Art Advice Issue #8 - Random Traditional Art Tips

Nov 21, 201734 min read

Deviation Actions

Published: Nov 21, 2017

2.6K Views

GENERAL

* If you draw or paint on a table, keep a paper tissue under your drawing hand to keep the oils in your skin from transferring to the paper (this happens even if you've just washed your hands), which may keep the pigments from being properly absorbed in some places.

DRAWING

* To check for errors in your sketch, especially those relating to symmetry, rotate your canvas and place it on each of its sides, step away and look at it. Also, take a photo or scan it, and do a horizontal flip on the image with your computer.

* To easily transfer your sketch onto watercolor paper, board, wood, or other surface, color the back side of your sketch (scan and print it onto regular printer paper if it's in your sketchbook) with a graphite pencil (2B works fine, HB is harder to transfer), tape it graphite-side-down to your watercolor paper, and go over the lines with a pen or sharp pencil. This works like carbon paper but the lines are erasable and won't smudge.

* Erasers - Sharp corners on erasers are handy for erasing in tiny, crowded parts of a drawing. When your eraser's sharp corners are all worn out, cut a slice of the eraser using a knife or razor - you now have sharp corners again not only on your eraser, but also on the slice you cut off.

* Sharpening pencils - To get a really fine point, even finer than that of mechanical pencils, many artists use a razor to sharpen their pencils; this is also useful if you want a flat or wedge-shaped tip. Or you can use sandpaper to make the tip as fine as you wish. Alternatively, the Staedtler sharpener (article number 512 001) gives the sharpest point I have personally ever seen, and it has a bin to store the pencil shavings until you can throw them away.

PAINTBRUSHES

* If your brushes have become frayed, it's similar to when your hair becomes frizzy. Wash them gently with 2-in-1 shampoo, rinse, and then apply some hair conditioner, letting it sit for 3 minutes. After that, rinse, towel dry, and slip on the plastic paintbrush cover. I haven't tried this on artificial bristles, but it works on red sable brushes.

* If you have lost the plastic tube cover, you can make your own with a plastic drinking straw. Cut off the length you want, and slit it down the side. Roll to make it tighter and use tape to hold the shape in place. Alternatively, you can wrap a piece of tissue around your brush bristles.

* Try to not use the same brush across different media, as different media (or solvents) damage the bristles in different ways. Acrylics can build residue at the base; solvents may damage the bristles. Watercolor does not damage under normal usage, but be sure to wash them after each use.

LINER PENS

* Choose your lining pen based on what medium you'll use to color your drawing, as some are waterproof, but others will bleed when in contact with water. If you only have the non-waterproof kind and want to paint your drawing with watercolors, paint first and do your linework at the end - wait 24hrs for the paint to dry completely; if the paper is still moist, the pen will ink run. Sakura Micron pens are waterproof.

* Vary your line weight for added interest. Some people use heavier lines for the parts closer to the viewer, others use heavier lines for the outer edges of a figure. Experiment to see what you like best.

* Some liner pens, like Sakura Microns, come in a variety of sizes, which makes varying line weights much easier. Keep in mind that the way you hold your pen also affects line weight - simply slanting the pencil yields a wider line than a more vertical hold. Use techniques like this for greater versatility.

* Choose a quiet place and a steady, flat surface to do your linework. This way, you minimize the chances of someone accidentally bumping your arm while you're drawing.

* Steadier lines will come with practice - it's simply a matter or honing the motor skill associated with it; the more you do it, the more your body will get used to it, and the easier the motion will become. Practicing on doodles you don't care about will help (just make a doodle and practice lining it). Controlling your breathing will also help.

* Experiment with colored lineart for interesting effects.

* When using a ruler with liner pens, the pen's tip becomes damaged faster. Use your older pens with rulers and keep the sharper new ones for freehand lining, to extend tip life.

WATERCOLOR

* Use two water containers: one for cool colors and one for warm colors. This will help keep your cool colors crisp. Alternatively, paint all the warm tones first (or the cool ones), change water and rinse your brush, and then paint the remaining colors.

* Paint drying too slowly for you? Use a table fan (or a hairdryer on "cool" setting). Note: Do not do this if there are pools of water on your paper, unless you want splotches.

* Wait for each paint layer to dry completely before applying a new one, or you will be picking up the old layer with your brush, instead of intensifying it with new paint. While waiting for one area to dry, paint another.

* Try to not use paint with lots of binder in them, they will become dull/chalky when dry, and even make more pigmented paints duller when layered on.

* If using wet-on-wet technique, you do not need to wet the entire canvas at once. You can wet it by sections, painting one section first, waiting for it to dry completely before moving onto and wetting another, to avoid colors bleeding from one section to another.

* Do not use your good brushes for masking fluid.

* To avoid drinking your brush-water, use empty yogurt containers or birdfeed cups to hold your painting water, or anything that you definitely would not confuse with your tea.

ACRYLICS

* There are heavy- and non-heavy-body paints. Heavy-body paints give you more texture and are good if you want a 3D effect and more visible brushstrokes (or for painting with a palette knife). You can also thin them down with water if you want a flatter/smoother look similar to non-heavy-body paints.

* Paint drying too quickly for you? You can use a retardant to slow down the drying time, giving you more time to blend colors.

* Tired of paint residue building up at the base of your brush, from mixing colors? Try mixing them using an icicle/ice-cream stick or a plastic knife instead.

COLORED PENCILS

* Colored pencils may be hard-leaded or soft-leaded. They're useful for different types of things.

Hard-leaded pencils can be sharpened really sharp and are good for fine lines and details. In addition, you can layer them countless number of times. However, they are not as pigmented and require many, many layers to build up color. How many layers depends on the brand, and it sometimes does not match the price. For example, Prismacolor Premiere Verithin (not to be confused with Prismacolor Premiere... period, those are a different type of pencil) cost five times more than Staedtler Super Soft pencils, but are far less pigmented; both are hard-leaded (despite what Staedtler claims). For those wondering, the pencils kids use in school are hard-leaded. Don't let this make you think hard-leaded pencils are inferior to soft-leaded ones; they're not, they're just different. For instance, Faber Castell Polychromos are hard-leaded and, from what I hear, since I've never seen one personally, are excellent.

Soft-leaded pencils are creamy and rich in color. However, due to the lead being softer, you can't really sharpen them to a really fine point without it either breaking or wearing away quickly. Also, you can't layer them indefinitely without sealing in between at some point. This is because they're either wax- or oil-based, and, at some point, the paper becomes saturated/full and can't take any more layers. You can spray a fixative on at this point, and then continue layering once it's dry. However, since these pencils are SO rich in color, you probably won't reach this point. Soft-leaded pencils are more expensive, but you can try them out by buying a single pencil (or five), as some brands sell them single-stock (pencil by pencil) and not just by the box. In the US, you can buy Prismacolor Premiere pencils this way.

Watercolor/Aquarell colored pencils are very hard-leaded and not much pigmented unless you wet them. Because that's what they're made for. XD

* Work in layers. Build up and create colors by applying lightly laid-down layers, of the same color and of different colors one atop the other. Here is where knowledge of how to combine colors to create new ones becomes essential. For example, skin is made up of a whole bunch of different colors. How you combine them, in which amount, and in what places depends on the skin tone and lighting conditions.

* Leave the highlights. Unless you're working on dark-colored paper, work from light to dark, leaving your highlights blank (or lightly coloring them with your light source's color) at the beginning, instead of expecting to use the white pencil (or whatever) on top of your already laid-down darker colors later, because that won't work.

* Feel free to combine soft- and hard-leaded pencils. I personally like shading/coloring with soft-leaded pencils and using the hard-leaded ones for fine lines and details.

* The white Gelly-Roll pen (Sakura) will work over colored pencils, though probably not as you expect it will. If you want an absolutely opaque white, you'll want to use acrylic paint or white-out instead. In my personal opinion, the white Gelly-roll is better, though, precisely because it is not completely opaque over colored pencils, yielding a much more natural-looking result. If you want a starker white, though, you can layer on more after the first layer dries. Another thing I love about it is that, as long as it hasn't dried yet, you can lift parts of it off with your finger or a tissue, which, again, makes for really natural-looking effects.

* The surface underneath your paper matters (1). If you want really hard/dark and sharp lines, using a hard-leaded pencil won't suffice if you're drawing on a soft surface (an open sketchbook, a piece of cardboard under your paper, etc.). You'll want a really hard surface underneath your paper, or else, no matter how hard you press, your lines may not be dark enough. Switch to a hard surface, et voilà, you have strong lines.

* The surface underneath your paper matters (2). Paper is usually still somewhat see-through. Whether whatever is underneath your drawing is dark or light will make a difference on overall appearance when you photograph, scan, or display your work. Keep this in mind.

* Paper grain. How rough or smooth your paper is will make a difference. One is not better than the other; it's all up to personal taste. Experiment with different levels of paper grain to see which works better for the look you want, or mix it up depending on your needs!

* Burnishing/blending. You don't need the colorless blender pencil. You can blend with a light-colored pencil for a richer/more vibrant result. Also, feel free to experiment with using different materials for burnishing. Some people, for instance, rub on alcohol with a Q-tip or a brush over the pencil. I haven't personally done this, but it's a technique.