Hello everyone, I recently bought an Iwata eclipse to paint masks I made, but am having trouble making anything look decent. My dry brushed masks actually look a lot better. I've been using only Fw acrylics for airbrushing. I'll spray with flesh, then magenta, Rowney blue, then another coat of flesh. It looks dumb. I can't figure out how exactly to mottle. I've even watched YouTube vids on it but it's hard learning from a video. I'll post some pics tomorrow to show what it looks like. How do you guys paint latex masks? I don't want to use rubber cement because of its toxicity, and pax isn't cheap.
Airbrushing latex masks
- Thread starter scaryguy1
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toothboy
Well-Known Member
Practice, practice, and then practice some more. Buy some cheap dinosaur toys at the dollar store, prime them, and practice painting on them. And don't get frustrated--learning a new technique is tough and takes time and effort. I repainted my Robocop from scratch at least 3 times before I was happy with the end result. And each time it got a little better and I was able to see where I could make improvements. Don't expect a perfect result if you're just starting a new technique.
There are a couple of Stan Winston School videos that are fantastic for what you're wanting instruction on. They really helped me a lot with my airbrush skills and if you're having some struggles I definitely encourage you to check them out. First is Casey Love and Tim Gore's video on painting latex masks. Second is Jamie Grove's video on painting realistic silicone flesh (I don't paint silicone but his techniques have helped me with my resin and latex painting...the Robocop below was painted using his mottle/spatter technique), and finally the great Steve Wang's video on painting latex masks. All will address mottling, color layering, and tons of other stuff you didn't even know you didn't know.
Hope this helps. Here are some examples of some stuff I've done using these techniques. The Robocop is finished, but I'm still working on the Pumpkinhead. Any other questions just let me know. Good luck.
There are a couple of Stan Winston School videos that are fantastic for what you're wanting instruction on. They really helped me a lot with my airbrush skills and if you're having some struggles I definitely encourage you to check them out. First is Casey Love and Tim Gore's video on painting latex masks. Second is Jamie Grove's video on painting realistic silicone flesh (I don't paint silicone but his techniques have helped me with my resin and latex painting...the Robocop below was painted using his mottle/spatter technique), and finally the great Steve Wang's video on painting latex masks. All will address mottling, color layering, and tons of other stuff you didn't even know you didn't know.
Hope this helps. Here are some examples of some stuff I've done using these techniques. The Robocop is finished, but I'm still working on the Pumpkinhead. Any other questions just let me know. Good luck.
toothboy
Well-Known Member
Primarily used Tim Gore's Bloodline from Createx. But also used Garagekits Colors paint, some older Createx Wicked I had lying around, and some thinned down craft paint (I prefer not to use craft paint, but if I need a color in a pinch I just thin it down and shoot it through the airbrush--not as smooth or as stable as the airbrush paints, but it'll do for small areas).
I use an Iwata Eclipse and a Paasch H.
toothboy
Well-Known Member
Depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Generally they overlap though, at least when I paint.
- - - Updated - - -
This may help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEJUY1KWsTw
- - - Updated - - -
This may help:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEJUY1KWsTw
Predatoj
Well-Known Member
Airbrushing is tricky. The hardest part is getting the ink/paint mix right for the kind of finish your trying to achieve. Patching large areas, spots and dots are relatively easy. Veining and fine shadowing that's a whole different thing. You'll get better results by layering translucent mixtures to a solid color. You need to experiment with mixture and air pressure and your AB will thank you for it. The quality of the airbrush only helps you so far. I went from a cheap Chinese AB and upgraded to a Paache Talon, the behaviour of the AB didn't really change much; lots of spitting and clogging up of the nozzle until I learned how to mix ink properly. I like to thin with water and a finite amount of flow improver to break down water tension. Some like to use alcohol. I've tried a bit of both. Lastly you learn eventually to 'feel' when it's right, do lots of test sprays on scrap latex as you go before you apply to your piece. It will come.
You ever used fw acrylic inks? Did you used prosaide or rubber cemet or any binder for the bloodline? How are those colors?
toothboy
Well-Known Member
I have used FW inks sparingly, mainly for fine details when I didn't have the color in my regular airbrush paints. I like the bloodline colors a lot, for the most part they spray very well. The blues and purples need a good bit of reducing to prevent tip try though. They're what I mainly use for painting.
I paint resin 99% of the time, so I just use the acrylics straight onto my primer coat. There is an adhesion promoter for bloodline though that apparently is good for the base coat on latex masks. Tim Gore talks about it in the Stan Winston video (he and Casey Love are painting a latex mask with bloodline colors over the adhesion promoter).
https://www.amazon.com/Createx-Colors-Flexible-Adhesion-Promoter/dp/B011E9IMTG
Have you ever painted a mask using the rub out technique? Where you paint it all black then wipe it away? I am wondering how that's done without getting the black left in the crevices and having it crack if the mask is stretched.
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