By far the most important and costly piece of equipment a budding airbrush artist will buy is a compressor. Here, Jay Blakemore explains why, even armed with the very best of airbrushes, good results will be difficult to obtain without an appropriate source of propellant.
Above: Starter sets are available containing everything you might need to try your hand at airbrushing, and can serve as the ideal introduction to this aspect of the hobby. However, results obtained with aerosol propellant cans can be disappointing and don’t compare to using a compressor
Compressors come in a variety of shapes and sizes, makes and models, more so even than airbrushes themselves. This means it’s hard to arrange them into convenient categories and types, but an attempt will be made, nonetheless. As ever, it’s helpful to begin with what a compressor does: all examples deliver propellant (usually compressed air – hence the name) to an airbrush, but they all do so in distinct ways. What follows are my conclusions, although other artists may express different opinions on the equipment described.
Above: Mini compressors often come complete with an airbrush and, as in this instance, a moisture trap. But they can be compara…
