So my oldest son, who turned 11, is getting an Airbrush on Saturday for his birthday. He's an amazing drawer for his age and I thought that any way we can get him to further his talents, the better.

I was hoping to find a book on it but came up empty handed. I could probably find something about it online but one on one instruction is best.

So, I'm hoping one of you are good with an airbrush and can show him a trick or two with it. I can pay you for your troubles if you're willing to help. We'd come to you and everything!

 

Sorry, artisticly challenged here, heres a link to some books...
http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Starte.../dp/0891344799

 

Airbrushes are cool.... and fun... tho i highly recommend him wearing at least a basic dust mask.... or else... when he's done... he'll be sneezing <insert color last used> boogers

anyways... models.... cars, planes, RC car bodies, other basic toys like that.. would give him a great medium to practice on.... and who says you couldn't use just a regular coloring book??
"spray between the lines".... a basic coloring book would help him figure out how to get a fine needle point accuarcy... or wide fades going....

 

Robbie, I looked at your link and I think I found a good book. Tomorrow, when I'm not so lazy, I might get my credit card out and buy one or see if the library has it (or others).

Kekai... you seem to know something about this? As for practice, he does have model cars and he I do have a rather large stock pile of stolen (well, sort of... they're useless) huge newspaper machine advertisements that when turned over, turn instantly into large poster board, lol.

Good call on the dust mask, even though colored boogers are always a treat!

 

wouldn't worry about colored boogers, but too much paint fumes and he will have mush for a brain, knew a former auto painter that didn't believe in paint masks, key word is knew, he didn't live to see his grandchildren, so, yeah, dust mask or very well ventalated area would be smart, but you already knew that. Have him practice on the xB, lol.

 

To check for fumes,

Periodically light a match. This is a "win win" method because if there is any fumes, the flame will eliminate them.

And the big bonus.,.... Free hair cut (all over)

 

Practice on my xB... blow up my child...

You guys are sooooOoOoOoOooo funny.

I only get to have my husband kick one of your sses at the Pizza Run, huh? That's a shame.

 

Jenna,

There a ton of great books out there on airbrushing. I would recommend getting a subscription to Airbrush Action (www.airbrushaction.com) or A-B mag (www.ab-mag.com) these are the best ones out there in my opinion. They will show him the best tools to use and also expose your son to the correct paints and inks to use. A lot of them are water soluable and not as bad for his health as the old paints. They have ads for stencils and every other kind of product that can be imagined for airbrushing. They also have a ton of pictures for insiration.

As far as practice goes, the more the better. I use anything I can get my hands on. The hobby stores now sell pads of paper made just for airbrushing and they work great. Use both sides and you double your fun. Maybe get or make and eisle and put it in the garage and turn him loose. A mask is ALWAYS a good idea no matter what paint he uses. It's just a good habit to get into.

There is s paint out there now that is water soluable and easy to use. It's called Createx. ( www.createxcolors.com) this is the best thing since sliced bread if you ask me. Not too expensive and you don't need to worry about the fumes. Non-toxic!!! If you paint on galss or some other hard surface, you can wet it when you're done and wipe it right off. If you want to keep it, clear coat it and it's there for good.

There is so much to learn and so much information out there now that it would be next to impossible to go over it all here. Just get him started and if he is truely into it, he'll find the info somewhere.

I hope this information helps you and your son. who knows, maybe some day we'll see him on TV painting one of Chip Foose's hot rods.

Good luck and feel free to contact me with any questions.

 

Thank you, striperjake. I just took your advice and got the subscription to Airbrush Action!

I had to go look... we got Lucas the primary colors of Tamiya acrylic paints. I'll check out the kind you mentioned though when we shop for more paint or want to expand the color library, lol.

I do hope he likes this present. If he doesn't, I sure will have fun playing with it. And yeah, you're right, if he likes it, he'll get the info himself.

And I'll get some masks. Good call everybody as I wouldn't of probably even thought of that on my own.

 

if you want to see soemthing really cool take him to one of those little asian places that do nail and let him watch how the air brush some of them are really very good. Also another thought is find a tatoo artist that is really good and does a lot of free hand and see if maybe they can teach him something. Just make sure that he does not come home with long accrilic finger nails and tatoos. that would be a really bad thing

 

My middle son Riley would probably come home with a full set if I sent him there, lol.

 

I have a car model airbrush around here somewhere he can have...if I can find it...

 

Let me know how it works out Jenna, I have always wanted to try airbrushing.

 

airbrushing is fun... wish i could talk myself into sitting down and learning it more....
if i could master it... free touch up paint!!! lol

 

Wicked 1, that is a very nice offer! Thanks!

BTW, one of his other gifts are weights, lol. His request.

 

Jenna,

How'd he like the airbrush? We're all dieing to know.

Tom

 

We haven't gotten it out yet as we've been busy since the party on Saturday but we're going to do it when he gets home from school today.

First on his list of things to attempt is flames. I don't know if that's too hard of a thing to do or not, lol, but I'm going to see if I can't find flame help online. Oh, and I have to read the instructions on the airbrush itself to read how to even use it, lol.

Thanks for asking, I'll report on how he liked it and how he did, later!

 

Kewl. Sounds fun. Here's a link to a very helpful how to guide that I refer to all the time. It'll keep him busy for days.

Post some pictures of his work when you can.

www.airbrush.com/how-to-guide.aspx

 

Thanks for the link... I'm checking it out now!

 

21 years old & 11 year old son?!