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To become a better artist, there is no other better way than to practice your art. Following are the top 10 artist tips and tricks that will help you master your art.
Take care of your equipment –
Your art equipment such as colors, paints, paint brushes, canvas, easel, color palette is all important. They are the tools which bring your ideas to life. To take care of these, first you need a good work station room where you can sit or stand and create masterpieces. Solitude is absolutely necessary with a lot of ventilation and natural light.
Colors and Paints – As an artist, you may use many different types of colors and paints for plein air painting, indoor painting, commission art etc. You may use water colors, pastels, acrylics, oil paints etc for various types of drawing or paintings.
You may even use graphene, charcoal, pencil, and pen etc for various types of effects in the painting. As an artist, your basic knowledge is to handle colors and paints, for they tend to become messy, dried or extremely difficult to work with. Watercolors if dried can be made easy to work with a few drops of water. Acrylic and oil pastels can be revived with pigments or solutions.
Paint Brushes – Paint brushes can be a bit of a work when they dry out. They become stiff and unable to use. To make them reusable, they need to be cleaned and dried almost immediately after use. If by chance they remain messy, there are different ways. Water color brushes can be cleaned by soaking them in water.
Acrylic and oil brushes should never be dipped in oil or turpentine or any other corroding liquids. They require to be soaked in the solutions from which the colors are made and then washed off with warm water.
Canvas, Easel and Color Palette – These require the least amount of care but is very important. Canvas can become discolored if exposed. Easels are often wooden; hence they need to be cleaned everyday to guard against water, oil, dust, ants and termites.
The color palette can be washed off when not in use. If you are using a wooden palette, it needs to be cleaned and dried every day after the work is done. Plastic based palettes can be washed off with oil or solutions.
Creating the illusion of Depth and Space –
The best kept skill of any artist is the creation of illusions of depth and space in their creations. This can be achieved through various techniques.
Overlapping and Layering – When objects are hidden behind another object in a creation, it gives the illusion of 3D. This is called overlapping. When layers of different composites are added over another it creates the effect of layers.
Overlapping is best used for still life painting or portrait painting or abstract painting and cubism paintings. It can also be used for modern paintings as well for creating mirror image effects or sunlight effect. Layering is best for landscape paintings or nature paintings.
Linear Perspective – If you want to create images that converge at a single point then linear perspective is your technique. First discovered by Renaissance painters, it is best used for nature paintings or landscape paintings. This technique can be used to create one, two or three point perspective.
Size – Paintings can have optical illusions. That is a painter can manipulate size by making the objects appear near or far. This effect can be seen in foreshortening where a small object can seemingly look bigger if the smaller object is kept in perspective of the larger object being relatively away.
Atmosphere or Aerial Perspective – Distant objects or topographies appear bleak from a viewer’s perspective due to the layers of perspective influenced by atmosphere. This natural phenomenon can be incorporated in paintings by using different hues and shades of colors.
Color – The three characteristics of color are: Hue, Saturation, and Value. Hue means color. If saturation is kept constant, then warmer colors (which have more yellow) come forward in a painting while cooler colors (which have more blue) take a secondary effect in a painting. Value corresponds to the lightness or darkness of color in creating representational space.
Details and Textures – Paintings that have more details and texture appear to be more near focused. While less details means long shots. Thick paint seems close while thin and smooth paint appears away.
Art Composition Rules –
These rules help to determine the positioning of the object and other complementary details of the painting. There are two rules of art composition.
Rule of Thirds – Dissect your painting canvas in two horizontal and vertical lines to give one third block of perspective. This method brings the viewers attention to the perspective the artist wants them to focus on. It also aids in the placement of objects in a painting.
Rule of Odds – This rule applies for placement of objects in a painting to make it more dynamic. This rule helps in to create a dynamism where the viewer cannot pair the objects and rather views the painting whole. It adds more perspective and the painting becomes interesting to the viewer and engages their attention span.
Understand Colors –
Colors help to make a painting come alive. Human beings are capable of differentiating colors that help us to make the paintings come alive.
Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Harmonious, Warm and Cool Colors – The Primary Colors are Red, Yellow and Blue, hence the term RYB. The Secondary Colors are: 1) Orange = Red + Yellow; 2) Green = Yellow + Blue; 3) Violet = Red + Blue. When primary colors are mixed with secondary colors, we get six Tertiary/Complementary Colors which are achieved by mixing: 1) Red + Green; 2) Blue + Orange; 3) Yellow + Violet. Harmonious Colors are also created in the same process. Cool colors are shades of green and blue while Warm colors are shades of red, orange and yellow.
Value – Value is the tone of color; how light or dark is a color in perspective.
The Magic of Doodling –
If you feel stuck, confused, bored, listless, de-motivated; draw doodles. Doodling helps you to un-clutter your mind and helps to regain focus.
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