What is the right airbrush pressure to get the best results?

Don't worry - there is hope

While I may not be able to provide a single answer, I can provide a selection of answers and some discussion that will get you on the right track to finding the perfect "airbrush pressure" for your particular project. Here are the pressures I prefer to use for my projects....

(keep reading to find the explanations as to why I prefer them)

NOTE: These are the pressures being DELIVERED to your airbrush, not the pressure that is seen on the surface you're painting

• Fine Art = 20 - 25 psi
• Custom (Automotive, Helmets, etc) = 20 - 25 psi
• Murals = 20 - 25 psi
• T-Shirts = 30 - 40 psi

For these types of projects, because they are directly on or near skin, I highly recommend you read the explanation why that follows as it is a safety concern:

• Nail Art = 15 psi
• Body Paint = 15 psi
• Face Paint = 15 psi or less

Here is the why...

General

When it comes to airbrush pressure - here is the deal. The greater the pressure, the greater the suction pressure. Suction pressure is what sucks the paint out your paint well. The higher the suction pressure, the larger the amount of paint that comes out of front of your airbrush.

This can be easily tested (to prove a point) - put a small amount of paint in your paint well and spray the paint out at a high pressure. Then lower the airbrush pressure and put the same amount(ish) of paint in the well and spray it. Time wise, the higher pressure spraying will waste your paint much faster than the low pressure.

Fine Art, Custom and Murals

To be honest, 20 - 25 psi is the pressure that I feel most comfortable working at. This pressure works well with the paint I use and this pressure is low enough that i can both cover larger areas with solid paint fairly quickly if I pull back far on the trigger or I can lightly dust an area with less trigger.

If I want to do much more detailed work (say fine whispy lines) i would reduce my pressure as required.

T Shirts

I use a much higher pressure when painting T-shirts for several reasons.

First, t-shirt material soaks up a lot of paint - covering an absorbent area will take more paint that an non-absorbent material.

Second, higher pressure produces crisper lines when free-handing. This is especially true with lettering, where you want dark, crisp lines.

Third would be speed. If you can draw at the speed of light with your airbrush, you are going to need to crank up the pressure so the paint flow can keep up to you. I myself am not the speediest painter, so this isn't a big concern for me. Many of the pro's who can do a full color, lettered t-shirt in 10 minutes or less - they likely have their airbrush pressure as high as 60 psi.

Nail, Body and Face Art

For safety reasons, I like to keep my pressures as low as I can possibly work... why the concern?

Spraying highly pressurized air onto skin can force air through the skin and into the blood stream which, obviously causes all sorts of nasty things. Now, don't get freaked out, this only happens at really high pressures....but I feel it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to working with compressed air on or near peoples skin.

The rule of thumb I use is the pressure that comes out of the front of your airbrush should feel similar to someone blowing as hard as they can on your skin. Try blowing on your hand right now - hard. That is the highest pressure you should ever apply to someone's skin.

Also, remember that the closer your airbrush is to the surface, the smaller the area and therefore the higher the pressure applied to the surface.

As an example - if you blow as hard as you can on your hand from 8 inches away you will feel the air on a large area of your hand and it will feel sort of like a strong breeze. Then if you blow on your hand as hard as you can from 0.5 inches away, you are only going to feel the air on a small area and the "feeling" will be much more concentrated.

Another rule of thumb - you should never EVER see the person's skin dimple due to the applied pressure - if the skin dimples, your pressure is WAY too high.

Always test the pressure on yourself before you apply it to someone else. Also test at varying distances making sure no dimpling of the skin appears.