Professional Strategies for Choosing the Best Beginner Airbrush in 2024

The initial phases of any project, whether a hobby or a professional endeavor, can be daunting and confusing. Beginners can find themselves blasted by an overabundance of choice, many of which are more appropriate for the skill and budget levels of a professional painter. This article aims to give you a good starting point as a beginner airbrush artist, to help guide you to make the best choice for your first airbrush. It will also focus on the necessary peripherals, such as hoses, an air compressor, cleaning kit, and more, while also providing some examples of gear that you shouldn’t buy as a beginner.

Question: How do I choose my first airbrush?

Answer: Your first should airbrush be easy to use, appropriately designed for the artwork you want to produce, and most importantly fit your budget.

Key Topics:

• Factors to Consider: Importance of usability, compatibility, and budget when selecting a beginner airbrush.
• Gravity Feed Airbrush: Benefits of gravity feed airbrushes for detailed work, including fine art, makeup, and shading.
• Siphon Feed Airbrush: Advantages of siphon feed airbrushes for larger projects and color swapping.
• High Capacity Single-Action Airbrushes: Usefulness of high capacity single-action airbrushes for consistent spraying over large areas.
• Peripheral Equipment: Necessary peripherals like compressors, hoses, and cleaning kits.
• Gear to Avoid: Advice against purchasing specialized airbrushes, large compressors, and unnecessary materials for beginners.

Factors to Consider as a Beginner Airbrush Artist

When choosing you first airbrush setup, it really comes down to three things: Compatibility, Usability, and Budget. While equally important, budget tends to be the final word which airbrush you pick, but that doesn’t necessarily mean its a limiting factor. Compatibility is based on what you intend to do with the airbrush. This will dictate which of the types of airbrushes that will best fit your intended artwork. User friendliness will improve your overall experience with the tools. There’s a ton of super-cheap junk out there, but it will ultimately frustrate you and ruin an otherwise beautiful work of art.

Deciding Points for Choosing a Beginner Airbrush:

• Usability: An airbrush should be ergonomic, lightweight, and easy to operate. It should also be easy to disassemble and reassemble, for regular maintenance and cleaning. Avoid clumsy or poorly made tools, since they will only cost you much more in time and frustration than the money you might have saved.
• Compatibility: Obviously the airbrush must be able to handle the job. Different airbrush types are better suited for different types of artwork. There’s not many “one size fits all” options, because artistic creations don’t usually work out that way! The needs of a beginner airbrush artist that wants to do airbrush makeup are totally different than one who intends to paint racecar trailers or semi trucks. But don’t worry, we’re here for everybody.
• Budget: The final boss of all purchasing decisions. While it’s always wise to be frugal, when it comes to your first airbrush try to push it to the limit of your budget. Buy the highest quality airbrushing equipment your budget will allow. If you wake up one day and decide you hate airbrushing, it’s much easier to resell a higher quality tool than some offbrand toy disguised as an airbrush.

In the coming sections, we will focus in on the strong points that each type of airbrush can offer, to give you the best point of reference for which airbrush to start with. Depending on the scope and scale of the artwork you wish to create, you may end up needing two or more to achieve your desired goals. The important part is that you are armed with the knowledge to make the most effective choice, so as not to waste any of the budget on unnecessary items.

Fine Art, Finest Detail: Gravity Feed Airbrush

This is choice for artists who do highly detailed or freehand work. The overall design of a gravity fed airbrush lends to it’s superior ergonomics, feeling balanced and nearly weightless in the users hand. Generally the smallest type of airbrush, its allows for extremely fine control and tuning, to produce crisp, clear details and ultra-fine gradients. There are larger types of gravity fed airbrushes that have a bigger paint cup and a squeeze style trigger, approaching something akin to a small spray gun. However for the purposes in this section, we’re talking about small capacity, detail type airbrushes that have a paint cup capacity of 1/10 to 1/2 ounce of paint, with a button style trigger.

Optimal Uses for a Gravity Feed Detailing Airbrush

Here is a list of some of the art styles that that do well with one of these airbrushes:

• Fine Art: Photo realism, portraiture, or any artwork that requires precision. Artists can produce a range of a needle-sharp dot/line pattern to an impossibly fine gradient.
• Makeup: Whether cosmetic or theatrical, this is the tool of choice for airbrush makeup artists. The lightweight ergonomic design allows for easy navigation of the compound surfaces of the body.
• Highlights/Shading: Ideal for adding texture and dimension to any art design. Also great for adding some ‘pop’ to existing designs or lettering.

Perfect for smaller scale projects, these are only limited by their small paint capacity.

Our Pick for Best Gravity Fed Beginner Airbrush:

For quality and affordability, it’s hard to find a better deal than the Iwata Neo Series Dual-Action Airbrush. These are perfect for beginner airbrush artists because they are designed to work with the smallest air compressors, reducing the need for a larger (bulky and loud) compressor. With a nozzle size of .35 mm, it’s capable of the finest gradients. It comes with two detachable paint cups, one .24 oz, and the other .10 oz for tiny amounts of paint material. This not only makes it feel almost weightless during operation, but drastically reduces wastage and makes cleanup much easier (which also requires less cleaning materials). It is also available in a siphon feed configuration, explained in the next section.

Click on the banner to buy it from DickBlick:

Color Swapping Madness Machine:

Choose a Siphon Feed Airbrush for Colorful Creations

Most siphon feed airbrushes come standard with a 1 oz. paint jar, though some have optional jars that carry 2-3 oz. of paint. This design is a huge bump up in material, allowing for coverage of larger areas with less refills. That alone should indicate if this is a better fit for your artwork, but where these really shine is in the ability to easily swap out colors for wild multi-color designs.

The application speed also lends to the paint to be applied “wet on wet”, and the gradients quite literally melt into the layer below, giving perfect color transitions. The other great thing about these is that the airbrush itself is the easiest to clean, because the paint only travels through a tiny portion of the airbrush.

A jar of clean water/reducer/paint thinner (see paint manufacturers instructions) must be used in between color swaps to give the airbrush a quick rinse. Simply spray out a few bursts onto a test panel or a cleaning pot until it runs clear. Usually two or three small squirts is enough.

Ideal Artwork for a Siphon Feed Airbrush

Here’s a few ideas of what kind of artistic work benefits from a siphon feeder:

• Full Body Art: Ample paint capacity allows for easy coverage, color swapping adds texture and dynamics with perfect blends.
• Murals or Scenery: Capable of fine details, but also able to provide efficient fill on larger works of art. Once again the quick color swaps allow for life-like color blends and transitions.
• Spray On Tattoos: When used with premade stencils, it couldn’t be easier to lay down a nice base color, add some flair and highlights, and steal the show at concerts or music festivals.

It’s no contest that these are the easiest airbrush to clean, but that’s no mention of the bottles. Cleaning these are best done using the bucket method: putting all the sloppy jars into a bucket or paint mixing cup filled with water/cheap paint thinner. Be sure to bring some extra clean bottles to the music festival with you.

Our Pick for Best Siphon Feed Beginner Airbrush:

For the past 100 years, Paasche has been a standard in the airbrushing toolkit. Beginners can grab a Paasche Model VL Double-Action Airbrush and see for themselves why they are one of the leading manufacturers of airbrushes still to this day. You’ll likely find an old, well-used Paasche in kit of most professional airbrush artists. Get yourself one of these today, so it can become that well-used relic in your painting kit one day.

Click on the banner below to buy a Paasche airbrush from DickBlick:

From Shipyards to Spray Tans:

High Capacity Single-Action Airbrushes

These airbrushes are useful for spraying a lot of one color, at set spray parameters. While they lack the dynamic trigger and spray pattern control of other airbrushes, they excel at making consistency easy over large areas or many pieces. Specially suited for production work, once the user has the settings to the desired results, it’s just a simple squeeze of the trigger to get the same spray pattern and intensity over the whole work.

In many ways these are the “missing link” between airbrushes and spray guns, yet still run on the lower air pressure of their fellow airbrushes. These are great to spray a basecoat of the main color, and switch to a detailing airbrush afterwards to add in the finer points. On it’s own, they can be used to apply spray tan, or any application that requires a consistent color over a given area.

Why Pick One when you can Have All Three?

Such high capacity single action rigs are available by themselves, unless your art is going to be very straight forward, single-color, production style painting, you should consider getting this Set of Airbrushes by Paasche. There’s no “all in one” answer in airbrushing, but you can get pretty close with all in three.

Click the banner below to buy the set from DickBlick:

Peripheral Visions: Other Gear Beginner Airbrush Artists Need

Any airbrush by itself won’t do too much. Without paint and a compressed air supply (and the hoses to connect them), it can’t do anything but shine real pretty. A sturdy airbrush compressor is truly the breath of the airbrush, bringing life to this wonderful little machine. Hoses provide a sealed connection, and must be treated with the same care as the rest of the equipment. A responsible painter will carefully coil them when not in use. In a workshop setting, there is a tendency for hoses to get stepped on or otherwise abused, which can cause leaks to form. Always keep a spare set of hoses.

Airbrush cleanout pots are a simple yet amazing device that lets you spray out your airbrush into a closed container. This almost eliminates overspray and slop, which keeps the painting area clean as well. Anything that makes cleaning easier is always a winner, since thorough cleaning is a critically necessary chore that must be done after every painting session. Once I discovered the clean out pot, the level of overspray dust and mess in my paint shop was drastically and noticeably reduced.

Airbrush paint comes in a wide variety of formulations, each designed for a certain purpose. While too broad of a topic to cover here, it’s important that you research which type of airbrush paint you need for whatever artwork you intend to pursue. Paint formulation is a constantly evolving science, with new amazing paint products being released every day.

Our Pick for Overall Best Beginner Airbrush Kit:

Iwata airbrushes have always been a favorite of seasoned pros, but that doesn’t make them out of reach of the ambitious beginner. The Blick Complete Airbrush System by Iwata absolutely packs the value into one generously kitted out airbrushing starter set. It has everything you need to get started, fresh out of the box. It includes an airbrush, compressor, hoses, basic set of paints, cleanout pot, cleaning kit and tools.

If you want the one stop shopping solution for getting setup for airbrushing right away, this is it. See why it’s easily our pick for best beginner airbrush kit, it gets you creating art without delays and trying to mix and match parts. It’s all Iwata brand gear, so you know it’s top of the line quality equipment that will last you for many years (my iwata is going on 22 years and still puffing like a charm).

Click the image below to buy this amazing airbrush kit from DickBlick:

Gear to Avoid as a Beginner Airbrush Artist

Enthusiasm about a new creative venture is one of the best feelings, but it can lead people to make poor choices when purchasing new gear. Specialized tools can look incredible in their functionality, however they are nearly useless to a beginner. They fill a specific niche, that even professionals rarely find themselves up against. Frustration or impatience from learning a new skill can also cause people to buy unnecessary things, as a way to cope with their negative emotions and convince themself that whatever gadget is going to make them paint better, without any effort.

As Ever, Practice is Key

Practice is always key when learning a new skill, and quality equipment makes the road from absolute beginner to pro much shorter and enjoyable. Gadgets and gizmos that look cool but don’t really help you reach your goals usually end up collecting dust while your core equipment does 95% of the workload. Stick to core elements, and practice, practice, practice.

Here is a list of some things to avoid buying as a beginner airbrush artist:

• Specialty Airbrushes: High-end or specialized airbrushes such as a side-feed airbrush are better reserved for professional level painters. Most of these are made with a specific purpose, and are usually too expensive for a beginner’s budget.
• Huge Compressor: Powerful, heavy, and loud, a large compressor is going to be overkill for beginners. Choose an appropriate sized airbrush compressor; compact desktop compressors pack a surprising amount of power and pressure. Compressor technology is constantly improving, making small units as powerful as they are efficient and quiet.
• Wrong Paint: It’s critically important that you research the appropriate type of paint for the type of artwork you want to produce. Paint for automotive applications is completely different from body art or airbrushing cakes.
• Too Much Materials: The tendency for beginners can be to overdo it when building their kit. Try to avoid stockpiling materials like masking tape or other supplies until you know you’ll need them. As tempting as it can be, you dont really need every single color of paint in your box (well, at least not at first…i’m very guilty of this one!) Buy a bit of something and try it out, don’t buy bulk workshop quantities of supplies or chemicals until you know you’ll need that much.

Avoiding these pitfalls will help to extend your budget into the more important equipment: the airbrush. Eventually, with enough practice and continued interest, you will collect things naturally. I could fill a barn and paint it 5 times over with what i’ve collected over the years, but it didn’t happen over night. Give it practice and patience and you’ll be able to paint your own barn too one day.

• Source 1: Online Practice Exercises and Getting Started
• Source 2: Iwata Operating Instructions