Painting Airbrush Shirts can be a fun and entertaining hobby, but if you want to make a living with it, you better understand the “5 - T’s” and how they affect the outcome of your business.

The “5 - T’s” stand for Time, Tools, Technique, Talent and Trade.  If you don’t have all of the T’s, your business will suffer for it.  Working on the weakest T will always benefit you.

Let’s start with Time, since it is an integral part of each of the other T’s.  If you can’t find the Time to develop the Techniques needed to be a successful Airbrush Shirts painter, you’ll find it very hard to succeed.  Likewise, it takes Time to gain Talent, and Time to build your Trade.  

While there is no required amount of Time needed, just understand that the more Time you put into your business, the faster you can build it.  On the other hand, if you have no Time, it isn’t likely you’ll ever succeed.

The second T stands for Tools.  Without the proper equipment and supplies, your success will be limited.  While you may be able to Airbrush Shirts using a straw and Easter Egg Dye, you’ll find it hard to build a business doing that.

The basic equipment you’ll need will be a compressor, hoses, airbrush nozzles, and shirt frames (or boards).  You’ll also need paints, paper (for early practice), stencils, shirts, and a carrying case.  You can start out with a basic model or kit, but you’ll likely want to buy better quality once you reach a certain level of Talent.

Technique and Talent go hand-in-hand.  You’ll need to learn the Techniques of Airbrush Shirts before you develop your Talent.  Think of Technique as the “how to do it” and Talent as “when to use each Technique“.

Techniques are quite easy to come by.  You’ll read books on Techniques, watch videos on Techniques, and take classes in Techniques.  The more Techniques you learn, the better the chance is that your Airbrush Shirts will look realistic.  Shadows, distance, motion, and highlighting are all Techniques that you’ll need to learn.

Talent is a much tougher thing to develop.  Talent is a by-product of combining Time and Technique.  The first time you try to paint a moon on one of your Airbrush Shirts, it will look more like a fried egg.  By the 20th attempt, it will look reasonably good.  By the 100th time, you’ll have a Talent for painting a moon.

Finally, we come to Trade.  Trade is the difference between having a hobby and running a business.  Trade is the act of swapping your Time, Techniques, Talent and Tools for money.  

You can Trade in several ways.  One of the easiest is as an employee.  Most commercial parks (Disney, Sea World, etc) hire artists to paint Airbrush Shirts for them.  You’ll usually receive pay and/or commission.

You can also Trade online.  By opening a website, you can paint on commission (”Happy 50th Bob!”) or by creating unique Airbrush Shirts that you sell via eBay or other sales place.

Finally, you can Trade by sharing your knowledge.  You can do “Airbrush Shirts Birthday Parties”, or open a studio where you train others.

No matter what you do, keep coming back to the “5 - T’s”.  One of the 5 is always the weakest.  Make it a point to work on that T, and you’ll be successful in making a living with Airbrush Shirts.