Airbrush

Airbrush Quick Tips

Trigger Pre-Sets—What is the purpose of that knob at the back of the airbrush handle or the screw in front of the trigger?  These are trigger pre-sets that are designed to limit the motion of a dual action airbrush trigger, in essence turning it into a single action airbrush in order to spray a consistent line.  Dual action airbrushes will usually have one of either preset mechanism.  The knob at the back of the handle restricts how far back the trigger can be pulled, while the screw in front of the trigger pushes the trigger back to a set position.  Thus when you depress the trigger it remains at a set place or it restricts how far you can pull back on the trigger, respectively.  So, for example, if you want multiple dots of a particular size, it’s convenient to preset the trigger of the airbrush.  Visit www.iwata-medea.com for a great selection of airbrushes/paints/accessories.

Shake It Up—Have you ever poured a pre-reduced opaque airbrush color, e.g., Com-Art, into your airbrush color cup and it was so transparent that you could see through it?  While stored, airbrush colors tend to separate, with the pigment settling to the bottom of the bottle.  You must shake the color to thoroughly mix the pigment with the medium so that the paint will be opaque.  You will notice that airbrush color bottles have a small ball bearing inside so that when you shake the bottle, the paint becomes thoroughly homogenized.  This should be done periodically throughout the work day to ensure that the paints spray opaquely.

Easy Peel—Removing frisket film from the backing paper can be frustrating.  Most airbrush artists attempt peeling with fingernails or by sliding a stencil knife between layers of film/backing paper.  Here’s an easy tip to remove frisket film from backing paper:  Take a piece of tape, either masking or drafting, and apply it over the edge from the film side.  Then simply peel back the tape and the film will lift off like magic.

Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 17 No. 5 — March 2007