Airbrushing - Does anyone else just not care?

[sitnam]

You ever watch a painting tutorial, then immediately lose interest when in involves a airbrush? I have nothing against airbrushing, but I just don't have a desire to ever use one. Just something else to take up space, something to maintain and clean, something new to learn.  Maybe it's because of my line of work, but other then the space issue, I just don't want another  tool to use.

 

Anyone else feel the same way?

[Urauloth]

Yeah. No slight against people who like airbrushing, but I have one and I get the same reaction when I'm looking at videos. I don't think painting by brush is "better" or more "authentic" or anything either (people can get weird about this stuff) but brush-only is how I like painting, so I'm usually looking for tips and inspiration that reflect that.

[sitnam]

@Urauloth Absolutely. I'll never take away from others paint jobs with an airbrush, I have nothing but respect for everyone who takes the time to paint. I just don't care to learn it myself.

 

I'm also not trying to get armies ready for a tournament, painting is the hobby for me. No need to rush it

[Terminatorinhell]

Yeah I lose interest and thumbs down lmao

[Grotsmasha]

I can see the utility of being able to prime/base in any colour in my collection, but even that hasn't been enough to make me jump on one. Airbrush or no, I typically watch the whole vid because I'm interested in the outcome, even if I can't replicate it.

[Firedrake Cordova]

Personally, I like watching skilled people doing things, even if I have no hope of replicating it - I just find it interesting. Similarly, I think some effects which are easy to produce with an airbrush are over-used, and become a bit "boring" to me. I'd happily watch someone like Angel Giraldez just out of curiosity, but others less so.

 

I am possibly a little biased though because I'm an airbrush user, although my use is for priming, varnishing, and base coating large or flat areas - they really do make life a lot easier for those things. Whilst I lack the skill for any more advanced usage, I do like seeing skilled people doing things.  

Edited May 22 by Firedrake Cordova
typo :(

[sarabando]

not these days, they are so cheap and easy to get and use that they are just another bit of kit. Its like getting mad when the video starts with the painter rattlecanning their minis. 

seriously you can get a cheap airbrush and compressor on amazon for less than a combat patrol.  Ive not had to use rattlecans or worry about spray varnish in about 6 years now. 

[Valkyrion]

My painting style for 20 years is what it is, and no amount of wet palette, paint mixing, freehand, NMM, airbrushing, or different brand of paints is going to change that now, no matter the results. 

 

I do look for simple videos sometimes - like basic sons of horus green or something, but if there's an airbrush or non GW brand paint involved then I'm off. 

 

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

4 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Personally, I like watching skilled people doing things, even if I have no hope of replicating it - I just find it interesting. Similarly, I think some effects which are easy to produce with an airbrush are over-used, and become a bit "boring" to me. I'd happily watch someone like Angel Giraldez just out of curiosity, but others less so.

 

I am possibly a little biased though because I'm an airbrush user, although my use is for priming, varnishing, and base coating large or flat areas - they really do make life a lot easier for those things. Whilst I lack the skill for any more advanced usage, I do like seeing skilled people doing things.  

 

I´m kinda in the same camp. I have a good one (H&S Evolution).  I bought it for model aircraft though, where, to me, it is a totally different thing where a thin, neat layer is more important on those big surfaces. And I can mask pretty easy (even if it is time consuming). I would never go back to brush painting 1/48 kits for example.

 

For figured, GW models. I use it to prime, maybe a base coat on top of the primer and then varnih. That´s it (don´t really have any vehicles right now but that would be useful, in that case, too).

I  rather feel I still learn and have alot to learn, with brush painting and i do enjoy that. Not sure how i would do that with an airbrush..? Even putting down several different base layers ona  model.

 

In short, a useful tool for priming and varnishing for me - on humanoid models. But nothing else. And you can do that with rattle cans, and sometimes i do still as I am lazy.. I clean my airbrush "too" much and even though it doesn´t take that much time, it takes alot of stuff like paper, cotton buds, plastic syringes and cups to mix and stuff..

[jaxom]

I watch them because airbrushing is usually an application of pre-shading and that can be done with brushes too. Black rattle can, zenithal grey rattle can, one or two passes of drybrushing light grey or white and you can then layer inks, contrast/speed paints, etc. 

 

I'd like an airbrush at some point (I'm scared to use one in an apartment) because my HH Death Guard would benefit from being able to knock out base coats of Pallid Wych Flesh instead of brush painting them. Similarly, I think it would be useful when I eventually get around to painting my LI Solar Auxilia tanks and Warhounds.

Edited May 22 by jaxom

[Bung]

On 5/22/2024 at 5:00 AM, Grotsmasha said:

I can see the utility of being able to prime/base in any colour in my collection, but even that hasn't been enough to make me jump on one. Airbrush or no, I typically watch the whole vid because I'm interested in the outcome, even if I can't replicate it.

 

Its not only utility. If you want to paint armies / bigger models you save a lot of time and a smoother basecoat.

 

On 5/22/2024 at 8:50 AM, Firedrake Cordova said:

Personally, I like watching skilled people doing things, even if I have no hope of replicating it - I just find it interesting. Similarly, I think some effects which are easy to produce with an airbrush are over-used, and become a bit "boring" to me. I'd happily watch someone like Angel Giraldez just out of curiosity, but others less so.

 

I am possibly a little biased though because I'm an airbrush user, although my use is for priming, varnishing, and base coating large or flat areas - they really do make life a lot easier for those things. Whilst I lack the skill for any more advanced usage, I do like seeing skilled people doing things.  

 

Its the same as with brush painting. Training and trying new stuff will Help you develop your painting muscle and get  into more advanced uses of an airbrush.

 

On 5/22/2024 at 11:48 AM, Valkyrion said:

My painting style for 20 years is what it is, and no amount of wet palette, paint mixing, freehand, NMM, airbrushing, or different brand of paints is going to change that now, no matter the results. 

 

I do look for simple videos sometimes - like basic sons of horus green or something, but if there's an airbrush or non GW brand paint involved then I'm off. 

 

 

We are both totally different in that regard.

I always look to develop my painting skills.

But i had a great teacher in miniature painting and the ambition to get better results.

[tychobi]

It's just a tool. Painting should make you happy so you do you. That said it's a good tool and can save a lot of time and trouble if deployed correctly.  Can also be a huge pain in the behind. 

[Terminatorinhell]

My airbrush is usually a pita lol

[TheArtilleryman]

Yeah it’s a road I’m not ever likely to go down lol … I don’t even like spray basecoats. I’m sure it is perfectly possible to get good results, but it’s hard not to just stick with what you know.

[Borbarad]

Buying an Airbrush was the best investment I did in the hobby and I haven’t looked back since. 
 

I don’t use it for advanced techniques like highlights and shades. But for the first two layers, it works wonderfully and saves a lot of time and energy. 
 

I like paint details with the brush. The most demotivating thing about painting for me was achieving coverage with the first layer, especially with colors like yellow or red. The airbrush perfectly adresses this problem and made painting actually enjoyable. 

[Dagoth Ur]

19 hours ago, Borbarad said:

Buying an Airbrush was the best investment I did in the hobby and I haven’t looked back since. 
 

I don’t use it for advanced techniques like highlights and shades. But for the first two layers, it works wonderfully and saves a lot of time and energy. 
 

I like paint details with the brush. The most demotivating thing about painting for me was achieving coverage with the first layer, especially with colors like yellow or red. The airbrush perfectly adresses this problem and made painting actually enjoyable. 

Very much this. Back when I started out at like age 10-11, basecoating stuff nearly made me quit the hobby. Then I saw a video of an airbrush being used (SchnauzerfaceMinis on YouTube I think), saved up for one and have never looked back. The amount of time the airbrush saves and how much easier it makes pre-shading and highlighting without having to faff about with spray cans (which I have found to be as mercurial as printers) is a delight.

 

I've been using my airbrush pretty much weekly for the past 20 years and it honestly doesn't even take up that much space. The compressor is beneath my desk, I store the rolled up hose on top of it and the airbrush itself is in its small box in a drawer.

 

That said I do understand OP on some level. I used to be the same about enamels and oil paints for weathering - until I got into them as well.

[Firedrake Cordova]

It's probably worth re-iterating that there's no right or wrong approach to painting your models - as long as you're having fun and getting results you're happy with in a timeframe you're happy with, it really doesn't matter how you get there.  

 

Whilst I find my airbrush a useful tool (I wouldn't want to paint a tank without one!), some applications do tend to leave an "obviously airbrushed" look that is not for everyone, and we're not here to convince @sitnam that they need one.  

[crimsondave]

My airbrush is handy for base coating big or many models at once.  I can't really do much more than prime and base with it.  It does save a lot of time though.  Like a LOT of time.

 

Honestly, even though I have and use an airbrush, if a video shows a guy doing highlights (or anything else remotely complex) with it I just turn it off.  I can't do that and I'm not taking the time to learn to do it at this point.

Edited May 27 by crimsondave

[Rusted Boltgun]

As above, I use a very basic airbrush for priming but that is it.

 

The only painting tutorial with airbrushing in that I'll watch is Cult of Paint - because I really like the content and Henry has the most relaxing voice to have on while painting my own minis.

[Corswain]

I enjoy using an actual brush so that is always a preference but I can't argue with the efficiency and smoothness of a spray/airbrush for basecoating or doing larger areas.

I bought my airbrush to do thin translucent layers to achieve the 30K metallic schemes from FW and I have tried to replicate it with a brush and never been as satisfied.

 

In the end, the airbrush is another tool and how I use it is up to me. I use it to get ahead and skip the grindy parts of the painting so I can get to the actual brush which is the part I enjoy.

[Tyriks]

I have an airbrush (actually my second) and never use it. I keep trying from time to time but it never works. Either I dont thin enough and it clogs every thirty seconds, or I thin too much and get crap coverage. Sometimes both, somehow. Just never found a system that works. I would love to make it work, somehow. I think my climate is maybe too humid most of the year or something.

[Bouargh]

I was ready to make a leap of faith, but then realized I had no adapted space nor ventilated area for this. And investment was too high considering that I had already painted almost everything I had left... So I passed my turn.

But it is always interesting to see how people more gifted than I cna be in artistic domains handle such tools. But I would neither spent hours watching these video... but from time to time...

[Wolf Lord Duregar]

On 5/28/2024 at 7:46 AM, Tyriks said:

I have an airbrush (actually my second) and never use it. I keep trying from time to time but it never works. Either I dont thin enough and it clogs every thirty seconds, or I thin too much and get crap coverage. Sometimes both, somehow. Just never found a system that works. I would love to make it work, somehow. I think my climate is maybe too humid most of the year or something.

 

What paints do you use? Tamiya or Gunze-Sangyo (Mr Hobby) thinned 50/50 with Mr Levelling Thinner (Mr Color range from Gunze) or just 50/50 with IPA (I use a drip or two retarded from Tamiya as well but not necessary). That paints like a dream..

I avoid Vallejo or Citadell or any similar acrylics as far as i can, but I do airbrush them now and then (thin normal Citadell with about 70% general thinner, I have one from Ultimate Products, Ultimate Airbrush Thinner, but IPA works too).

Problem with the first ones is of course to match the brush painting.. Ie, similar shades. but if you don´t need to.. Oh yeah. That is pure joy shooting through the ´brush..

[Magos Takatus]

I'm starting to get the opposite problem. When I see a Youtube video prefaced with "you don't need an airbrush" and they are deliberately avoiding the tool because of criticism from their viewers I think to myself "Why don't you throw out your brushes and go back to finger-painting, too?" :p

 

I understand that not everyone can manage the space for a proper airbrush setup but there are people complaining loudly enough to these Youtube personalities that they stop using a tool with a great deal of utility to appease them and it frustrates me. I couldn't go back to rattlecan priming. It's messy, it fills in details and misses a lot of spots in the nooks and crannies of a model, so I usually had to go back in and paint the bits the can missed anyway. I don't do a lot of precise work with my airbrush but for some models I really would have struggled without it. Paints with poor coverage are a lot more forgiving through an airbrush.

 

The technique that turns me off in videos is "slapchop". I just think it was overdone in videos for a time and while it was popular I felt like I could spot a model painted like that a mile away. A transparent tint of a greyscale shadow just didn't look right to me. People got nicer results by swapping the black, white and grey with other colours but most didn't bother.

 

I must say I like Byron's work at Artis Opus. What he can achieve with a drybrush to achieve an airbrush-like finish on miniatures is like magic to me and if an airbrush isn't realistic for your hobby space I'd recommend watching his videos to achieve some similar results. I can't manage to replicate what he does so to me it's a skill I need to develop, but I think it could help a lot of people out.

[Grotsmasha]

15 minutes ago, Magos Takatus said:

I must say I like Byron's work at Artis Opus.

Dude is a magician I swear....