Good, and good looking paint(which aren't quite the same thing) are entirely dependent on 4 connected things: preparation, materials, equipment and technique.
I'm certainly not an expert, but have been tinkering with this for 25years so hopefully this list will help from a DIY perspective.
There is no way to avoid the preparation, it's tedious, dirty and time consuming. As a beginner you'll not do enough thinking that the colour coat will hide the flaws. This NEVER WORKS! Modern 2pack filler-primer makes this stage of the job so much easier.
Materials: again, 2pack paint is far more forgiving, cheaper and requires far fewer coats than traditional cellulose. It gives a better, more durable finish and even when air dried goes off fully in a couple of days, not the weeks required for cellulose. You do need to be a bit more careful using it, but suitable PPE is cheap and easily available. You should use the same stuff when working with cellulose, or indeed any finely atomised chemical.
Mentioned this already, but DIY priced guns are readily available and are often good copies of pro equipment. They might not be as durable, but if a £30 gun only does a couple of resprays it's still a good deal. HVLP is good, works well with the 2pack paint(which they were designed for) and don't require massive compressors. I'm astonished at how much better a painter the Fastmover HVLP guns make me look!
And then there's technique: it's a simple thing to describe, but then so is using a snooker cue. You can only learn this with practice, although advice from an experienced person flattens the learning curve.
The real problem for beginners is that an experienced painter's technique can make up for serious flaws in both the equipment and the paint. Consequently, inexperience can easily make a terrible mess with high quality equipment etc.
I don't get on with aerosols, and they are an incredibly expensive way of buying paint: three aerosols will buy a 1/2litre of paint and consumables which will paint the side of a car.
Hope this helps.
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Topic: Applying spray paint (Read 1618 times)