Maybe an odd question, but I'm going to ask...

...because that's what I do. As someone new to airbrushing, or art in general for that matter, how do you get past the mental intimidation factor?

Obviously, no one picks up a brush of any kind and magically becomes an artist, it takes time and practice to master anything. I get that. However, it's not hard to look around at a lot of the work posted here and think two things: "That is really bad ass!", and "Holy crap am I out of my league!".

When you started out, what kept your drive alive? What gave you the ability to fail and fail and fail and still pick that brush back up and try again?

I'm not asking because I'm considering giving up. Quite the contrary. I am thoroughly enjoying the learning process. I'm curious what kept you wanting to pursue your craft enough to get really good at it? I think the answers could be inspiring to some.

Feel free to lie down on this couch and talk about your feelings...

It's hard not to have your jaw on the floor isn't it ! So many amazing artworks.

Rule 1. There is no failing ! even if what ends up on paper isn't what you had in your head its still a learning exercise - more often an exercise in what NOT to do but still learnings to be had. You'll continue to learn from each and every piece you do. You may learn less as the years go by but there are always subtle things you can do to improve.

Rule 2. We all started where you are, some have nothing but time and progress reasonably quickly, others only have a few hours a month so they will naturally progress slower. Some are financially able to fast track their learning by taking classes (physical or online) which helps them along.

Rule 3. Accept you are a learner and that it will take time to learn airbrushing. If you can't draw a straight line its okay, I still can't draw a straight line but with the aid of the gang here it doesn't matter. We're all in the same boat trying to figure out the frustrating addictive hobby known as airbrushing.

Rule 4. Remember that your life doesn't depend on your ability to airbrush, its a FUN Hobby !!

How did I keep my drive alive ? I kept telling myself that most here all started with no clue how to airbrush. Like me (and you) they thought they'd try it and got hooked. If they could do it then there was no reason why I couldn't.

Honestly, the further you travel on your airbrush journey the easier it is and you understand more than you realise when people start talking saturation and hue and all the other Jargon - which if you don't understand then by all means put your hand up and ask for a definition!

First let me start by saying I am not one of the really good ones . I started airbrushing as a form of therapy. I never intended on "learning" to airbrush. I had a few issues with the cheap airbrush I was using and found this forum. as I read post after post trying to find a way to solve my AB issue I noticed there were actual techniques and tricks , and tools etc etc. a whole new world was opened to me. I too was amazed at the talent here. and TBH that was what inspired me to keep going.. to spend hours a day paint dots ,lines and dagger strokes on glass . I have posted a few pics here and no matter how bad they were there was always positive feedback. So in short. It was the friendliness of the people here in the forums that inspired me to keep pushing on.

“When you started out, what kept your drive alive? What gave you the ability to fail and fail and fail and still pick that brush back up and try again?”

Two things: 1) I just love the activity itself, no matter the result. I find myself engaged, and makes me happy. If the result looks halfway good then that’s a bonus, really. 2) I got a pretty clear vision of what mental landscape and feeling I’d like to emote. I know that it may still take me 10 - 20 years to get close to that point, but it gives me sufficient drive to get going.

Those 2 points are my personal take. Jackie covered it pretty well with her 4 rules.

crazyvet said:

First let me start by saying I am not one of the really good ones . I started airbrushing as a form of therapy. I never intended on "learning" to airbrush. I had a few issues with the cheap airbrush I was using and found this forum. as I read post after post trying to find a way to solve my AB issue I noticed there were actual techniques and tricks , and tools etc etc. a whole new world was opened to me. I too was amazed at the talent here. and TBH that was what inspired me to keep going.. to spend hours a day paint dots ,lines and dagger strokes on glass . I have posted a few pics here and no matter how bad they were there was always positive feedback. So in short. It was the friendliness of the people here in the forums that inspired me to keep pushing on.

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Crazyvet has a really good point that resonates with me. If it wouldn’t have been for this forum, then the risk of giving up would have been higher. The encouragement and positive critique of forum members especially on workinprogress paintings is so helpful.

Hmmm, well I'm definitely still very much a beginner but a couple of things have really helped I think.

1. The very first time I actually sprayed paint through a brush was on a training course with Mick Neil, I think if I hadn't have had that initial guidance it would have taken me a lot longer to get any sort of pleasing result. Also YouTube videos and advice on here has enabled faster progress than working it all out on my own.
2. I don't tend to compare my own work with that of others in the 'that's so much better than I could do' way. I look at a lot of other folks work and often use it as inspiration and think 'I'd like to try something like that'. Yes, if asked to judge my work against much of the other work I see I would certainly acknowledge that it is mostly better than I could do but that's not the thought that first comes into my head - I'm more looking to see if i can work out how they did it....
3. I care a lot less these days what other people think about me and my work, partly that comes with age (I'm 49 now) and partly from an experience in my early 30's where I lost everything after being moderately successful and was literally left with the shirt on my back (and definitely owed more than that was worth ). Possibly the worst and also best thing to have ever happened to me in terms of confidence and outlook.

Ttxela said:

I look at a lot of other folks work and often use it as inspiration and think 'I'd like to try something like that'. Yes, if asked to judge my work against much of the other work I see I would certainly acknowledge that it is mostly better than I could do but that's not the thought that first comes into my head - I'm more looking to see if i can work out how they did it....
.

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Brilliantly said !
As a side note... this is where Paint Pals works well, it’s designed to help newbies with confidence, not for the elite to showcase! Put paint on paper send it out and if you ask for genuine helpful critique on how to improve/do things differently you’ll get it. When you receive one you get to look at it up close and figure out how they did it and even ask the artist how they did it. Nothing beats seeing something in real life to see what has been done.

@JackEb nailed it with her answer !
I had my 6 months off "fame" and was on my way up after investing in airbrush courses till a stroke left me with poor vision and no fine control over my airbrush hand .
I was forced to put my hobby on hold for about 2 years and I had to find a way to train my brain to compensate for the blind spot I have, but I never gave up the dream to airbrush again and when I reached out to seek help I got all the help I could possibly ask for to find a colour I could really see and I picked up the airbrush again as a complete "newbie" but a newbie with a memory off how it should be done and how colors work even if I couldnt see them
This was 8 years ago and I cant count the times I failed to get the results I was able to get before my stroke and I still cant paint like I used to and I accept that by now
Now for the intimidation you experience when you see the art work : remember one thing A painting is nothing more that shapes and shades and once you learn to break a ref or a painting down to just shapes and shades you are half way there

For me the drive came from starting with a goal in mind . Plus getting a quote from the only person that airbrushes in the area LOL
Fail yeah I fail all the time but if I totally screw something up I just lay it out again and try a different way .
Failing is not failing it is learning the best way to do something. Kind of like when you first learned to walk , You fall down ya get up and try again.
Ya learn where the best position for ya feet are.
Same thing with airbrushing , Not everyone walks the same and not everyone pulls the trigger the same.
Finding out what works best for you is the key.

But anytime you learn something new you will fail until you really get the hang of it. Sometimes even after ya got the hang of it ya still have some bad days where nothing goes ya way.

It was 1984 or 5 I cant remember. I did paint t-shirts with a hairy stick and fabric paints but nothing in colour as such, mainly outline stuff and lettering with shading, ( I had trained as a signwriter at college for 2 years so loved lettering) always a single colour whatever colour that would be, never actually coloured in, more like an illustration drawing with line shading. So I was well into art and drawing but painting hadn't even crossed my mind and I had never heard of an airbrush never mind seen one.

First inspiration was from my Mate Al, he worked for a premium car repair shop, repairing high class cars the old way with lead to fill dents instead of bondo/bog/filler and also could work with fibreglass on the cars that needed that type of repair, then he would respray them so he was very skilled, although he was only in his early 20's.

He used to paint his motorbikes and crash helmets to match and did the odd job for other mates. Most of us had bikes. He turned up on his bike one day and had painted his tank over the weekend.

This was exactly what was on the petrol tank

I know it doesn't look much but I was blown away with what he had painted.

I asked how he did it and he said it was a secret but I bugged him so much he said come round to my shed and I'll show you.

When I got there he said this is what an airbrush looks like and this is an airbrushed picture.. Wow look what you could do with it.. I was hooked.

Back then it was like Witchcraft, a secret dark art that you couldn't share with anyone. There was nothing else to compare with, no internet no custom shops or people willing to help you, But my mate was wiling to share his knowledge because he knew how much I wanted to learn. We could only find pictures of custom paint jobs in hotrod magazines or bike magazines but there wasn't many you could buy in England at the time. It was better than nothing.

From there I was chomping at the bit to have a go and got my first airbrush an Aztek 3000.
To learn you had to just go for it, you made mistakes and either carried on or started again, that was the only way, learn from mistakes, work out what you did wrong, then work out "how can I fix it" and try again...

I messed about at first painting skulls on an old crash helmet with car paint from spray cans, No airbrush paints as such... Inspiration from Fighting fantasy books and D&D manuals with limited illustrations. After some practice and a lot of failure I did a red dragon t-shirt, with brush work outlines and airbrushed for the rest, then my mate taught me how to mask up and my first proper hard surface work was my old crash helmet with the alien design. I'd started to get things right, More confidence and the push to carry on. They're both in my gallery here.

I also got inspiration from album covers, the logo's of bands and things from movies Alien being a good example.

Once I knew a bit more and had more control of the AB, the drive / enthusiasm was "how do they do that?" then it was "how do I get that effect or result."

When we got the internet I became a member of 2 forums. Learn Airbrush - Mike Learns forum & Wet Canvas, which were great and I met some great people who I am still in contact with. They kept me interested and inspired seeing the work they created. From the likes of Mike Learn, Rod Fuchs, Nub, Steve Leahy, Alberto Ponno, the list goes on.
Later on I found the Uk Airbrush Forum and OAF. Now only the OAF. The UKABF is on FB so not the same. Its the people who kept me wanting to learn and get better.
Other ways I have learned are doing a few classes, I did a 2 day class with Sam Hubbard to try and get a bit of confidence going as its my main problem, he didn't help me much and cut the tutoring short as he was busy with another job. Nothing gained there. One with Marissa for portraits and one with Mick Neill to do real fire, they helped so much. I spent a bit of time at Mick's workshop and studio just having a coffee and a chat and ended up helping him out a few times. Probably turned up at his studio when Alex was there. SO if trying classes choose wisely.

In general though its trial and error for things you don't know, practice on something else to see if you get the result you want then do it again on your work. if it don't work try again. As you get better and learn more skills things become much easier. I've never thought about giving up no matter how much I failed, I have had breaks from it but they are usually because of life or work. Once you've got the knowledge its not so bad when you have a break. I still lack confidence in my own abilities although I know I can AB fairly well. Its all in my mind. So don't be put off by those type of thoughts because that's all they are, thoughts!



Sorry this is a longish one. I'm struggling a bit at the moment, (that was hard for me to type). The last few days haven't been great.
It's taken me a while to type all this, actually all day. I haven't painted for months, just haven't felt like it although I want to. I just can't get up and do it. I've signed up for PP so I will hopefully pull myself out of the doldrums doing that. Even feeling low I still get inspiration from images and artwork I see here and everywhere else.
I must admit though, it's great that we have this place to come to and that's how I have carried on and stayed out of the negative. This place keeps me going because I have you lot. Thank you all x

Love to everyone

Lee

Wow. Thanks for all of the replies. Pouring all of that out to basically a complete stranger makes me feel very welcome here. As some of you stated, there does seem to be a very supportive group here, almost like a family. I'm diggin' it.

I hope to someday be close to as good as a lot of you, but regardless of where all of this leads, it seems like it will be a fun ride.

Go easy on me, but not too easy. Sometimes I need a swift kick in the pants to stay motivated.

A special thanks to Jackie for allowing me in even though my email wasn't cooperating.

Karl Becker said:

Wow. Thanks for all of the replies. Pouring all of that out to basically a complete stranger makes me feel very welcome here. As some of you stated, there does seem to be a very supportive group here, almost like a family. I'm diggin' it.

I hope to someday be close to as good as a lot of you, but regardless of where all of this leads, it seems like it will be a fun ride.

Go easy on me, but not too easy. Sometimes I need a swift kick in the pants to stay motivated.

A special thanks to Jackie for allowing me in even though my email wasn't cooperating.

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We are all one big dysfunctional family, we all have real family but they don't always understand airbrushing so its nice to have a group that understands when you just 'have to' add to your airbrush collection or why you're tearing your hair out because the airbrush gods are against you and nothing is working right.

It IS a fun ride if you have the right mindset, which is being willing to accept that it is a learning curve and ask questions when you get stuck. Sure, try and figure it out yourself for awhile - you'll be surprised what you remember seeing written here somewhere - but don't waste to much time overthinking it, just ask us, there is usually an answer appear within a few hours, its the beauty of being global, there is always someone around.

Honestly, you had me at dysfunctional.

Seriously, thank you to all of you. I'm looking forward to the journey.

Great idea for a thread @Karl Becker and I’m glad to see you making yourself at home. So much of what I would have written has already been said by others, so I don’t need to repeat that. I found this place because I procrastinate... a lot! I’d spent months trying to figure out if the Iwata Eclipse was the best move for me as a relative beginner. I signed up, asked my question. I was amazed by the number of folks willing to help and I’ve never looked back. The best early decision I made was to post pretty much everything I painted, good bad or whatever. Again, I was amazed but the support but also how people could help me with issues I never knew I had . I think one of the first things @JackEb said to me was along the lines of “nice job on the skull. But don’t outline them as they look like a cartoon character”. I’m sure it was friendlier sounding than that LOL, but hell if she wasn’t spot on. This has become one of my favourite places to be. I’ve made some great friends here, met a couple face to face too and I hope to meet more sometime down the road.
What encourages me is that I am generally at peace when I’m painting.
Well, in between the bouts of rage at myself, the paint or even the climate (you’ll get there... we all do).
I want to get better because I want to paint more complex pieces and in a bunch of different styles. I’d love to paint my motorcycle someday, but there’s a hell of a lot for me to learn before that. But I get closer each time I pick up my airbrush. And that keeps me coming back.

SiRoxx said:

I think one of the first things @JackEb said to me was along the lines of “nice job on the skull. But don’t outline them as they look like a cartoon character”. I’m sure it was friendlier sounding than that LOL,

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Me sound more friendly ?? Maybe.
Sometimes my fingers are faster than my brain and it can come across as pretty blunt. Never intentional

JackEb said:

Me sound more friendly ?? Maybe.
Sometimes my fingers are faster than my brain and it can come across as pretty blunt. Never intentional

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The straight shooting critique is one of the things I loved when starting out here. It’s very nice for someone to leave a simple “great job” on a picture and always appreciated. But “that’s cool but...” gives the chance to learn more.
Constructive critique is invaluable in my humble opinion.

SiRoxx said:

The straight shooting critique is one of the things I loved when starting out here. It’s very nice for someone to leave a simple “great job” on a picture and always appreciated. But “that’s cool but...” gives the chance to learn more.
Constructive critique is invaluable in my humble opinion.

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Very true, constructive criticism is always helpful, if something could be improved/changed then say so but also remember to say HOW you’d improve/change something. Other wise your just criticising

For me, this question really relates back to my learning about music, and how I went from beginner to the awful musician I am today!

In the immortal words of Lightning McQueen, when asked "what made you think you could go out there and win", he replied simply "I never thought that I couldn't". I always knew where I wanted to be, and it just never dawned on me that failure was a possibility. Never once did I give up in frustration. It was simply a journey to take.

My airbrush journey has been a strange one, and one that frankly has gotten sidetracked. So I'm taking a break and focusing on other areas right now.

Jurien72 said:

For me, this question really relates back to my learning about music, and how I went from beginner to the awful musician I am today!

In the immortal words of Lightning McQueen, when asked "what made you think you could go out there and win", he replied simply "I never thought that I couldn't". I always knew where I wanted to be, and it just never dawned on me that failure was a possibility. Never once did I give up in frustration. It was simply a journey to take.

My airbrush journey has been a strange one, and one that frankly has gotten sidetracked. So I'm taking a break and focusing on other areas right now.

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Wise words Sir, but it doesn’t mean you can’t show your face round here more! [emoji16]. It’s always good to see you handle pop up JMan!


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SiRoxx said:

Wise words Sir, but it doesn’t mean you can’t show your face round here more! [emoji16]. It’s always good to see you handle pop up JMan!


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Oh god, I just read that back to myself. The Gutter Queens are gonna have a blast with that one.


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