Basic Airbrush Lesson:
Dots, Lines, Daggers and More

For this airbrush lesson all you need is:

• your airbrush equipment
• paint in any transparent color you choose
• scrap paper

This airbrush lesson is not about producing a masterpiece but instead getting to know how your airbrush works and what you can do with it.

Don't get hung up here - you don't have to master these prior to moving on to the projects.

I recommend spending 5 to 10 minutes doing these exercises before you start painting each day. Fill a page with practice and move on...

OK... speech over.

Scroll down when you're ready.

Warm Up

Gettin' loose! That's what this is about. Break out your airbrush, load up with paint and just have some fun...

Dots

Making a page full of dots is more about target practice that it is about making dots.

Your goal here is to pick a spot for a dot, aim, and shoot. Then try again....over and over.

Try to make dots of different sizes:

• Hold your airbrush close to the surface of the paper to make small dots
• Hold your airbrush farther away to make large dots

Experiment with different volumes of paint by pulling the trigger back farther and farther.... find the "point" where a well formed dot turns into a SPLAT!

Once you have found the SPLAT point, do your best to avoid doing it.

Lines

The goal of this airbrush lesson is to make lines of varying widths. Achieving different widths is a function of two things: distance from paper and amount of paint being released.

Experiment!

Try dragging the tip of your airbrush right on the paper (with nozzle cap on please - we don't want to bend that needle!) or try pulling the trigger really far back.

Don't worry if your lines are wavy - they'll get straighter with practice. If they are really wavy (zig-zag wavy) take a breath and use two hands to hold your airbrush. Let one hand concentrate on the task at hand and steady that hand with you other.

(One of the biggest problems beginners have is ANXIETY! Relax. This is fun. You are not getting graded on your performance.)

The second goal of making lines is to get a fluid motion going. If your lines look like barbells (two balls on either end of a stick) it is because you are waiting to see paint before you start moving.

To get rid of the barbells MOVE FIRST then pull back on the trigger for paint. Still having problems? Try doing it with your eyes closed (yes! seriously!)... bet you can do it no problem with closed eyes!

Dagger Strokes

Dagger strokes are essential to freehand lettering - so, if you are planning on doing T-shirts, this is a skill you MUST master...someday.

A dagger stroke is an airbrush stroke that starts thick and ends thin. The effect is achieved by starting far away from the paper with a lot of paint and and painting a line while bringing your airbrush closer to the paper while simultaneously easing up on the paint.

I kind of find it like patting my head and rubbing my belly at the same time....too many things to think about :)

One "visualization" strategy for dagger strokes is to imagine your airbrush is a plane coming in for landing (getting closer and closet to paper) and that the trigger is the planes gas "petal"....come in for the landing, ease up on the gas.

Try doing them thick to thin, thin to thick, right to left, left to right, etc.

Pinwheels

Pinwheels are really just curved dagger strokes. These are the strokes that are used to make the curved part of t-shirt lettering...so again, if you are making t-shirts, these are an essential skill to learn.

If you get bored of making pinwheels, try mixing it up a bit by making palm trees or spiders as shown.

Loops

Loops are another airbrush lesson that's essential to free-hand lettering on T-shirts. So, again, you'll need to ace these to do great T-shirts. For the rest of us, it is just good practice.

The goal with loops is consistency. Consistent size, consistent spacing, consistent angle. Learning loops is much like teaching a child to learn handwriting instead of printing - it is really awkward at first, but eventually it comes.

Have terrible handwriting? Worried it will translate into your loops? Don't worry about it, they are two totally different motor skills and one will not affect the other.

Shading

I feel like I have saved the best airbrush lesson for last!! Shading. It is important and you will pick it up SUPER fast because nearly every project is going to have shading in it. Ease of shading is what makes the airbrush such a great tool!

Draw a couple shapes on a piece of scrap paper and shade away! Try up and down, right to left.... again, experiment! See what your tool can do!

Try turning your airbrush at an extreme angle to the paper...see what happens.

Don't worry so much about staying in the lines, that comes with practice.

The End

Again... don't get hung up here. Practice these for a few minutes before you start painting and then try to paint something you WANT to paint or try another airbrush lesson.

You will learn more working on a project that you care about than you will doing dots for six hours a day!