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Tag Archive Airbrush

Hobby Advice: Anything Can Be a Stencil

Let’s talk Stencils. There’s just so many awesome airbrush stencils out there. The world around us is filled with them, even though we’re used to pass them by without further notice…

No, I ain’t talking about these! These are all professional stencils, some of which are crazy expensive! Nope – I’m talking about all the stencils that you might already have at home and not know about it! Some may be found in the kitchen, some inside your bathroom, some can even now be in your reach, across the hobby desk!

“But Maciej, you resourceful genius” I hear you say “how come?!”

Here’s the thing: “Anything can be a stencil!” Still don’t believe me? Check these out!

Plastic Hairband

Dirty, dusty effect – why not?

Flowers Decoration

Still haven’t used, but I know there will come a time to do it 😛

Insect Repellant

Cuz there’s never enough hex in your life!

Steel Whool

I call upon thee God of Thunder!

Blue Tac

Not a stencil, but totally worth consideration 😉

Net Bag

My favorite source of elastic, detailed stencils.

Feel inspired to rampage across your home and try to find as many stencils as possible? Feel like “gonna catch them all!”? I wish you good hunt!

PS: What are yours favorite DIY stencils? Let me know in the comments or under THIS facebook post 😉

Tutorial: Painting Infinity Guijia

Welcome to Painting “Guijia” tutorial. Here I will take you on a Step-by-step trip through almost entire process of painting Infinity the Game “Guijia” Special Project

Before we start, some notes:
* This one requires an Airbrush.
* Paints are to be properly thinned before airbrush application.
* As usual, please take note that what works for me might not necessarily work for you.

Allright! Undercoat the miniature with black, check your gear and let’s do this!

*  Start with a solid layer of airbrushed Val. Orange Brown. I applied mine in three delicate, overlaping layers. I went around the miniature, with top and bottom, focusing on Armor Plates areas.

*  Next, airbrush Val. Scrofulous Brown. Mostly from the top and up to 45* degree, focusing on the most exposed areas. You can start building transitions to previous layer avoiding shadowed areas.

*  I forgot to take a picture of this layer. That's on me. Fortunatelly the result can be seen on the next picture. The layer is a mix of Val. Scrofulous Brown and Val. Off White, applied from top onto the center of all exposed areas.

*  Next, outline all the edges with Val. Ice Yellow

*  Lastly, underline armor plates with Army Painter Soft Tone Ink. I also used strongly dilluted Soft Tone to apply some more shadow in certain 'over the edge' areas.

*  This is the most difficult part of the process. Mix Val. Black (air) 1:5 with Val. Panzer Dark Grey (air) and apply it to everything, that is not external armour plates and blade. The difficult part is to not mess up all these sexy Orange-to-Yellow armour plates. If you do, you can try out Erasing Bloopers following one of my tutorials, still the airbrushed nature of the layer will make it extremely difficult.

*  Next apply a watered down GW Fenrisian Grey over black areas. It is important not to fill any recesses. You can apply more than one thin layer, overlaping each other and even leave some irregularities - this will work to the overall paint job's advantage.

*  Next, higlight edges with GW Pale Wych Flesh. This time no thinning down the paint. You can imitate some scratches, reflexions etc.

*  Now wash it all with a thinned down Army Painter Dark Tone Ink. Once again be extra carefuul not to paint over finished armour plates.

*  Now it's time to make it POP! Using GW Pale Wych Flesh and Val. Off White, highlight the edges and create some points of focus, scratches, reflections etc.

*  Start by masking the Guijia's leg. I used a piece of foil and masking tape to cover areas that I didn;t wanted to get dirty. Then manually applu a layer of Val. Prussian Blue, avoiding areas of Black Mesh.

*  Next airbrush a layer of Light Sea Blue, focusing on the most exposed areas of armour.

*  Next, airbrush a mix of Val. Light Sea Blue with a bit of Val. White focusing on middle areas, creating a transition from previous layer.

*  Next highlight the edges with GW Pale Wych Flesh.

*  To seal Blue, wash it with thinned down GW Guilliman Blue Glaze. You can see that I have also painted some battle damage. I did it using Val. Cavalry Brown, underlined with Val. Off White.

I leave adding Black Under Armour and additional details to you. Now to the Sword… To be honest, because of strong light, pictures taken during this one’s painting process did not captured how the sword looked like and I really don’t like how they turned out. That being said – I will still show you the Sword and name the paints used, but instead of a Step-by-step tutorial, let’s just call it a BONUS.

BONUS:

List of paints:
Val. Warlord Purple,
Val. Off white,
GW. Pale Wych Flesh,
AP. Purple Tone Ink,

I leave the base and additional detail to you. Congratulations, you have painted a Guijia 🙂

Was this tutorial helpful? Did you enjoyed it? Leave me a comment 😉

I hope you find this tutorial interesting. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments below or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.

Hobby Advice: Airbrush for Beginners – What You Need to Start

Alright, so you decided to start with an airbrush. You’ve made some reconnaissance, picked an airbrush and compressor and the only question that stands between you and a lifetime of successful airbrushing is “what else do I need to start?”. This very question was asked to me a lot since I myself started airbrushing. It might be about time to turn the answer into a short article, in hope to support all the beginner hobbyists out there…

Necessities:

Assuming you’ve already picked an airbrush and a compressor, there’s still a list of items you should get before you’ll be able to start airbrushing. Let’s dive head on into the list of necessary items…

Air Hose

Air hose is used to link the airbrush with compressor. When picking an air hose it is important to check which models of airbrush / compressors it’s fitting is compatible with. The easiest way is to simply contact a store and ask them to recommend an air hose compatible with types of fitting of your airbrush / compressor.


Adapter / Multi Way Valve Assembly

In case your airbrush has different type of fitting than the compressor, you will also require an Adapter, or a Multi Way Valve Assembly with a proper type of connection. Take a look at E-Bay to see how many different types of fitting there are…


Spray Out Airbrush Pot & Airbrush holder

A filter equipped spray out airbrush pot and an airbrush holder (preferably 2 in 1 like below) are also necessary. Thanks to these you will have an option to rest the airbrush on a holder in-between different activities (like mixing paints, or even resting for a bit). Spray out airbrush pot will also keep the majority of paint waste contained in an easy to clean glass pot.


Cleaning Brushes

You will use these too clean up the insides of your airbrush.


Nozzle Cleaning Tool

You will use this tool to clean up the nozzle. When picking one, make sure it is recommended for the type of nozzle of your airbrush. Too large tool may damage the nozzle from the inside.

Example: ALDER tool (top) damages H&S nozzles! H&S tool (bottom) is perfect for H&S nozzles


Water Bowl & Nozzled Plastic Bottle

You will use this duo to remove the excess paint from your airbrush without the need to spray it all out.


Airbrush Cleaner, Airbrush Thinner, Airbrush Flow Improver

Airbrush Cleaner, Airbrush Thinner and Airbrush Flow Improver – these three liquids are a must have.


Other stuff:

Below are some additional items that while not necessary, will come in handy once you start airbrushing your way to hobby glory.


Mask

Unless you’re ok with lung damage, wearing a proper mask while airbrushing, is in order. With this one it is recommended to aim high, pick a high quality tool with strong filters – better safe than sorry. 


Latex Gloves

Protective latex gloves, while not essential, will help you keep your skin clean and healthy. Extensive airbrushing might lead to skin getting dry and irritated.


Spare Needle

Airbrush needle is very delicate. A vast majority of beginners damage the needle during first few days of airbrush adventure. I advise you to get a spare needle outright, just in case.


Medium Round Brush

Long hair, medium size, round brush to remove excess paint from the tip of the needle without the need to dismantle entire airbrush.


Mixing Tool & Mixing Cups

You might use these to mix paints before pouring them into the cup on top of an airbrush to avoid clods of paint to get inside.


Masking Tape

Not really an essential, but a very useful tool to help you with avoiding overlapping paint on some areas.


Painting Holder

This can be anything between an original painting holder and a sole small cup with a ball of Blu Tack mounted on the underside. Such tool will let you airbrush without fear of messing up the paint job with your fingers. Plus it is just a very comfortable way of painting miniatures.


Paints…

Obviously you will require paints. It is not necessary to get any type of special airbrush paints. Thanks to Flow Improver and Thinner regular paints will do, but that’s a story for another article. Personally I wholeheartedly recommend Vallejo Air series as I find them ready to use straight out of bottle.  

Thanks for reading. If you think I skipped a necessary or useful item that a beginner airbrush users should get, let me know in the comments section or via Facebook or Instagram. I would also appreciate if you considered sharing this content with your friends, who might find it useful. Finally if you are looking for a professional miniatures painting service, be sure to contact me with this contact form. I always reply within 24 hours, after which please check out your spam folder.

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