Each type of paint comes with a variety of options, such as matte or glossy, Iridescent and Interference, and metallics. One of the main aspects of being an artist beyond being able to draw and create well is also being technically proficient somewhat and learned about the materials and products used. It is essential that an artist understand what paint is required for what surface and how to use it properly.

Most paints are to thick, or viscous to use directly into an airbrush and therefore require thinning down to the consistency of milk.

Airbrush Kits are combinations of airbrushing supplies and airbrushing parts that are sold together as one, or in other words as a kit. Smaller kits will contain just an airbrush and some items, while many kits are complete airbrush setups containing the airbrush, the airbrush compressor, airbrushing stencils, airbrush paints, airbrush cleaning supplies, maybe a book or two and some other airbrushing items.

The Airbrush Kits that have everything in them are all that a beginner needs and they are the easiest way to begin if you are just starting out because they have everything needed including instructions and maybe even a tutorial video. Usually all that you have to do is unpack everything, plug it all in, pour in some paint into the airbrush cup, and just begin spraying. Just remember to spray out a lot of water through the airbrush and clean it out before you put it away or otherwise you the next time you go to use the airbrush, it will be all jammed with dried paint and much harder and more time consuming to clean. Also, touch your compressor motor to see if it is overheating from overuse, many smaller, cheaper compressors overheat and will burn out.

By holding the stencil flush with the surface, airbrushing through the stencil will produce a clean crisp design, but if the stencil is not held flush then paint will make its way under the stencil resulting in unwanted under-spray and resulting in a blurry edge where the stencil lifted.

Open sections of the stencil are called islands. These are the areas that allow color to be applied on the surface under the stencil. Bridges are the stencil material that separates the islands and keeps the shape of a stencil. These areas block color or paint from reaching the surface.

Over the last 100 years, more and more companies have entered the airbrushing industry by selling paints and parts and all sorts of other peripheral supplies. Many artists who mastered the art of airbrushing wrote books about how to airbrush for other artists to learn from, and today there are almost 50-100 really good books on all forms of airbrushing, from airbrushing cars, motorcycles and vehicles to airbrushing bodyart onto people.

One of the smartest things that you can do is build your airbrush book library by buying books and also the airbrushing magazines as well.

Many models of air compressors have balloon storage tanks attached to them which increases the size and weight of the air compressor tremendously, but the benefit of a large tank is that when the compressor fills up the tank the motor shuts off until the amount of air in the tank drops. This allows you to work silently without the loud noise that most non-silent compressors make.

There are no schools for airbrushing but there are schools which offer airbrushing classes and artist that hold workshops. Most airbrush artist had to learn the basics of airbrushing and to master their craft by themselves, alone, by means of trial and error. Their are about 50 – 100 books on the art of airbrushing which will teach you everything that you need to know, and just as many VHS tapes, and DVDs.

Learning from a live video versus using a book is more preferable for most people looking to learn how to airbrush. A book just cannot compete with video that has good images, a good instructor and clear sound.

An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that sprays liquids, but especially paints, inks and dyes. It resembles, and is held like, a pen. Today, airbrushes are used in painting for a multitude of applications. Artists who use the airbrush will generally have several different types (external or internal mix) as well as styles (gravity- or siphon-feed) on hand for a variety of uses. Their considerations are based on the type of effect desired (coarse or soft spray), size of area to be painted and type of material to be sprayed.

Internal mix—a type of airbrush where the paint is atomized inside the airbrush tip.
External mix—a type of airbrush where the paint is atomized outside the airbrush tip.
Single action—a method of activating an airbrush whereby depress- ing the trigger delivers both air and paint simultaneously.
Dual-action—a method of activating an airbrush whereby depressing the trigger delivers air and drawing back on the trigger releases paint.
Bottom feed—a siphon-feed system where paint is drawn up from a reservoir (jar or color cup) mounted underneath the airbrush.
Side feed—a siphon-feed system where paint is drawn from a reservoir (color cup) mounted on the side of the airbrush. Gravity feed—the system where paint is drawn into an airbrush from a reservoir mounted on top of the airbrush.