Set a pad of newsprint paper on an easel in your workspace. Hold your airbrush pen in your dominant hand. Connect either blue or gray airbrush paint to your airbrush. Make sure the air hose is properly connected to a double-action airbrush gun and that the air compression tank is turned on.
Push down the trigger on top of the airbrush gun and pull it back halfway. Move your hand from right to left to cover the newsprint, covering the surface in an even coat of paint. Allow the paint to dry for 20 minutes.
Use painter’s tape to attach a piece of frisket paper to the top of your painted newsprint. Draw four to six circles of different sizes on the frisket with a pen or pencil. Cut the circles out with a utility knife. Set the cut out circles aside.
Install white paint into your airbrush gun. Point the gun away from the frisket and onto a pad of scratch newspaper. Press the trigger down and pull it back all the way to rid the gun of the previous color until you see white paint begin to come out.
Hold the airbrush gun 1 inch away from the surface of the frisket. Push the trigger down and pull it back all the way to create a thick white line or highlight along the top left edge of every circle you cut out of the frisket.
Install black paint into the airbrush gun and clear it of the white as before. Hold the gun 3 inches from the frisket. Push the trigger down and pull it back halfway. Paint the bottom right edge of every circle to create a light black shadow on every circle. Allow the paint to dry for 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the remaining frisket from your newsprint pad. Press the cut-out frisket circles back onto the newsprint. Create a soft black shadow along the top left edge of each circle by holding the airbrush gun about 2 inches from the surface, depressing the trigger and pulling it back halfway.
Remove the frisket circles. Install white paint into your airbrush gun and clear it as before. Hold the gun one-half inch from the paper. Depress the trigger and pull it back all the way. Paint a tiny dot in the bottom right corner of each circle to complete the water drop effect you’ve created.
After mastering this technique on newsprint paper, move to canvas or t-shirts. Experiment with different colors for different effects.