Ludo Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 So I run a paint night every Thursday and I have several budding painters. They are constantly pushing my ability to teach them. One of my painters us wanting to work on his shading and blending. He mentally gets the concepts as we talk about them but when he tries to apply it to a mini he paints the area and the two next to it. When he tries to do eyes it looks like makeup for KISS. I want to tell him butterfly farts (thanks Talespiner) but i don't think that will be enough... Any thoughts? 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kuro Cleanbrush Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 My biggest piece of advice is bracing. Check to see if he is bracing his arms against the table, his sides, or (better yet) both as well as bracing his hands against each other/the painting handle. In other words, just make sure he's extra stable to begin with, and that should hopefully do wonders for his brush control! Also, check to make sure he's not putting too much or too watery paint on his brush. Hope that helps! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ctsteel Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 What size brush is he using? Maybe he can try practicing with a very small one like a 00000 or such and practice making gentle strokes on a test area until he gets used to the right amount of paint and pressure. Once he gets the feel of it right to use as a reference, he repeats the step on the area he wants to do. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo Posted December 9, 2016 Author Share Posted December 9, 2016 Was thinking about getting a sheet of paper with lines on it and having him practice getting consistant paint levels on those. I find that anything smaller than a 0 dries out too fast in the store. I gave him a decent brush so it has a nice tip on it. I do need to pay more attention to his bracing. He is a fairly big guy so he probably doesn't normally rest his arms on his chest. We have a lot of painters so the tables get bumped frequently. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knarthex Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 My biggest problem at paint days is the table getting bumped... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ced1106 Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 How well does he paint? Is shading and blending too advanced for him (for now)? > I find that anything smaller than a 0 dries out too fast in the store. One of the reasons I'm not too interested in going to the store to paint is the suboptimal painting environment (eg. no wet palette, chairs too high to brace arms). Not that it's your responsibility, but are there ways to improve the work area so that he can do better painting? I guess, assuming this class is free, they should at least bring their own wet palette and stools, but I dunno what the best way to tell them to do this is. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorallineAlgae Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 I find that anything smaller than a 0 dries out too fast in the store. I gave him a decent brush so it has a nice tip on it. You could always try mixing a little retarder (like 5-10%) with some water and put it in a dropper bottle to dilute his paint. I use a #2 brush for almost all my work, but when I used to use a tiny brush, having a little bit of retarder medium in the paint helped. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodhowl Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Whack him with a ruler when he does it wrong or sick Buglips on him? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artists Wren Posted December 10, 2016 Artists Share Posted December 10, 2016 Make sure he can see. If you don't have lamps in use usually at the store, consider bringing one for him one time to see if it helps. Likewise, if you have an OptiVisor or some other visual aid you could loan him to try out, try that. (Or suggest he buy $5 readers if he doesn't wear glasses.) Sometimes the problem is developing the dexterity, and you've had lots of good tips for that. Sometimes the problem is seeing well enough to put the brush where you want it. Often it's a bit of both. Also, start the blending lessons on something with bigger surfaces like a Bones giant or mid-size dragon or something? Bigger so he works on the general concept as he works on refining his aim and such. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bailey03 Posted December 12, 2016 Share Posted December 12, 2016 I like your idea of getting some paper with lines on it. Even before I read that I was thinking you should give him a sheet of paper and have him work on some basic brush control exercises. Have him try to paint his own lines, getting them as straight and as thin as he can. Work on pressure, how thick a line can he paint with one brush and then how thin a line can he paint with the same brush. Sounds like the thick line should be no sweat, but a thin line will take some practice. Plus, you can use the same size brush (or even the same brush) and demonstrate the extremes. Then he can practice getting his lines as thin (or thick) as yours. Painting dots/circles could also be a good exercise, start big and then try to get smaller and smaller. The other key is to be able to repeat what he did. If he got a thin line or a small circle, can he do it 3 or 4 times in a row? Or is the next one too thick/big? If so, have him keep practicing. Aside from that, the comments about bracing are good suggestions. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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