Airbrushing freehand is the basic method of constructing a feather, but it is possibly one of the most challenging. To airbrush a feather freehand, select a neutral color and make a vertical line downwards. Starting from the top of the line and working downwards, create short, fading strokes that fan down and out. These wispy lines should be lighter than the base vertical line. This completes the basic structure of the feather. Different colors can be layered on top to add some depth to the feather.
You can create a soft, feathered look on birds using a fan brush. This technique requires pressing a fan brush down against a flat surface, with the bristles spread outward in one direction. With the fan brush in place, lightly spray the airbrush above the fan brush. Be careful not to get the fan brush too moist with paint, as this will cause smearing. It may be necessary to stop and dry off the fan brush periodically. Feathers created this way appear thin and soft. This method does not produce a singular feather, but instead the impression of a feathered surface.
Using a negative mask creates a unique feather look in a short amount of time. A negative mask is like an inverted stencil, where the airbrush will create the outline of the feather but not the inside of it. Take a real or faux feather and lay it flat on a surface, then spray it down with your airbrush. When you lift the feather, there will be an imprint of it on the surface.
The opposite of a negative mask, a feather stencil will allow you to quickly airbrush solid feather shapes. Simply select a feather stencil, lay it down flat on a surface, choose a color, and airbrush away. When the feather is complete, you can opt to add additional detail by using different colors to shade in the solid feather.