive single piston compressors like

the ones from Hansa or iala or harder

steenbeck you will never have the issue

of bad air flow even if you don't have

an air

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tank one thing to keep in mind with

compressors the cheaper ones that you

can buy from a hardware store might give

you a good airflow but they are loud as

So when you buy the compressor you

should definitely look at what dcbs it

outputs personally I would never buy one

that has over 52 DB especially if I'm

using it indoors cuz I don't want my

kids to wake up in the evening when I'm

painting and I don't want my wife to get

mad at me while she's watching a TV

series we then have the oil piston ones

and they are super quiet and oh boy do I

love them for it we get two different

versions from Hansa in the office and

these are overkill for

99.9% of you out there I don't think you

will have a single performance increase

when buying an oil piston compressor

compared to a single piston one made

with one exception and that has to do

with the fact that these are designed

with the same compressors that are in

the refrigerators they are so quiet that

you'll probably hear a mouse crawling

across the floor just as much as you

hear the airush compressor meaning that

they are perfect for the way that we use

ours when we record ourselves painting

we never have problems with the audio

being destroyed by the sound of the

compressor or being a distraction while

we're talking and painting at the same

time but for 99.9% of you I would

recommend you going with something

cheaper maybe the Hansa Topline 100 or

if you're on a budget I would get the

noname compressor as 1886 that is used

by pretty much every other airbrush

manufacturer that just slaps their logo

on top of it I used this one with a tank

for probably 2 and 1 half 3 years before

I got the more expensive ones and it

just worked perfectly for me I had no

issues whatsoever and most of these

cheaper mid-range compressors range from

about 47 to 52 DB so it's still within

Reon and the prices ranged from between

$60 to about $150 I've included links to

most of these products that I'm talking

about today in the video description to

our newly designed airbrush from harder

and steam bake to the cheaper beginner

airbrushes compressors and all of the

other tools we'll discuss in just a

little bit following these links are of

tremendous help to this channel without

costing you guys a single dollar extra

compared to going to these stores

yourself but yeah back to the compressor

some of these come with a moisture trap

and that is never a bad thing it gives

you a cleaner air flow as it trap some

of that moist inside of the Trap so you

won't have any moist contamination when

you spray the airbrush however adding

extra tools like another air trap to the

bottom of your airbrush doesn't really

do a massive difference but if you have

a lot of money and you like airbrushing

and you like spending money on your

hobby it's not a bad thing so by all

means go pick one up but for a beginner

it is enough if you have the moist trap

in the compressor

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most airbrushes and compressors come

with the standard hose there are some

exceptions though that have a slightly

bigger opening so make sure that you

have the same size for the hose as you

have for your airbrush and compressor

and some of these hoses and airbrushes

come with a quick connector meaning that

it's super easy for you to swap out the

airbrush for different one or just to

remove it and clean it without having to

turn off the airush compressor and

emptying your tank this is really neat

tool that doesn't cost you a fortune but

you don't really need

it you will see a lot of the

professionals using airbrush spray boots

and they are never a bad thing to keep

your air cleaner but if you're a

miniature hobbyist spraying with

non-toxic acrylics spraying for maybe 10

to 20 minutes per session not having one

will not be a problem my solution when I

got started with airbrushing was to

bring out magazine papers and a big

cardboard box at the the end this

captured something like 98% of the dry

pigments spraying around in the room

when I was airbrushing and the non-toxic

acrylics in small amounts will not be a

big problem for your lungs you might

have to dust and vacuum your room a

little bit more often than you did

before you got your airbrush but other

than that it should be fine you don't

really have to spend that extra $200

when you're just getting started to get

that extra tool if you're however

spraying with solvents or enamel paints

or alcohol-based paints it's a

completely different story and I would

not recommend you spraying indoors

without a really good ventilation and

one of these airbrush booths CU you want

to keep those lungs healthy at least

until you get 30 years

old so we've talked about all of the big

purchases what else do you need to get

started you need paints you need

airbrush thinner or flow improver

airbrush cleaning tools a nice bottle of

water and some form of bin for cleaning

the airbrush again we'll put all of the

links to the stuff I'm going to talk

about right now in the video

descriptions so that when you get

started or when you need a tool you'll

know which video to go to and you can

just find it all down there in the video

description when it comes to paints

there are probably just as many opinions

as there are paint Brands personally for

99% of my regular painting I use regular

acrylics and thin them down in the

airbrush cup historically I've just used

regular water to thin down the paint but

over the last couple of years I've

slowly moved over to thin my paints with

a airbrush flow improver as I found it

to be easier to clean out the paint from

the airbrush using that as opposed to

water however there are airbrush ready

paints that don't require thinning and

we've had great success with most of

these Citadel Valu an army painter

they've all worked great through the

airbrush and inks and contrast paints is

another lovely type of paint to have in

your Arsenal as they can really make

your Miniatures pop and give you

vibrancy really quick but when you're

just getting started it's enough money

to spend on the airbrush compressor and

a hose and a thinner so I would not

recommend you go out and grab a complete

new set of airbrush paints just when

you're getting started but now it's time

for chapter C the basics of using an

airbrush the first thing we need to add

to the airbrush is paint and let's

assume you're using regular acrylics

you're going to have to thin the paint

down and because I'm a lazy person and I

want things to go fast and I want it to

be easy for me to use the tool we're

going to mix the paints in the cup of

the airbrush and other painters they

might mix all of their paints outside of

the airbrush in a cup like Marco fron

for example but personally I prefer

mixing it in the cup the main thing you

have to remember is to never add the

paints first always start with a thinner

or water because if you start with a

thick acrylic paint it's going to clog

up your airbrush and it's going to be a

hassle to pick apart and then do a deep

clean so start with a thinner flow

improver or water and then add a few

drops of

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paint

people have previously said mix the

pains to a consistency of skimmed milk

but let's be honest here 99% of us have

no idea of what skin milk consistency is

so my kind of personal guideline have

always been if you're using a valet or

citel paint I add about 50% thinner and

50% paint as my starting point I then

stir it around in the airbrush cup with

an old Gunk brush and then create back

flow of the air in the airbrush I do

this by blocking the front where comes

out on the airbrush and then pulling

back the lever you can see how the

bubble comes out of the cup and this

helps mixing the paint in the airbrush

we can now check the consistency of the

paint so that it's properly mixed in the

Cup by using the brush again and pulling

it back up the edge of the inside of the

cup if you see it running back down then

you're probably good to start spraying

but before you spray your miniature we

want to test the paint to see if it's

sprayed properly on a piece of paper or

maybe plastic card and how do you know

if it looks good when it comes out the

airbrush we'll get to that in just a bit

as we mentioned in the beginning of this

video and if you're using a gravity feed

airbrush like we do there is two things

that you need to master to get a good

control of your airbrushing and that is

pushing down the airbrush trigger and

then pulling it back when you push down

the trigger you introduce air to the

airbrush and when you pull it back you

pull back the needle from the front and

you let some of that paint from the cup

into the front of the airbrush into the

nozzle and as I've said this is super

important to learn this is the order

that you do things pushing down first

and then back because if you pull it

back first you release paint into the

front so that when you then introduce

air you're going to start by splattering

out a big amount of paint and when

you're finished spraying your session

you always move it back first so you

stop the paint from coming into the

front and then you lift your finger from

the trigger so you always start and end

with air cuz if you stop the air first

and then stop the paint you're going to

have paint lying in the front of the

airbrush in the nozzle which is the most

difficult to clean part of the airbrush

and it's going to dry in the air causing

all kinds of fun

problems and how far back you pull the

trigger controls how much paint you

release through the front meaning if you

want a fine spray with a thin amount of

paint you just pull it back a little bit

a tiny bit and you'll get these super

finely controlled sprays of paint if you

pull it all the way back you'll get a

Big Blob of paint coming out through the

front you can also control the area in

which your airbrush sprays the paint as

we mentioned previously airbrushes with

a smaller needle will have a smaller

spray but if you move your airbrush

further back or closer you're also

controlling the width of the spray the

further back you are the wider the spray

will be and the closer you are the

smaller the spray will be and you're

just about to be ready to spray the

airbrush for the first time but first we

have to set the pressure on the airbrush

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compressor

there is no one truth to how high

pressure you should have on your

airbrush however for a beginner a good

guideline is to have somewhere between

25 and 30 PSI some painters swear by

pushing the pressure up to 45 or 50 psi

you will have a really fast spray from

your airbrush and there might be a

little bit less problems with clogging

because the air will push the paint out

so fast and some painters might swear by

using sub20 PSI pressure cuz they always

paint super close to the subject and

have really thin down paints but trust

me when I say when you're starting out

25 to 30 maybe even up to 35 is a good

starting

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point so now let's get on to your first

ever spraying whenever you're spraying

the airbrush for the first time I always

recommend you to try on a piece of paper

first maybe draw a couple of squares and

maybe some circles to get a feel for the

control of the airbrush where does the

paint land how does the treat trigger

work how far back do I need to pull it

just to make sure you get the right size

of the spray and the right amount of

paint so that you have that control once

you start going to your Miniatures that

you don't want to ruin with a big Splat

of paint we've made a template for you

guys so you can download that again it's

going to be in the video description

just print this one out we have these

small circles so you can try to see

which size the spray have depending on

which distance you have we have this big

circle that you can follow along with to

try to paint circles we also have these

tiny squares so you can try to practice

your aim to get it in the right square

and now let's go back to the thing that

I promise we'd get back to how do you

actually know that you've thinned your

paints properly and have a good flow

from the

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airbrush this is something that you're

going to have to learn how to master if

you get a too high pressure when

spraying close to the subject and when

painting miniatures were often really

close to the subject you'll get

something called spider webbing meaning

that once the paint hits the surface it

is pushed around by the air before it

dries this is either because you have

too high of an air pressure too high PSI

or because you're releasing too much

paint in one go pulling it back a little

bit too fast so it might take you a few

times to get the right consistency the

right release of paint and the right air

pressure but learning the skill of

mixing the paint in the cup and learning

how far back you pull the trigger in

relationship to the air pressure that

you have is super important it's going

to help you paint faster and have more

fun when you're painting cuz you're not

going to add a ton of different steps

your painting process so you can focus

on the more fun things painting but what

if you don't have problems with spider

webbing instead you have a problem

called speckling meaning that you almost

have these dry dots of paints spraying

outside of your paint surface this have

to do with your paint being too thick

for the air pressure that you have the

easiest way to solve this problem is to

add a few more drops of thinner or flow

improver to your paint but now say that

youve thinned down the paint so it has

the perfect consistency when you're

spraying from this distance but all of a

sudden when you move a little bit

further back maybe for that big tank

that you're painting and you want a

wider spray and all of a sudden you have

that speckling again this is because you

have the opposite problem of the spider

webbing you have now a too low pressure

this time you have to crank up the

pressure a little bit more maybe you

have to go from 25 to 35 or something

like that just to increase the pressure

a little bit more so the paint is

sprayed faster towards the subject and

doesn't dry on the way to the miniature

okay now you've learned the basics of

painting but when painting it is really

easy to break it especially when you're

cleaning the airbrush which gets us to

chapter D how to clean your airbrush and

how to not break

it there are many ways of cleaning the

airbrush and probably just as many ways

of ruining the airbrush while cleaning

it so let's make sure these steps are as

easy as possible so you don't ruin your

airbrush and you can still keep your

airbrush clean without any major

hassles once you get a new air airbrush

or even more so once you get your first

airbrush I always recommend becoming

best friends with your airbrush pull it

apart completely at least once and put

it together before you add paint the

first time so you see how the airbrush

is constructed what each part do where

all of the parts go and what function

they have for the airbrush as a whole

and some airbrushes are easier than

others to pull apart as an example to

pull apart this super cheap airbrush I

need to use tools to remove the nozzle

while the Harden Steen B evolution

you just screw it apart and you got the

nozzle and the air valve released in

just a matter of a few seconds making

them easier to clean for a beginner and

the reason why you want to learn how to

do all of this before you add paint to

it is because you are going to get a

clog in the airbrush sooner or later and

when you do you want to be able to know

what you can pull apart without paint

leaking everywhere and which steps to

take to remove that

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clog

so now you pulled apart the airbrush you

put it back together again kind of know

the parts how would you clean the

airbrush and when do you actually clean

the airbrush and what do you use when

cleaning the different parts of the

airbrush let's start with the

tools when it comes to cleaning the

airbrush there's a few different tools

that I use and a few different

techniques the first and foremost

important things to remember is that

when paint dries its main purpose is to

not be removed by A Simple Touch if the

paint does that it's a good paint and

when you leave paint inside of your

airbrush it is going to dry and it's

going to be hell to get it out from

there especially some of the areas of

the airbrush that are close to

impossible to reach even with specialist

tools and even if you manage to get the

paint out from there sometimes you're

going to have residue that is going to

affect the spray quality of your

airbrush so my number one rule is to

never leave paint inside of the airbrush

so when whenever you put it down for

whatever reason it might be get a cup of

tea get another miniature to paint

always rinse the airbrush before you do

that and how do you rinse your airbrush

well let's talk about

[Music]

it one of the first things you'll come

across when you're spraying with your

airbrush is that you're going to have to

switch from one paint to the other if

you're spraying say a larger Warhammer

figure and you want to spray first with

bright green and then you want to make a

transition to a dark green having some

of that bright green left in the cup and

then adding that dark green is not

necessarily a problem it can actually

help you get a smoother transition so

you then spray with a mix between the

dark green and the brighter green for

your next layer and then rinse it out

with water and then once you've done

that you can add a cleaner bright green

for the final highlight with that you

should get a super smooth transition

from the darker to The Brighter green

however if you're switching from a green

color to say a red one normally what I

start with is I empty whatever leftover

paint I have in the cup into a bin or

whatever cleaning cup you have I then

bring out one of these water bottles

with a long hose and this one have a

really small opening that fits perfectly

into the bottom of the cup I then do the

backflow technique that we used in the

beginning of this video blocking the air

flow in the front and pulling down and

back the trigger this pushes some of

that clean water into the front of the

air brush and pushes some of that paint

back into the cup I repeat this process

a couple of times until the water comes

out completely cleaned when I'm spraying

out through the front I then take a

piece of paper that is slightly moist

and clean out the inside of the cup this

should be enough rinsing when going from

one paint to the

other you don't need to buy one of these

more expensive airbrush cleaning cups

with a filter on it in this office we

always empty our water and our paint

into the garbage bin that we have next

to our painting station but if you're a

little bit more resourceful you can

bring out one of these ice cream buckets

cut a whole hole in the top and use that

to empty out your paint and spray out

all of the water from the front this way

you don't have any excess paint pigments

spraying out into your room and you kind

of save yourself a little bit of

cleaning in the long run and this step

is super important to keep your airbrush

clean so getting a good routine for this

is super important if not your airbrush

is going to end up looking like the one

they have a tabletop

time in this office because we have

these perfectly sized bottles with the

hose we found an even better way of

cleaning the airbrush between between

our different paints because we can use

the pressure from pressing this bottle

really hard and the pressure from the

air in the airbrush combining the both

in creating some sort of hyper super

pressure and just pushing out all of the

leftover paint from the cup and inside

of the airbrush through the front of the

airbrush this is not necessary to have

but it does save us a lot of time cuz we

can just do this in a couple of seconds

and then we're ready to move on to the

next

paint the second cleaning problem you're

going to encounter is a clo the first

one and most simple one to fix is when

the paint is dried on the top of the

needle this might not be a full clog and

may just cause your spraying to start

becoming a bit more uneven and what I

tend to do is take a Q-tip dip it in

some airbrush cleaner or isopropyl

alcohol hereby it will be known as IPA

and just clean it by moving the Q-tip

following the shape of the airbrush and

with that you should be ready to

continue painting however you can also

have a clog somewhere inside of the

airbrush the most common thing is that

some form of Gunk or dried paint have

clogged up the front of the nozle

sometimes you can fix this without

having to pull the airbrush apart

increasing the pressure from the

compressor to 50 60 PSI opening the back

of the airbrush and pulling the needle

all the way back sometimes is enough to

spray out that Gunk that's stuck in the

front of the airbrush if not you're

going to have to pull the airbrush apart

and do a deep clean let's come back to

that after the next cleaning step

because before we do the Deep cleaning I

want to cover the thing that I do after

I'm done painting for the day and I do

that end of day cleaning in three

different steps the first one is doing

the same type of rinsing that we do when

we shift the paints once we've done the

back flow thing and see that the IPA in

hair is clean what I do is I bring out a

Q-tip stir it around in the cup to make

sure that we get some IPA into the Q-tip

then pull back the needle and start

dabbing it around in the front hair

around the nozle area and the air valve

area if you want to you can push down

the air valve as well to create the back

flow to get some more paint stirred

around and maybe some IPA pushed out

through the front generally tends to

help to keep the front of the airbrush

clean once that is done we open up the

back pull out the needle and start

cleaning it moisten the piece of paper

with some IPA and clean the needle

following the shape and the reason why

we always follow the shape of the needle

is because the most sensitive part of

the airbrush is the needle tip and if we

start moving the paper in this direction

it's super easy that the needle gets

stuck somewhere and gets bent and when

it it's bent you should not sharpen it

as it's going to worsen your performance

you throw it away and then you buy a new

one and once I've done that the last

thing that I do is I take the Q-tip

again and clean the inside of the

airbrush cup with that Q-tip and this is

something that airbrush manufacturers

tend to cringe when we do because these

Q-tips sometimes leave residue particles

cotton fibers left in the airbrush and

that can sometimes cause problems but

YOLO I live dangerously but if you don't

use a Q-tip you can use a regular brush

but if you use a brush it is important

to note that you need to have one that

has properly glued strands so you don't

have any of the brush strands left

inside of the airbrush cuz otherwise

you're going to have the same problem as

with the Q-tip and these steps should be

enough for your everyday cleaning and

super easy to get a good routine of

however maybe every 10 or 20 times when

you paint with your airbrush you want to

do a deep clean because no matter how

well you do these previous steps they

might be some paint residue left inside

of the

airbrush

[Music]

what I do is I remove the nozzle and the

air valve and the needle and the

cup I use interdental brushes or pipe

cleaners and Q-tips dip them in some

cleaner and clean the inside of the

airbrush try to make sure that when you

use pipe cleaners that none of the metal

from the pipe cleaner touches anything

inside of the airbrush because if it

does you're going to create microscopic

scratches that is going to lessen your

performance the last and the most

difficult thing to clean is the nozzle

of the airbrush for one because it's

very easy to break it because it's so

thin but also because it's difficult to

reach inside of it and if you push

something too far inside the nozzle like

the needle for example you're going to

expand the front of the nozzle and with

that you've ruin the performance of your

airbrush there's a few ways you can

clean inside of it I often start

cleaning the inside of the nozzle with

an interdental brush an interdental

brush that doesn't have a metal core I

then use use the needle to gently scrape

the inside of the nozzle and when I do I

only use the side of the needle and I

try to remove all of the paint through

the back of the nozzle you are going to

have to push some of that Gunk through

the front unfortunately if you're using

the super thin needle like the 0.15

needle it's really really easy to bend

the tip of it so to solve that problem

you've got these airbrush nozzle

cleaning kits that are sold by most

airbrush manufacturers inside of that

kit you get one of these These are

really handy if you don't want to take

the risk of breaking your needle and are

honestly just better designed to clean

the inside of your airbrush one thing to

note though and one thing that I already

mentioned is this is not something you

should do after every painting process

because every time you pick it apart

you're increasing the risk of damaging

the inside of the airbrush you're not

increasing the lifetime you're actually

decreasing it so only do this once in a

blue moon maybe every 4 weeks or every

10th time you're using the airbrush and

these steps should be enough to keep

your airbrush clean and to keep keep you

from breaking it some people swear by

getting a Ultrasonic Cleaner put the all

the airbrush Parts in IPA and have it

run for a couple of minutes to make sure

it's always super clean personally I've

never used that but in my opinion it's

$200 that you can save for something

else and if you take care of your

airbrush like we've already done in this

video you shouldn't need

it and now it's time for that last

toppic in the beginning of this video I

promised that I would show you guys the

next step in your airbrushing journey

and I'm a man of my words you've already

learned how to spray the airbrush maybe

you sprayed a base coat or just a primer

on your miniature but you want to be

able to do more with your airbrush and

make your Miniatures look better and

here's five quick tips and tricks that

will make you a better painter number

one blending between

layers a few weeks back we made an orc

fetus don't ask and I was tasked with

painting the orc skin while you

technically can highlight everything

with an airbrush I don't see any reason

why you should because that is not what

the airbrush is best at so instead what

I did is I base coated the entire

miniature with its midtone and then

airbrushed in some shadows and then

instead of highlighting the miniature

with the airbrush I start adding in

highlights with the regular brush

placing out all of the lights and all of

the volumes and I can do that quite

roughly and I don't have to have a

perfect coverage the most important

thing is to get the general lights in

there and to get a strong contrast in

the muscles where you example go from

the light to the shadow in a very harsh

step and now what we can do to make this

look amazing without spending hundreds

of hours of glazing with regular brush

is to mix a midtone in the airbrush cup

between the highlight and the shadow and

then blend by spraying the midtone

between the two different colors and

this makes it look like I've spent 30

minutes blending the different colors

while in reality I did it in probably 10

minutes and funnily enough if I had any

of the areas that I painted with a brush

that didn't fully cover or I didn't have

the consistency that I wanted I could

then add some of that color to the

airbrush thin down and then just fill

out those areas with a little bit of

that highlight paint and skin is not the

only place where you can do stuff like

this doing it on non-metallic metal

swords or massive access is another

great way of blending between colors

without having to spend ages blending

with the brush number two shade don't

highlight if you paint your miniature

starting with the shadow color and then

with the midtone and then highlight and

do all of those steps with the airbrush

you're going to get a lot of overspray

from the highlight colors meaning that

you're going to make the shadow colors

look somewhat hazy almost like a filter

that removes the contrast of the

miniature and when you paint your

miniature this way highlighting with the

airbrush is the thing that people

complain about when they say that they

don't like the look of airbrushed

Miniatures instead of with what you

should do is you should start with a

midtone and then airbrush in the shadows

because when you do that you don't have

that Hasty feel that removes the

contrast of the miniature and this is

massive when you're painting Vehicles

like Space Marine tanks for example just

remember to thin down your paints enough

so you don't have a super harsh

transition number three using inks and

contrast to blend between your layers

whatever type of miniature you're

painting there are steps that can

benefit from using an airbrush and in

this case inks and contrast paints when

I'm painting big monsters I can add the

base coats by having a cly primed

miniature and then spraying with a

bright contrast paint from above and a

dark one from below and getting some

nice volumes straight out of the bat

that I can super easily just highlight

with one or two highlights using the

brush and boom I will have a finished

figure but sometimes when you're just

painting a miniature with the regular

brush maybe highlighted the skin with

green you can bring out contrast paints

like a magenta color but that's that's

not the only time when I use contrast

paints and inks because even when I

paint a miniature with a regular brush

like we did with the masterclass

miniature I paint 90 5% of the figure

with the brushes and then at the end of

the steps I can go in with a reddish

brown tone and then airbrush in Shadows

to blend all of the different colors

together and get a more General shading

using a contrast paint as a filter

another example of that is when I

painted K or the orc fetus again

whenever I want to have more of a

transition on the skin tones and maybe

add more red redish tones to them you

can look at the elbow of the bus that I

did just painted some white strands and

then sprayed like a filter with magenta

ink on that elbow or the ears of the orc

fetus or just look at any of the squigs

or trolls that I've painted I just Ed

the airbrush to add more oom color

filter so to say to just punch the

colors or add more shadows in general

areas or transition colors to smooth

them out the airbrush is amazing for

this number four don't replace your

regular brush look the airbrush is

amazing otherwise I wouldn't make this

video because I love it and use it for

pretty much every figure I paint but

when you're adding the final highlight

the airbrush is almost never the

solution because if you look at an area

where you have a sharp contrast for

example at the edge of a muscle where

you want the underside of the muscle to

be really dark and just below that you

want a sharp edge that is highlighted if

you would have added this highlight

using the airbrush you would have had

the Highlight leak into that shadow area

underneath the muscle above it where it

shouldn't be any any other things than

Shadow so it's going to look really

airbrushed and fake so when planning

your paint job of a miniature make sure

that you only use the airbrush where

it's needed instead of just using it for

everything to save time because your

Miniatures are going to look so much

better if you use the brush where the

brush is best and the airbrush where the

airbrush does its work

best number five and airbush hack of the

day use small pieces of paper this is

such an easy thing to keep in mind mind

have a piece of paper next to you while

you're airbrushing because if you're

doing something that we talked about

just recently in this video shading the

miniature using an ink for example and

this time you're specifically shading

armor of the miniature you don't want

that to leak into the skin of the mini

because you are with 90% certainty get

some of that leak into that skin but by

just placing a piece of paper at the top

edge of that miniature armor you're

blocking off any possibility of the

paint to leak on through the skin so

having small pieces of paper helping you

block off areas is the easiest way of

making your painting experience nicer

and saving you hours of clean up in the

last steps of the paint job and it

literally takes 2 seconds to place the

paper there my dudes in the middle of

this video I told you that I'd show you

more about this airbrush and I'm a man

of my word because out of all the emails

I get from you guys about 50% of them

every week are about a new version of

The squidmar Evolution airbrush and this

year we will not diser a point because

horror Ste M have completely redesigned

the entire airbrush it's pretty much

nothing like the old one the trigger

control has been changed the front of

the airbrush have been changed the

layout of the airbrush have been changed

so the flow of everything is completely

different and it's just been made even

better and from our testing this is the

smoothest air rush that I've ever tried

the point4 needle gives more control and

detail than 2 needles that I've tried

from other brands I got literally so

excited when we first got this that I

couldn't put it down and I just tried

spraying many different things it's just

so finely detailed so initially this one

has mainly been designed for ease of use

and speed but with that they've also

smashed the detail control out of the

waters which makes me as a painter

incredibly happy cuz I get everything

that I want inside of one airbrush of

course we are biased as we obviously are

sponsored by harder and steam and have

been part of making this so please take

it for what it is but we really really

really love of these airbrushes the

airbrush will come in two different

versions one in black and one in Chrome

and they have a little bit different

loadouts the black airbrush will be

limited to 1,000 copies and it comes

with an FPC valve on the airbrush which

means that I can control the air

pressure directly on the airbrush giving

me an even better control when I'm

airbrushing and just want to make a Mane

change to the pressure to give me the

best flow we also have the Chrome

version and the main difference here is

that you don't have the FPC valve this

keeps the price down a little bit so if

you're on a budget this one is the one

to get you still have the amazing design

with the gold features and on the Chrome

you have the same squid engraving which

makes it two amazing looking airbrushes

and both of these will be linked down in

the video description check them out get

yours now while you can and obviously

we've talked about there being an

Infinity as well that one has been

delayed a little bit so that one will

come out in q1 next year so if you're

looking for that one you have something

to look forward to but these ones when

you order them you'll get them before

Christmas so make sure to get one now

once again everything we talked about in

this video is in the video description

please check out the new airbrush that

we released with hard and steam backck

they look amazing and spray amazingly

and everything else we talked about this

video as mentioned is in the video

description massive thanks to all of our

patrons and with that said have a great

day bye-bye