Mei Cosplay Tutorial: The aftermath of my airbrushing (Overwatch; Chang'e Skin)

So last time I wrote about testing out a few methods to do the gradient on pieces for my Mei cosplay. I had thought that using an air brush would be easier and quicker than doing a gradient dye by hand.

My result?

Well, I think I may have been wrong. I can't 100% say I am wrong since I am not only a beginner air brush user, but I have never done a gradient dye by hand before. I've watched multiple YouTube tutorials on it. And it doesn't look very hard; just time consuming.

Doing the gradient via the air brush was very simple. I made sure to practice on some cardboard to hone my skill a bit (this tutorial had some great tips for practicing!). I wasn't expecting professional quality work for my first project, but I didn't want it to look horrible either. Overall, it went really well. It was just very time consuming. I couldn't do more than one piece at a time. I had to take breaks because I have a small compressor and I didn't want to risk burning it out.

The downside to this? (besides it taking three times as long?) I had to clean the air brush out after each use (which took even more time). You can't let your air brush sit while you wait for the compressor to cool down. The paint will dry up on the tip and clog it.

I had started off with the sleeves. Which I instantly regret picking that piece to begin with. Why? Because if I mess up, it'll be highly noticeable. Did I mess up? Well, silly me had practiced about a month and a half before I sat down to work on the actual clothing. And I didn't practice before starting on the fabric.. so it didn't go well at first...

My results:

It started off kind of meh. I was a bit disappointed in how it looked. But, I was on a time crunch and just continued. I left it as is and it came out find over all!

Next I did the long band part of the shirt. Both this and the collar only had a lighter tone to it so I didn't go over board with making it dark. I cut wide pieces that I sprayed and then cut down to size. I loved it and started to get excited for the rest of the outfit!





Then I started on the pants. I cut each pant leg piece out and air brushed the gradient on it. I started off light and went darker until I was happy with the overall color. After I finished one, I cleaned air brush and let the compressor cool. Once cooled, I did the next piece of the pants. Every so often, I would lay the first leg piece along the side to match the color. I continued until I matched it as closely as possible. I also made sure to keep an eye on not only the color, but how strong the gradient was. So when I go to sew the pants, it will all match up evenly.

Once I did each leg piece, I laid them out to make sure the gradients all looked the same. I was very happy with the results in the end. While it took a lot longer than I expected, it was worth it. After this I just followed the instructions to sew the pants together like normal.

Final Conclusions:
Would I do this method again? Maybe for smaller pieces, yes. I want to try doing a gradient dye by hand sometime to compare the results. I probably have more control over the color using the air brush method. I can keep spraying until I get the darkness I want while if I dye by hand, it's hard to tell if I'll get the true color until after I've rinsed and washed out the fabric.

But like I've said before, I'm still new do the air brushing world. Maybe there's an easier way to gradient a large area? Maybe there's a specific brush I should look into getting? I will be doing more research on it in the future. But for now, I got the results I wanted. The color looked great. The fabric stayed soft and flexible, and was fairly easy to do (just time consuming).

Some Tips and Tricks:

• I learned that you have to make sure the fabric is pinned (or taped) down properly. It can't be loose and you cant just do the corners to hold it in place. The air brush will literally blow away the fabric and can cause creases. You would think it's not that big of a deal but it actually is. You will get more paint on the front of the crease and less behind the crease. While it makes a really cool effect, it kind of ruined the gradient.
• If you decide to tape the fabric down, make sure the tape is within your seam allowance. That way when there is a white square piece from where the tape is, it'll be within your seam allowance and not noticeable at all.
• Practice! Practice! Practice!!!! Really. Use cardboard at first. Then test it out on scrap pieces BEFORE starting on your project!! If you take time off between when you practiced and when you're starting your project, test it out a bit before you begin! I promise you it will help you in the long run and you won't waste good fabric.

Have you done any kind of gradient dying? What do you think about using an air brush versus hand dying? Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments below!

~Serenity