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Help with mixing paint!!

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luke

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Dec 4, 2002, 12:58:29 PM12/4/02
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Hey,

I have gotten away from airbrushing and would like to know what the
paint to water ratio would be for creatix or golden acrylics. I will
be using an Iwata HP-BCS. I will be doing painting on illustration
board and canvas.

Any help would be appreciated, Luke

airbrush ken

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Dec 5, 2002, 3:05:31 AM12/5/02
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G'day Luke,
If you are looking to create art work that you want to last and the
only choice is golden colours or createx, then by all means use the
artist quality paints.

If you are working on canvas, then it's better to reduce your pigments
with binder as you need the strength on canvas. Working on
illustration board, designed for airbrush work, such as CS 10, then
you can add more water to the mix.

Just remember it's the medium that gives the paint it's durability and
the pigment it's colour. Adding only water reduces both colour and
strength. If you plan on rubbing back or using blades on the board,
it's a lot easier to do if you use water as a reducer.

Hope that helps ya...
Bob smoke, I'm outa' here
Ken

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paulcorfield

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Dec 5, 2002, 10:55:24 AM12/5/02
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I find Createx is a very strong paint even when diluted with water. It's
near impossible to erase from illustration board and should think it would
work fine on canvas without a binder. Createx dries like rubber no matter
how well diluted it is. Personally I use acrylic inks which are probably
similar to Golden brand. I can't stand the properties of Createx. Most
acrylic brands do a thinning medium to use instead of water that also help
with the flow through the airbrush etc. Liquitex make a good range of
mediums to add to acrylics depending on the effects you are after.
Paul.
--
The Pinup Art of Paul Corfield
www.paulcorfield.com

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paulcorfield

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Dec 5, 2002, 11:01:53 AM12/5/02
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For consistency in my airbrush which I think has a smaller color cup than
yours, I use a ratio of 5 drops of color to about 20 drops of water but you
need to go by trial and error to see what is best. Too much color and you
will clog up the needle easily so the thinner the better but not so thin you
don't get any coverage. There's no hard and fast rules as sometimes you want
a thin transparent wash and sometimes a thick, fast coverage.

Paul.
--
The Pinup Art of Paul Corfield
www.paulcorfield.com

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ScottB

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Dec 8, 2002, 7:48:25 PM12/8/02
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I picked up a 6 pack of FW Acrylic Artists Ink, should I dilute this? If
so with what ... yeah, I'm just starting out. I know enough to know that
paint thickness can destroy the best touch. Being new to this, I'd like
to get a little immediate satisfaction. I just ordered a Airbrush
Getting Started Video (haven't gotten it yet though) the books don't say
much about paint consistancy. Oh, It might matter that I'm using an
IWATA HP-BC .3MM needle. I'm trying to get a .2mm needle and a crown to
protect the needle when doing really fine lines.
Just for tips, where do you mix your paint(s), colors etc. I can do it
in the bottles (I have plenty of them). I should get some Coffee filters
for pouring paint through?!
Scott B

paulcorfield

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Dec 9, 2002, 4:07:44 AM12/9/02
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Hi Scott,
I use FW inks 90% of the time. Dilute them with water. I use a .15 needle
and they work fine. I have a fairly small color cup on my airbrush and use a
ratio of about 20-25 drops of water to 5-10 drops of FW ink. I just mix my
colors in the color cup of the airbrush. If you use any of the opaque colors
this will still be about the right ratio but being opaque they will clog
quicker than the transparent colors. I just use a very soft brush, dip it in
some airbrush cleaning fluid and gently clean the tip of the needle as I
work. If you are using bottles then it may be better to mix a range of
colors. I never bother straining my water, I just use tap water. That's
going to extremes unless your tap water has stuff floating around in it. If
you want to be fussy then buy bottles of distilled water like you would use
to top up the fluid on a car battery. The inks shouldn't need straining
although the white can get a bit of sediment in it as it's quite thick. Hope
this helps.
Regards,

Paul.
--
The Pinup Art of Paul Corfield
www.paulcorfield.com


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ScottB

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Dec 9, 2002, 10:14:45 PM12/9/02
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Thanks Paul,
I've looked at your website and work ... after just playing around with
dots and thin lines and trying simple things like getting an even coat
of paint, I'm totally in awe. Hell, I couldn't even get a stencil clean
(air moved the stencil and I got paint 'blow by'). I know I need to
learn basic control of the brush. But when I see the work you and others
here put out, I can't wait to get some of my ideas tried out. One of
them, being a Harley Rider (yeah another one); I have 2 difficult things
to tackle: I want a chrome semi-wild looking rider on a chrome wild
horse. Yeah I know, WAY ambicious for a newbie. Perhaps with enough
practice I can get it.
First things first though, get control of the brush!!! What type of
brush(s) are you using to get .15 needle?! And what type of air
pressure should I be using for the thin lines. I tried several pressures
between 15 - 40 I used the FW straight (it seemed thin, until I read how
you cut it down). I managed to get pretty thin lines but not with the
consistancy that I'd trust myself with (yet).
When I tried a even coat of burnt umber / yellow (made a realistic
sand color with adding a little more umber and spattering. However, I
didn't have enough control to get REALLY EVEN paint, I got heavy spots.
I worked on moving past the board and trying to keep the brush the same
distance from the board (in this case I used a scrap piece of picture
matting from a picture my wife framed). I have plenty of books (I
learned oil painting from Alexander and Ross that way), but I have to
get a video so I can actually watch the hand movements. I also tried to
erase some clouds into the painting. FW straight on cardboard doesn't
erase well. And the FW 6 pack of colors doesn't have an opaque white.
Last, how do I cut Gouache down (I have tubes of Reeves brand) so I
can airbrush with that?
Ok that's long enough ... and enough questions (for now). Thank you.
Do I pay by the word or by the hour here? :-)

Anxious to get started doing something productive,
Scott B


paulcorfield wrote:

> Hi Scott,
> I use FW inks 90% of the time. Dilute them with water. I use a .15 needle
> and they work fine. I have a fairly small color cup on my airbrush and use a
> ratio of about 20-25 drops of water to 5-10 drops of FW ink. I just mix my
> colors in the color cup of the airbrush. If you use any of the opaque colors
> this will still be about the right ratio but being opaque they will clog
> quicker than the transparent colors. I just use a very soft brush, dip it in
> some airbrush cleaning fluid and gently clean the tip of the needle as I
> work. If you are using bottles then it may be better to mix a range of
> colors. I never bother straining my water, I just use tap water. That's
> going to extremes unless your tap water has stuff floating around in it. If
> you want to be fussy then buy bottles of distilled water like you would use
> to top up the fluid on a car battery. The inks shouldn't need straining
> although the white can get a bit of sediment in it as it's quite thick. Hope
> this helps.
> Regards,
> Paul.
> --
> The Pinup Art of Paul Corfield
> www.paulcorfield.com
>
>

> Snipped my post <<

paulcorfield

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Dec 10, 2002, 5:57:59 PM12/10/02
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Hi Scott,
My main airbrush with the .15 needle is a DeVilbiss model. I'm in the UK and
DeVilbiss are built over here. I rarely spray any fine lines though even
with this needle. I like a nice fine mist which this set up gives me.
So, you want to paint chrome. All those reflections adds up to one big
headache. Personally I love painting reflections such as on black shiny
boots etc but they are hard to paint.
If your stencils are moving then weigh them down of hold them down with your
spare hand.
Air pressure for thin lines is usually fairly low because you are holding
the brush so close to the work surface and there's a chance of blowing paint
all over the place. Because I have a loud compressor and it's shut away in a
sound proof box I spray at the same pressure no matter what as it's too much
hassle to alter but I'm used to spraying that way now. Just see what works
best. The trouble with using the FW straight out the bottle is it will dry
quickly on the needle and will be hard to erase etc as it's so concentrated
plus your colors will be too intense too quickly when you spray. It's better
to dilute it and build it up in layers. That may be why you had trouble
erasing your clouds.
You get those heavy spots in your spraying where you change direction.
There's a slight pause and so more paint is put on in certain areas. Spray
from further away and build it up slowly.
You can airbrush with gouache. Just thin it down with water again. I thin it
down just as I do with the FW inks.
A video may be good but as far as analyzing hand movements, that may be
going a bit far because you will be trying to do everything exactly as
someone else does it when in reality the way they do something is unique to
them. When you come to do your own painting you will always be trying to
think how the person in the video would be doing it which can give you a
mental block. It's better just to get a general feel for the airbrush and
just practice. Personally I've never watched any airbrush videos. I prefer
to read something and then try the way that I interpret it.
That's it for now.
I'll send you the bill. ;-)
Regards,
Paul.

--
The Pinup Art of Paul Corfield
www.paulcorfield.com

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