Kenny from Next Level Painting is back to help us with a bunch of easy airbrush hacks to get you on the right track!
Today Kenny helps us get better at airbrushing fast. This video is all about getting your skills up to snuff so you can paint with the airbrush faster and better. If you want to see more of his great content, you can go check out his Patreon here! Or if you want to see his previous tutorials, you can check them out here!
He’s going to be using techniques from his awesome 101 painting curriculum, which is a set of three easy lessons to get your minis on the tabletop fast and looking good! Get your airbrushes out and let’s go!
Easy Airbrush Hacks: Next Level Painting Tutorial
The first set of the hacks will all be about supplies! First, Airbrush Flow Improver from Vallejo is mandatory! This allows you to use non-airbrush paints. To do this, he puts the flow improver on the bottom, then the paint, which he’s using the super thick Privateer Press paints.
FIrst, put your finger over the tip of the airbrush and pull the trigger. This will mix everything up easier than using an actual mixer. Now, what’s leftover in the airbrush, just pour it back into the pot! It won’t hurt anything, so no need to throw it out.
Next, don’t wash out your airbrush when you’re going to a lighter color, this gives you a little bit of a mix and makes the transitions better. Also, save your water bottle lids and pour a little bit of excess into that, just so you won’t forget what color you used in a previous step. Just be sure to spray a little out before going again, because it will be all the darker color.
Easy Transitions
The higher and higher you go, the darker colors will naturally leave the brush. This will get rid of speckling and bad transitions, just keep adding the flow improver at every step.
For your final highlights, keep a little more of the blue in there and mix it up again. Straight white can give you issues, so doing it this way gives you a smoother mini and fewer issues.
Quick Cleaning
At his feet under the desk, he keeps a huge container. He pours out the paint and then adds more water. Do the mixing technique again and just keep mixing and blowing it out.
Then take out a toothbrush and get the excess off. To finish it off, he just puts the airbrush in a cup with an 80/20 mix of water and Vallejo Airbrush Cleaner. He just lets it sit in that overnight and only does a deep clean once every week or so. It’s really that simple!
If you want to see how to take it to the next level with all his other awesome videos, check out Kenny’s Patreon!
Join The 101 Painting Curriculum From Kenny
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About the Author: Travis Pasch
Travis Pasch
Job Title: Head Writer & Editor
Socials: @paschbass
About Travis Pasch: Travis has been a Warhammer 40k hobbyist since the 1990s, playing the game since Third Edition. Through extensive traveling, he’s seen a lot of the miniatures hobby from across the world, giving him a unique perspective on the latest gaming topics and trends.
Travis’s brother even owns a commission painting studio, where he’s picked up a lot of good advice and techniques for painting Warhammer and tabletop miniatures over the years, as well. Travis joined the Spikey Bits team in 2019 and has been the lead writer since 2020.
Currently, he’s working on converting all his 40k Adeptus Mechanicus models and becoming a true tech enjoyer, complete with both sad and happy robot noises!
