Acrylics for Spray Paint Artists
For years spray paint art techniques have been developed and enjoyed by a small subculture of spray paint speed painters working on the streets and at home. These techniques have not been integrated into the mainstream of art techniques nor given the credit that they deserve. They have not reached many artists who would benefit from them. This is probably because of the solvent content of the spray cans plus the reputation of spray cans as a street art among other things.
Also spray paint artists have been vulnerable to the solvents in the paints and have had to take great care. They have had trouble getting permits to paint in public for the same reason. And teaching it to children has been a problem as well.
Today these limits are gone! I have been working for over a year now on creating an acrylic technique that offers the same benefits and feel as spray paint art. There were things that were important to include. For example the speed. Many airbrushes that I tried needed so much cleaning between each color that it just didn’t have the rhythm of spray paint art. Also the surface to be painted on was key. The way that the spray paint moves on top of the posterboard had many factors that allowed for newspaper work and spatula work with great results. With acrylic paint this was hard to duplicate. Also the spray paint tends to dry in layers and quickly while acrylics have a very different drying pattern. These were a few of the issues that I addressed with years of experiments with the help of Gerardo Amor.
The following information is the result of over a year of experiments with materials and techniques.
My hope is that it will help integrate spray paint art techniques into the mainstream of fine art and that it will free spray paint artists to paint in winter, indoors and in public places without the problems involved in spray cans. Enjoy!
Just a note, I am NOT an expert in airbrushes or airbrush materials. Some information about buying and cleaning airbrush materials is beyond the scope of what I offer and I will refer you to experts on these matters.
Replacing spray propellants with an airbrush and compressor:
The first thing that changes when we switch from spray paint to airbrush is what propels the paint. In a spray can, there are chemicals (propellents) that help the paint leave the can as spray. To avoid these chemicals, we will use air to propel the paint. You will need a source for that air.
You can get air from co2 tanks, compressors, etc……
It is possible to get a can of compressed air. This won’t be nearly enough. Some people have painted with a tire innertube…but it won’t be enough for our purposes.
You can buy a small hobby compressor without an air tank..but this will run constantly and make tons of noise and possibly not have enough pressure. It will be a waste of money.
I recommend a compressor over all other types of air sources. Many of them only make noise for a few minutes and give you hours of painting time. Plus they don’t need to be refilled.
There are many types of compressors.
A compressor can be an oil compressor or it may be an oil-less compressor. I recommend oil-less because it is less noisy and requires less maintenance.
Another type of compressor is the “pancake” compressor. These can hold lots of air and only make noise for a short time. Make sure you drain these of air after each use for safety reasons.
Getting a good compressor will make your painting experience soooooo much better. It’s worth the money to get something that will work for you.
I have two compressors, I got one in the US and one in Mexico. Both at Home Depot.
The one from Mexico is a pancake compressor with a 6-gallon tank which makes noise for about 2 minutes and then lets you paint for over an hour continuously! Sweet!
Check out these links to see similar compressors:
https://www.harborfreight.com/6-gal-15-hp-150-psi-professional-air-compressor-68149.html
The one I got in the US is also from Home Depot. It’s called a Husky Airscout and it works OK for my studio, but it’s only got a small tank, so it makes too much noise for the street or indoors. (Every 20 minutes or so it makes about a minute of loud noise)
There are lots of places to get a compressor that is good but cheap. Here are some recommendations. ( I have not tried all these compressors myself, but you will find many good options at these links)
Tcp global www.tcpglobal.com These people have great customer service that knows about airbrushing. Just call them for advice.
www.harborfreight.com This company has good cheap stuff. They have lots of inexpensive air compressors plus they sell the quickchange airbrush too.
http://www.silentaire.com/silentaire/supersilent.asp I’ve seen this brand recommended by a few people but haven’t tried them.
Some things to find out about a compressor before you purchase it:
How much air does it hold?
6 gallons will last an hour or more. (Remember to empty air out so that it doesn’t rust!)
Is it oil-less?
What size is the outlet where the air comes out? Will it connect directly with your airbrush? (if not you can get adapters)
How noisy is it?
How long does it make noise to fill the tank and how often? (you may need to try it out to find out about the noise it makes)
Does it need a separate regulator? (if it does, I wouldn’t get it)
Can you adjust the airflow? (you have to be able to adjust the airflow)
Please check out this link for someone else’s more experienced thoughts about air sources:
http://www.craigcentral.com/models/airsource.asp
It is important that you drain your compressor after each use to prevent the tank from rusting! This is for safety reasons!!!
Here is a video that shows you how to drain the air from your compressor when you are finished painting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0uYpuCYFwg
Teflon tape is helpful:
You will also need teflon tape to eliminate air leakage wherever you are connecting things. If you need any adaptors to make your parts fit, get them at TCP Global or an art store instead of the hardware store if possible. They seem to have slighly different treads and they screw in more tightly in my experience. The connectors I got at Harbor Freight would not screw together with the airbrush properly. Your experience might be different. Teflon tape will help you out if you can’t get the perfect adaptors.
Here is a great place to order adapters:
https://tcpglobal.com/collections/airbrush-fittings
What kind of paint to use?
You can use airbrush paint or regular acrylic paints. (Perhaps over time I will share my experiments with goache and watercolor spray paint art…but lets keep it simple for now)
Acrylic paints come with different amounts of medium. (medium is the stuff that the color is mixed with)
Basics brand and Reeves brand acrylic paint for example are cheap and contain more medium and less pigment. When you mix them for use with the airbrush (I’ll explain this in a moment) they will be much more diluted. This can be beautiful and transparent type of color, but it doesn’t work if what you want is coverage. I would not use Basics or Reeves acrylic black as my main black. I’ll explain more about this in a moment.
You will need different concentrations of paint for different effects. This is one way we emulate the layering effects of the spray paint. First I will go over the different types of paint and then I will explain their uses.
Createx or other airbrush paints:
https://tcpglobal.com/pages/airbrush-hobby-craft-paint-cre
In Createx airbrush paint for example there are many types of paint including opaque, transparent, iridescent, flourescent, pearlized and others. For our purposes the first thing we need to look at is the difference between the opaque and the transparent paints.
In spray paint we have opaque and transparent as well. Rustoleum or Montana colors tend to be very opaque. Molotow has transparent colors. Metallic colors tend to be transparent for example.
With acrylics, you get to decide exactly how you want your paint!
It is very easy to make a color transparent at will with water based acrylic colors. You simply add lots of transparent medium and/or windex to the color and voila! More transparent.
You can add opaque medium to a transparent color, but it will never give you the coverage of an opaque paint.
Tubes of paint can be either opaque or transparent. It’s hard to tell until you mix them. Usually white is opaque. I’ve never come a cross a transparent white…even Createx transparent white is rather opaque!
You need both opaque and transparent colors to have the most fun! I recommend getting a combination of both. The colors each have their own personality and behavior, opaque and transparent, and the only way to find out what you like is to experiment. Get at least red, blue and yellow in opaque. You can always mix any color with white and it will become more opaque (and lighter) You can also mix the colors together (in their own bottle) to make any shade you desire. I like to have transparent blue and green for shading and for water effects. Transparent black is essential. White seems to be the same whether opaque or transparent. Opaque works better for making stars.
You can buy opaque and transparent airbrush mediums at TCP global or other art stores.
Where to purchase Transparent medium and opaque medium:
https://tcpglobal.com/collections/createx-top-coats-bases
In making land in spray paint art we use a layered effect. Most often we go from light to dark and the layers of paint combine in interesting ways with the use of the newspaper. We must use different mixtures of acrylic paint, transparent and opaque with different amounts of drying to simulate this layering effect to be able to use the newspaper in the same way and create the same effects.
Don’t get overwhelmed, this is actually easy after you try it a few times!
Let’s start with the simplest example, to create the effects of land going light to dark:
Just like with spray paint art, our first layer should be of a light color, whatever the lightest shade that you want in your land is, that you allow to dry or dry with a hairdryer before continuing.
If you are working on a large painting, it may dry by itself. If your picture is smaller, you can speed the drying with a hairdryer. (if it’s taking over a minute to dry, you have probably prepared your paper with too much medium or sealer…see the section about preparing canvas for info on how to fix this)
Your second layer should be a high pigment load color, transparent or opaque as long as the pigment load is high enough. (cheap acrylics such as basics (or reeves) mixed with windex or medium will probably be too wet and transparent to make strong bright colors but may make interesting diluted effects)
It’s fun to experiment with specialized colors such as pearlized or iridescent in the second layer. You can put different layers of colors, colors in different places, you don’t have to limit yourself to 1 color. Just make sure that the amount of paint is not so much that it is too wet. You can test the wetness by touching it with your finger. If the paint looks thick and gooey where you touched and starts to fill itself in again, there is too much. It should lay fairly flat and not flow. If you have put too much paint, dry with a hair dryer until it resembles the right amount of dryness. If you go too far, use a little windex to loosen it up again.
If you wish to only use a small amount of paint and it’s too dry to work with, put a layer of transparent or opaque medium ON TOP of the color. This will ensure that the final layer of dark or black color does not overpower the middle layer.
The final layer of black or other dark color should be a high pigment load paint that is very diluted with windex. It should provide complete coverage with a very thin layer. If you have a too thick layer of black, your land will be very muddied. We want the amount of paint in the second layer to be more than the amount of black (or whatever color) in the final layer. That way your land will be colorful.
It will be much easier to understand all of this as you watch me do it in the video lesson!
Sometimes a video is worth 10,000 words.
Don’t worry if this is confusing, it will become second nature with watching the videos and some practice.
How to use paint in tubes:
Obviously paint that is in a tube is too thick to use with the airbrush. There are some things that we can use to thin our paint. Windex and airbrush medium are good options. (we will talk about some other options later)
Windex! Yes. That is what we will be using to mix and dilute our colors. If you cannot find windex brand, another brand with the same ingredients will do. Make sure it does not have things added..for example to cut grease.
Information on Windex formula:
http://www.ehow.com/about_4760000_what-chemicals-windex.html
Airbrush medium:
Airbrush medium is a thicker liquid than windex. It looks different than dilution with Windex. It also leaves a thick layer which can be worked with with the newspaper. Windex does not do this, although it works well to re-wet the paint.
Both transparent and opaque airbrush medium will dry transparent. You can use either to wet the paint or to make a final coat to even out the look of your painting.
We will be using this in the future for ocean scenes and other effects. Don’t worry about it until you need it for something. It’s not essential.
Where to purchase Transparent medium and opaque medium:
https://tcpglobal.com/collections/createx-top-coats-bases
Here is how to prepare the paint for your airbrush:
You will need some bottles with a spout top
You can buy them, or re-use bottles that had something in them.
https://tcpglobal.com/pages/airbrush-hobby-craft-paint-auto-air
You can use any bottles that you have finished using. For example hand santizer, syrup, salad dressing bottles…anything with a spout top will work. You need to be able to squeeze the paint out. You can also use empty clean airbrush paint bottles.
Hint: Don’t use your full paint bottles to mix your paint. If you mess up and add something or too much of something you can’t un mix it! Always mix paint in an extra bottle.
Airbrush Colors:
https://tcpglobal.com/pages/airbrush-hobby-craft-paint-cre
Advice: Using all this stuff is fine with the cheap airbrushes demonstrated here. Please don’t use tubes of paint, windex or other unconventional airbrush materials with an expensive airbrush as it may break it!
Also for spray paint art style I highly recommend getting the transparent black color instead of the opaque black for most uses.
One source for Liquitex Basics acrylics:
https://www.liquitex.com/row/tips/airbrushing/ This brand is cheap and good to make transparent colors
One source for Winsor newton artists acrylics: http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-artists-acrylics/?clickTracking=true
http://www.dickblick.com/products/winsor-and-newton-artists-acrylics-sets/?clickTracking=true
This brand is high pigment load and gives you more intense colors. Lots of subtle detail with these.
Pantyhose paint filters:
You will also need a womans pantyhose and a pair of scissors. Cut a small square of pantyhose and put it over the top of the bottle. Then screw the top on on top of that. This makes sure that tiny particles of dried paint or glops cannot enter the paint that you are airbrushing. This will help avoid clogging the brush, which is really really annoying when you are painting.
To prepare paint from a tube, squeeze the amount of paint you wish to work with into the bottle and add windex and airbrush medium as you wish. The end consistency should be like thick milk. You will thin this even further when you put it in the bottles you will use to paint with. Windex will simply thin it. Airbrush medium will dilute the color and make it less intense. Do not add airbrush medium if you want your colors to be intense. Do not add airbrush medium to cheap low pigment load acrylic paints. Airbrush medium thickens the paint slightly while also diluting it.
When you have added enough liquid to make a thick milk consistency, screw on the cap on top of the stocking and shake the bottle until it is fully mixed.
Then when the color is mixed open the spout top and get your airbrush bottle. Put some of the color into the bottle and further dilute with windex and/or medium as desired before painting with it.
Again, the windex simply thins the paint, it will become slightly transparent, but not as much as with the medium. The medium makes it thick and dilutes the pigment load further.
If you find your paint spattering, it may need to be thinner. Add more Windex.
Newspaper:
Soft absorbent newspaper works better than magazine paper or advertisement paper. This is because it absorbs more wet paint.
How to prepare canvas or other surfaces for spray painting:
Gesso and/or sealer are the main ways of doing this.
Liquitex Basics Gesso is cheaper than other brands!
I use acrylic sealer from a paint store. Use the kind meant for sealing walls before you paint them. Don’t get the heavy duty kind as it will be too much sealing.
You want a semi-absorbent surface that paint can stick to. Only get water based acrylic sealer. Most brands will work fine. If you find that the paint doesn’t stick to the paper, you are using too much sealer.
The Gesso is matte and the sealer gives a satin type finish. Leave the sealer out if you want an entirely matte painting.
Mix about a tablespoon of Gesso to a teaspoon of sealer. Adjust this amount depending on your gesso and your sealer! Basically if your painting is taking too long to dry and the paint doesn’t stick, use less sealer next time. If it’s too matte for your taste, add sealer. Amounts will vary with the brand! Once you find your ideal mixture, you can create a special bottle where you keep it already prepared.
Do 2 coats of this mixture doing your best not to leave any brush strokes. I use a watercolor brush to avoid brushstrokes. Let it dry at least a half hour between coats.
Let it dry at least 3 hours after the second coat. Overnight would be even better.
Sand it to make it smoother, then wipe off the dust with a damp cloth before you paint. Some people claim that it comes out better if you sand it while wet. You need special wet-sanding paper if you wish to do this. I haven’t noticed a difference.
If you find that your spatula work is not bright and clean enough, consider using a thicker coat next time.
Other papers:
You can paint on posterboard, just like with spray paint. It’s best if you use thicker paper. You can get it at Dick Blick’s here. I’m sure there are other good places to find it. Try art stores.
http://www.dickblick.com/products/blick-economy-white-posterboard/?clickTracking=true
In Mexico it’s called “cartulina sulfatada” or Caple.
The important thing is the ply. You want something like 8 ply poster board. The heavier the paper the less it will bend.
Some hints to keep paper flat:
Tape it down before you paint (tape underneath the paper or around the edges), don’t thin your paints as much, use less paint if possible. Dry it with the hairdryer when done and flatten as you do. If all else fails, store underneath a stack of heavy flat paintings and it will be flat in the morning.
If you cannot find this heavy paper, you can paint on wood or canvas or some other paper prepared with gesso and/or sealer.
It is also possible to paint on Yupo paper or Mighty board. I’ll talk about these later. For now, just google them.
Preparing absorbent paper:
You can paint on absorbent papers such as airbrush or watercolor paper.
Another way of preparing paper is to spray it with sealer mixed with Windex and to allow it to dry thoroughly. This is a much more absorbent surface and gives a different look than the gesso preparation.
You can also use certain artists mediums mixed with Windex and get a similar effect. Be very careful to let these dry thoroughly as I find that the paint sometimes peels off when they are even a tiny bit wet.
Watercolor paper can be prepared either way or with only Gesso. This works well for certain effects. There will be more on this as we move along. Watercolor paper has advantages and disadvantages. You may want to wait to try this until I post a video explaining them. Or not…
http://www.dickblick.com/buy/product/155866-airbrush-papers-borden-riley-airbrush-pad.html
Airbrushes and accessories:
I must tell you, I haven’t tried every kind of airbrush in the world! There may be good ones out there that I am unaware of.
My favorite brush for this style of painting so far is the Harbor Freight quick-change airbrush.
It’s good to have some other brands anyway because they do different things.
What you need is called a single action bottom-feed airbrush.
Single action means that you only have one control, on or off. (usually, you can adjust the spray amount too with these)
Bottom feed means that the paint comes in the bottom (so you can change colors without washing something)
If you google it, just try googling single-action airbrush.
The important thing is how much trouble it is to change the colors. If it’s a hassle, it won’t work for this style.
Watch the videos on these airbrushes to get a better idea of their positives and negatives.
This one is my workhorse…
Harbor Freight Quick Change Airbrush:
http://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?q=quick+change+airbrush
I recommend getting at least 5 of these so that you have extra caps, bottles, and tubes at all times.
The Master’s airbrush from TCP global also works. If you like this brand, I recommend getting at least 2 plus a ‘splitter’ to avoid the problems with changing colors. You will also need to purchase the bottles separately.
https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=quick%20change%20airbrush
The splitter is on this page (scroll down)
https://tcpglobal.com/collections/airbrush-fittings
The Iawata Eclipse airbrush that I show in the video is this one https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=quick%20change%20airbrush
I would not recommend making this your main airbrush as the amount of paint it shoots is too thin for our purposes.
Here is a nice explanation of different types of airbrush for general information
http://www.goldenpaints.com/technicaldata/airtips.php
Here is where you can get an extra airbrush hose that you can cut up into tubes or use.
https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=quick%20change%20airbrush
Here is one place to get bottles and caps.
https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=quick%20change%20airbrush
Here is where to get different adaptors and fittings (scroll down)
https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=quick%20change%20airbrush
Troubleshooting:
Some reasons for spattering paint:
Paint is too thick
The cap is clogged or not fully screwed on
Sometimes the very first spray has a spatter…so try the color briefly to check if it is important
Sometimes the little hole in the top of the harbor freight cap is clogged
Paint is not well mixed
Paint is mixed with water or some other substance that doesn’t work
Some reasons for peeling paint:
Too much sealer
Didn’t let it dry enough
Some reasons for muddy looking newspaper work:
Used opaque black instead of diluted transparent black
Not enough color underneath or color was too dry
Didn’t dry the first layer of land so it’s too white looking
Some reasons for cracking paint:
Too much paint in one spot!
Paint not diluted enough
Cleanup:
Pipe cleaners are great for cleaning out airbrush tubes:http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece-airbrush-cleaning-brushes-68155.html
You will need a sewing pin to clean the harbor freight airbrush caps.
Steel wool is great for removing dried acrylic paint from plastic bottles.
A toothbrush is handy for getting inside bottles you can’t reach into.
Something useful to have is an airbrush cleaning pot. This is useful for changing colors on all brushes except the Harbor Freight brush.
Airbrush cleaning pot: https://www.harborfreight.com/search?q=quick%20change%20airbrush