WTF? Airbrush? I call foul!!

I

-Ice

New member
Wow, my post caught a lot of flak :)

Okay, okay, let me back off a notch. After viewing more videos and reading responses, I am more open to airbrushing as a technique now. I guess I called it cheating because the first video I watched (I can't even recall it now!) did some pretty things with airbrushing (camo patterns, instant shadows, IIRC) that, at that time, I didn't know could be done with a normal brush. After viewing more airbrush videos and seeing some videos of hard-core brush painters, I can say now that airbrushing is just a tool and not a be-all-and-end-all, ha-you-can't-do-this-technique-without-an-airbrush. It is just another "step in the process" and everyone reverts to a brush at some point in time.

Let me say again that I do appreciate airbrushing as a technique and I bow towards those who make kick-ass work on bikes and cars and such. I just never realized that it could be applied to this hobby and, at the time of posting, I didn't see the bigger picture yet.

Thanks for enlightening me!

Oh, and now that I've stirred up the ire of airbrushers, can someone help me out and point out WHERE exactly in the painting step you use airbrushes on? I know people use it great for basecoating, but anything else? Also, please limit to small, space-marine-sized minis. Cheers!
 
Valander

Valander

New member
Glad you're coming around in recognizing an airbrush as just another tool in the arsenal. ;)

That said, I've only used my airbrush on a few models so far, so I don't have a lot of extra to add. As an exercise to get used to them, I painted the vast majority of 2 Harriers and a Raek for Hordes' Legion of Everblight army with my airbrush. I used the airbrush to not only base coat, but also do the large areas of flesh on these beasts, since they had a lot of exposed flesh. I don't have any great photos, and I haven't gotten any finished photos taken yet, but here's a WIP of the Raek after the skintone was completed (sorry it's a bit washed out; phone photo). This photo is everything done w/ airbrush, and they're not finished here.

x2_22a40a1


For finishing these models, the only thing I did with brush was the teeth and scales. These guys kinda lended themselves to some airbrush techniques such as fogging/misting, though, and I probably wouldn't see doing it a lot on models with a lot more bits on them. I think that for semi-large areas, or for models that are mostly one type of material (flesh, metal, fur, whatever), you can probably do a good amount with practice on even 28mm models. I'll be using my airbrush more, so I'll try to post stuff as I get it done (if I can be bothered to set up a light box...).
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
-Ice said:
Wow, my post caught a lot of flak :)
Nah Just joshing with you a bit.

I am more open to airbrushing as a technique now.
Cool

Oh, and now that I've stirred up the ire of airbrushers, can someone help me out and point out WHERE exactly in the painting step you use airbrushes on? Also, please limit to small, space-marine-sized minis. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Can't say I'd even attempt to use it on a SPA.M. but I would consider it for large areas on SPAM Tanks or specificaly on things like Dragons Wings.
BUT A CAVEAT: I'd only use it for initial coats and or attempting smoother highlights. I'm NOWHERE near competant to do complex things with one.
 
R

Ritual

New member
-Ice said:
Oh, and now that I've stirred up the ire of airbrushers, can someone help me out and point out WHERE exactly in the painting step you use airbrushes on? I know people use it great for basecoating, but anything else? Also, please limit to small, space-marine-sized minis. Cheers!
Click to expand...

On this piece, which is a very small miniature (showing you can really use an airbrush even on small scale stuff), I painted the armour with airbrush. I did the base coating, the shadows and the highlights with airbrush. I had to apply highlights in quite a lot of intermediate steps to get the colour transition I wanted (instead of getting the layered look that Hendarion mentioned earlier). I then applied some final extreme highlights and edge definition with regular brush and did the chipping with a sponge and then regular brush. When the armour was done, I painted the rest of the areas on the mini.
 
JesterzUSMC

JesterzUSMC

Recovering Megalomaniac
The worst thing that I've noticed about airbrushing is that when you tape off an area, if you aren't careful, you get a raised edge along the taped line.
 
Einion

Einion

New member
-Ice said:
After viewing more airbrush videos and seeing some videos of hard-core brush painters, I can say now that airbrushing is just a tool and not a be-all-and-end-all, ha-you-can't-do-this-technique-without-an-airbrush.
Click to expand...
Actually there are some things that can only be done with an airbrush. But that still doesn't make airbrushing cheating of course; there's really no cheating in terms of materials or methods.

-Ice said:
Oh, and now that I've stirred up the ire of airbrushers, can someone help me out and point out WHERE exactly in the painting step you use airbrushes on? I know people use it great for basecoating, but anything else? Also, please limit to small, space-marine-sized minis.
Click to expand...
First step.
In the middle.
Last step.
All of the above.

Einion
 
S

SkelettetS

New member
you used airbrush on that one Ritual? interresting! ...especially as it is like so small my miniatures can have it as miniature :D
 
R

Ritual

New member
Yeah, for the armour. The rest is painted traditionally, with regular brush. And there are some final highlights, edge highlighting, and such, on the armour that is applied with regular brush, as well. But, I'd say the armour is 90% airbrush painted. And yeah, it's slightly under 25 mm to the top of the helmet. I wanted to see what you could do with an airbrush on something small, so I chose this one.
 
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