# Airbrushes?



## Emily Diehl (Jun 13, 2012)

Hi guys,

I want to improve my blending, so I'm looking to pick up an airbrush for FX makeup. Do any of you have suggestions on what kind I should look for? What paints do they use?

I don't really know much about them, so any tips or advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks!


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

As far as what can be sprayed with an airbrush? Pretty much anything liquid, from cocoa butter to food coloring, water colors, oils, acrylics, inks, dyes, etc.

As far as what should you get or look for. Your decisions need to be based upon what kind of fine detail or broad coverage you need from your airbrush, how nimble your fingers are, and how much makeup (one color) you would shoot at a time, and what your work conditions are. 
Airbrushes basically come in two varieties for the way the paint is fed into the airbrush, gravity feed or siphon feed. Gravity feed uses gravity to feed the paint into the path of the propellent (compressed air, or CO2), while siphon fed brushes create a vacuum to siphon the paint up into the path of the propellent. Gravity fed brushes take less air pressure to atomize (spray) the paint than the siphon fed brushes. More pressure means more overspray and more work for your compressor. Gravity fed brushes tend to have a smaller capacity for holding paint, makeup, etc. Siphon feed brushes tend to come with a small cup/reservoir for smaller jobs, and larger bottles for bigger jobs, you can also get "fast blast" caps that will screw directly into larger bottles of paint. this allows you to make fairly quick changes between colors. But keep in mind that the further you have to pull the paint up the tube and into the brush, the more air pressure it requires.
The angle you need or want to spray at can also be a factor to consider. For severe angles (straight up or straight down) you can have issues with either of these types of airbrushes.
Enter door number 3. Side feed brushes, these come as single or double action brushes, with traditional push button triggers, or, with models like the Grex Tritium S, you can have a gun style trigger. These are double action brushes so you still get the control of a push button brush, but the beauty of a side feed brush is that you can rotate the cup to whatever angle you need, you can use different sizes of cups/reservoirs, or even use them as a siphon feed brush with the Fast Blast caps. If your fingers aren't nimble, or you have arthritis, then this style of brush is for you.

There are single action brushes, which means that the trigger controls only one function, typically that's the air flow going through the airbrush, but that's not always the case. For mass production work, or work where you don't need to do detail work, single action brushes work great. You can adjust the volume of paint on them, but, unlike the double action brushes, the control of the paint volume is separate from the control of the air.
Double action brushes allow you to control the paint volume and the air from one trigger. Pushing down on the trigger releases the air, and pulling back on the trigger releases the air. The further back you pull the trigger the more paint it lets pass through.

There are internal mix and external mix brushes. What this means is that the paint and air are mixed within the airbrush, or outside the body of the airbrush. The internal mix brushes offer better control on the mix and detail capabilities, but the external mix are a bit easier to clean.

The capability of a brush to do detail or broad coverage is limited/controlled by the diameter of the fluid nozzle/tip (without the use of masks or stencils). Though to be realistic, even the brushes with the largest size nozzle are still going to be able to deliver finer detail than most people would ever need or want. For a good all around nozzle size, look for a 0.3mm - 0.65mm.

Don't waste your money on junk brushes, they tend to have very inconsistent quality in manufacturing, you can't get replacement parts or service. Those two things, the replacement parts and service are important things to consider. If you can't get replacement needles and nozzles then that cheap brush becomes an expensive paperweight in a hurry, and even buying a second of the same model usually won't help. Because the people who are marketing them (flea markets, harbor freight, etc.) buy the brushes from whoever is the cheapest that week, so the sizes and quality will be different every time you get one. For you, this means you can't steal parts from an old one to make the new one work, and the fact is you will probably do damage to the same parts on the second and third brush as you did on your first one.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

For the makeup? There are a lot of manufacturer's out there, a lot depends upon what you need or want.
Do a search on the internet for special effects airbrush makeup. But try to stay within one type, alcohol or water based. Water based is easier to clean up and deal with, but it tends to have a short life span once it's been applied.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: Emily, Allen H is the forum expert on airbrushing, make up and he is a master. I am sure you can find a thread by him. He is a genius and has so much talent with the airbrush. I bought his DVD and everything he recommended from Stiltbeast Studios. He is 100% right in everything he said. I will find the thread and post it for you here! Yeah, I am so glad you found us!

Here's the thread....good luck...

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=27752&highlight=airbrush


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I wouldn't recommend pinching the hose, nor working without the handle on the brush. Pinching or folding the hose will cause the hose to crack and split with age. If you really want that kind of control, add a GMAC to your setup, it will give you the fine control, and allow you to change out airbrushes quickly and easily.

Always test your makeup on your actor in a small, inconspicuous spot before you work on the face, arms, etc. Some people have allergic reactions and it's better to find out on a thigh or calf rather than on a face where they may break out or have rashes.
While home made colors are fun, you need to be careful with what you spray. Go with approved makeup if and when you can.
Ideally, you don't want the air pressure to be high enough to dimple the actor's skin, especially around the eyes and face.

Working without the handle is a great way to get hurt, and to damage the needle and the airbrush as a whole. If you can, wear latex or nitrile gloves while you paint, it lets you keep your hands clean and helps you avoid overexposure to alcohol or cleansers trying to get the makeup back off. 

For water based makeup, wipe down the areas to be covered with some cotton and some isopropyl alcohol before you try to apply the makeup. The skin oils can keep the makeup from adhering properly.

Allen's use of the paper stencil is a good one, you can get all kinds of effects with things you have around you used as stencils, masks, or templates

I've been doing this for more than 40 years.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Personally, I absolutely LOVE my paasche brushes. I've only been airbrushing for a short time, though. I bought two Paasche H model brushes about a year and a half ago. They tend to stand up better than some cast iron hand tools I have owned. I like the fact that I can get much better detail in facial applications than I ever could with a regular artist's brush.


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## Emily Diehl (Jun 13, 2012)

Oh man, great info! I'm going to read through all of this and see if I have any other questions. I'm aiming to get one ASAP so I can start experimenting. I'll be doing makeup for a few local haunts this year, so having a faster way to apply and blend stuff will be super helpful.

Thanks so much again! I'll let you guys know if I run into any other questions.


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## Emily Diehl (Jun 13, 2012)

OK, so I've read over everything here and have watched Allen's awesome video (I'll be ordering his DVD soon). I'm wondering if you guys have any recommendations for specific brushes that have worked great for you in the past? I am primarily doing hobbyist makeup (zombie walks, etc.), but am planning to expand to haunts this year. I'm pretty dexterous, so it sounds like a siphon feed, side feed, or double action could be good for me?

I'm not really sure! Any thoughts?


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

I've had great luck with a Grex Tritium S. It's a side feed brush. That lets you swivel the cup to any angle you need, and it gives you a wide variety in sizes of cups, it also lets you use the brush as a siphon feed brush if you need to use even larger quantities of makeup or paint.
It has a gun style trigger, and you can get it or change it's nozzle and needle sizes should you wish to. The parts don't cost an arm and a leg, and they are fairly easy to get. I'd also suggest getting a GMAC to go with it, or any brush for that matter. A GMAC is a Micro Air Control that has a quick connect on it so you can change out airbrushes without having to screw and unscrew things. The beauty of a GMAC is that it lets you fine tune the air pressure and volume right at the brush, any brush, that you plug into it, to get just the right amount of air for the job at hand. The gun style trigger is easy for most people to use since it's just a single range of motion to control both the air and the paint.
You may find, like many, that after you've use an airbrush for a bit that having more than one brush will work best for you. It lets you keep a different airbrush for each color. That cuts down your loss of product/makeup and solvents & cleaners, and saves you time on having to clean out your brush for every color change.

Paasche make some great brushes, I've still got my first one from the early 1970's. But most of their brushes have a large body or barrel, for small hands, that can be a real issue. They are also typically siphon fed, that means it will take more air pressure to spray/atomize the makeup. That increased air pressure also means more overspray. But they are great workhorses just the same. Find a brush or brushes that fit you and your needs, make sure you can get parts and service for them, and that you won't have to break the bank to buy those pieces.


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