Thread: Can someone help me with airbrushing PAX?

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This is the costume I'm going to be doing this year.
http://www.screamteam.com/newpage/jinxadam2.jpg

The first year I did prosthetics was a disaster. However I had such a good time that my girlfriend and I did it again. The first year we went as 'imps'. Used spirit gum to adhere the prosthetic and it went well for a little while, but by the end of the night the spirit gum was starting to crack. I had also read that I should use 'rubber mask grease paint'. So months before D-Day I bought all the supplies I needed and decided to test some things, like the paints. I found the paint was like ice cold butter and was impossible to use. I couldn't get it to work. The day of halloween I was told to thin it with 99% alcohol and I did, but it was coming out way too thin, so the ol' lady and myself decided we would finish up the makeup with cream. It did the trick for the night, but was cracking and flaking off by the time we got back to our hotel room.

So year 1, imps, had a great time, but overall we did a piss poor job.

Year 2, we decided we were going to do something simple again so we went as skeletons, again using prosthetics. After a lot of research we found out about prosaide and I got it. I also found out about PAX. The night of we did the prosthetics, the prosaide held them extremely well. The pax was too easy to get right so we were extremely happy with our prosthetics that year. However it was our 2nd time using bald caps and it was a pain in the ass but whatever. This year we are avoiding bald caps. To speed up the painting process I want to airbrush the masks prior to halloween so that it doesn't take us 5 hours again just to have a piss poor costume. If our costume is going to suck I'd like it to only suck a few hours from my life. I'm very confident that it isn't goiing to suck though. I've airbrushed before but its' been a few years.

I'm not sure how I should proceed with the entire process. I've seen people who have said layer 1, prosaid, layer 2 just paint. Other peopel have said mix up your pax and just paint it that way, but I haven't been able to find out how to thin it. Water? Alcohol? What % Alcohol?

Thats the first question.

Second Question:

Based on the link I posted, how would I get that exact effect? I want it to look like an old dummy and the paint is starting to fade through. Would I paint a base-coat of brown and then spray a thinned coat of white over it?

Also fo the black around the eyes, when would that be appliec?

The only thing I know 100% is that the dots on the cheeks and the eyebrows I'll be doing with a paintbrush last lol

Anyway, I appreciate any help you guys can give me. I plan on picking up a few cheap foam latex prosthetics so I can play with painting them before I move on the the actual mask I'm doing.

This is what my girlfriend plans on doing. We haven't figured out a color scheme yet, but she wants to be a bird of some sort

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/screamteamorder_2106_920729

I don't know how long you wear your prosthetics for but I end up wearing mine from about noon until 2 or 3am and the best adhesive I have found is medical adhesive. It's instant bond quality and long hold time is the best I have used yet. I too use Sceamteam products for years and have had some kicka$$ award winning costumes.

As far as airbrushing goes I have used the same mask multiple times and obviously gets faster with the mask already painted. Just don't put to much paint on as it will crack.

~Troy

Thanks for the response troy. How would you advise painting it?

Should I mix up the pax and then dilute it and airbrush that way? Or should I paint a layer of medical adhesive on, and airbrush with only acrylic? Or do you have a better solution?

Sorry but I had to research what PAX was. I didn't know that was an option when I did my mask. So for me to advise you about it would just be lie. All I can do is mention what I have used and done.

I first adhere the prosthetic to my face with the medical adhesive (don't get the adhesive in your eyebrows!). Then I touch up all the edges with about 10 thin coats of latex. I then airbrush the base coat on in two thin coats. The detail work comes last and takes the longest. It has taken on average about three to four hours from start to finish for my costumes. That's airbrushing my entire upper body and installation of all prosthetics. Sorry I couldn't answer your original question.

~Troy