The "stupid little questions that don't deserve their own thread" thread.

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The "stupid little questions that don't deserve their own thread" thread.

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

flippinmarilyn posted:

I have an interest in picking up painting as my own personal hobby (not competitively, or for a profession). My only concern is that I lack the ability to draw, in general, or I've never actually tried. I'm wondering if there's a niche for people like me, people with the desire to learn, but that haven't always been gifted from birth. Is there a niche that I can fall into for the less talented? Is all hope lost for me? (teasing, but still >_<)

From the experience of other painters? Were you always able? Or was painting a skill that you acquired and refined with practice?

None of us are gifted from birth. It takes lots and lots of practice to become an artist. I firmly believe that anyone can become a talented artist with enough time and practice.

You do need to be able to draw in order to paint satisfyingly. So pick up a pencil and start. Maybe check out your local art center and see what classes they have. Pick up the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" for a few tips.

Mr E posted:

I have a question about drawing. I'd like to learn to draw things off the top of my head such as monsters and people, as realistic as possible. I've found that if I can see something, I can draw it fairly well, such as the Mona Lisa and such, but of course it's not perfect. I think that the main problem I have is thinking creatively, not logically, and was was wondering if there any books or web tutorials to help me with this. I don't really have to worry about coloring or inking, as I've become great at coloring and shading in illustrator to where it looks good.

See above. Practice, practice, practice. Learn about using shapes to create figural forms (there are many good figure drawing or even cartooning books that discuss this). And then just draw more and more.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2009 01:27

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:13

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Yep. Draw what everything. All day. All night. Just draw. It won't take long before you have a good grasp of shapes and weight that you can use to make things up.

# ¿ Feb 26, 2009 03:18

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

porcellus posted:

I'm an art student applying for a work position at a contemp craft museum, and I want to include a web link to pictures of sculptures and drawings I have done. Is there a free, non-intrusive, plain, website for portfolios that is appropriate to be included in my resume? Is it ridiculous that I shouldn't spend money on this?

Could you use Flickr? It might not be as simple as you want, but it's an easy to use site that can handle hi-res stuff and has a nice black background. Plus it's free as long as you don't need to upload too giant of files all in one month.

Otherwise, I'd go for spending $10 on a domain name and then getting a Wordpress page.

# ¿ Feb 28, 2009 23:41

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

too many adjectives posted:

What kind of clay should I get to make small figurines and stuff - like for student work? Is super sculpey too high end for learning? I do have access to a kiln if that changes anything.

Not a sculptor, but super sculpey should be fine. Better than nothing, at least. Easy to use, you can bake in your oven if you want to keep something.

# ¿ Mar 11, 2009 05:35

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Elijya posted:

I started oil painting a few weeks back, and have been enjoying it immensely. I took a class, and then started doing it at home, and sometimes I can do it for hours at a time. But I still don't really know what I'm doing and lots of questions pop into my head, so I've mainly been learning as I go. Some things I can look up online or in books, but many things I'd rather ask of other experienced artists. I just discovered this sub forum, but I don't see any place for discussing painting of any kind specifically, which is surprising. Is there a thread I've overlooked, or should I go ahead and start one?

But keeping to this thread for now, a small question I have is what's the best way to store and transport paintings, especially if they've been worked on within the past couple of days and therefore still pretty wet? I've been using canvas boards and pads, and I've been laying them on top of books on my shelves when I'm not working on them (I have cats) and there's got to be something more reasonable. How would I best go about carrying a bunch of them for someone to see without smudging them, or mailing one?

1: You can feel free to PM me with questions on oil paints.

2: Lots and lots of care. You can also look into a drying agent if this is a big problem: Japan Drier or Copal are potent but also unstable. Galkyd is stable but slightly changes the properties of the paint. Mailing? Wait until it is dry to the touch, paint less thickly.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2009 00:43

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

I'm going to make a painting thread for all your painting needs. It shoooouuuld go up tonight, but we'll see.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2009 22:38

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Okay. I made a big loving wall of text about acrylic and oil supplies. Give us some questions to answer (and also some basics on watercolors)!

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3106934

# ¿ Mar 29, 2009 02:29

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Elijya posted:

Yeah, but I have no experience, so my judgement isn't very good I'm sure the paint is dry enough - I already used artist tape on it over a week ago. I was more asking if masking tape is really that much different from artist tape. Thank you though.

Yes, masking tape is generally a lot more tacky than artist tape. If you don't have any artist tape, painter's tape may work similarly. I don't do taping, so I'm not sure though.

# ¿ May 5, 2009 15:17

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

How permanent is wheatpaste, and is there a way to make it less permanent? Everything I read says it's hard to remove. I need to paste a few signs to the ground for a few days, no longer. Is this the best way to do it, or should I just stick to duct tape?

# ¿ Jun 25, 2009 01:05

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

They're made by Copic.

If you can get your hands on hancolyte, it's amazing for transfers. Also deadly.

You can get clove oil at any health food store and it will transfer laser printed images. With enough burnishing, it looks good.

# ¿ Jul 15, 2009 22:29

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

fret logic posted:

I looked through the first few pages of the forum and didn't find much of what I was looking for, and this is an incredibly noobish question but I would like to paint and I don't know where the hell to start?

I thought I'd pick up a few of the basics that I need to get started and just roll with it, but I don't even know what I need or what I should be starting with. Are there any good online resources for the absolute beginner? Should I start signing up for some classes or can I do this on my own?

For a long while I've had a lot of images and ideas I've wanted to put on a canvas that I can't put through a guitar. I don't care if anyone ever sees them either, this is for me entirely. As far as skill, I'd rank myself 3 or 4 out of 10 when it comes to drawing, and aside from middle school art I haven't touched a paintbrush. I'm going to keep going through this forum and hopefully find something that'll get me started, but if you guys have any good tips or resources that would be great, thankyou!

edit: just found this http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3106934 m

maybe all my questions shall be answered

Feel free to PM me if you have questions. But my number one answer will usually be: Practice your drawing.

# ¿ Jul 18, 2009 17:07

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

I don't know if you need gesso or not. Experiment with that. Do use fabric medium mixed in with your paints (1:1) or just buy fabric paint. This will keep it flexible.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2009 22:03

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Beat. posted:

I wonder if anyone here submits work to juried exhibitions in galleries. I am curious, a lot of galleries charge entry fees... is that normal and has it been worth it, in terms of exposure, for anyone who has done it?

I am pretty leery of a 25-30 dollar entry fee for a lot of these things, even if many are at well known galleries, it seems shady to be charging people who don't generally make a lot of money anyway, on top of whatever % commission they get off a sale - which is like, 20-40% or sometimes more. I have no problem with them making a commission, I just dont like the whole entry fee thing. Any input appreciated.

It's very common and almost always up and up. That doesn't mean it's always a great idea, though. I quit entering those because I never sold the pieces that made it in, so it was still throwing money away.

There are some, like the Studio 414 contest, which are total scams. If you're curious for further info, I wrote two posts about it. They aren't horribly in depth, but they're questions I get from people a lot. Hoe to know whether a juried show is legit and How to know if a juried show is worth your time (and money).

# ¿ Oct 10, 2009 02:00

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

^^^ I was going to say Flickr, too. It's easy, clean, and better than a poorly designed website. Which most portfolio sites are. Even if they look nice, they're all bitches to use.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2009 07:05

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Nione posted:

I've got a few questions about woodcut printing.

I want to make my own wedding invitations (maybe 40 invites total). My dad is a woodcarver and is going to carve, in relief, my wood block. I've got it designed and given it to him but I was doing some reading online yesterday and a website recommended a soft wood, like pine, or linoleum. Is this because it's easier for most people to carve in soft woods or does it make an actual difference in the printing process? He has wood all over his workshop and he usually just hunts around until he finds "the piece he wants" but if he needs something specific I need to be able to tell him that.

Secondly, paper. I know I want acid free, and since they're invitations I want to use cardstock. What I'd really like to use is metallic gold cardstock, does anyone have any idea what the ink will do on something like this? I'm familiar with calligraphy ink and know what kinds of paper it will bleed into but I've never done any printing at all so I'm at a bit of a loss. I'm specifically concerned that the ink won't "stick" to something metallic, is this crazy?

As for the ink, I figured what I need is something like Speedball water-soluble ink, does it work as well as the oil based? I got the impression that it's much thicker than the ink I am used to, in fact in the pictures it looked almost like acrylic paint. Is this the case or not? Can I just blend a bunch of colors together or do I need to add some sort of medium to it?

Also, when I roll the ink onto the block can I put multiple colors on it at once or do I need to print colors in layers? I want a dark brown trunk/branches with almost a batik look to the leaves in fall colors. Should I have him carve two sides of the block, one with branches and one for the leaves? What I don't want is a big muddy mess that looks like crap. Can I print once in dark brown, clean the ink off the wood, and then print again on top with my colors, only putting the ink on the parts I want to print?

Finally, for the actual text on the invitation I was going to have that printed by a local print shop in a single color. Can I do my woodcut printing first and then send those to the print shop or do I run the risk of ruining my printing by having them run it through their machinery (is the ink thick enough to flake off or something)? I know I'm going to make more mistakes than they are and I'd much rather have 40 invitations with my tree already on them and then send those to be printed than to try and guess how many mistakes I'm going to make ahead of time.

Thanks!

I'm a printmaker but haven't really done woodcut, so if I'm wrong I hope someone is here to step in.

I think that the soft wood is for the carver, not as much for the process.

If it's metallic, you will most likely have issues with the ink absorption. But the best idea is to do some testing before you select a paper. In other types of printing the paper is a very absorbent one like rice paper or Rives BFK.

I don't know that I can answer anything about ink for woodcuts. Do a bit of googling.

Technically, woodcuts should be carved in layers: each layer being a separate color. So you carve the first step, which will hold one color, print all the pieces, and go back and carve the next step, apply the next color, print all the pieces again. Again I say, do some googling on the process.

It's best to ask a printshop about the printing. They may not want to sent a printed piece through.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2009 17:12

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

I have a studiomate who using the grid method really well. He puts his references in photoshop and creates a grid over it. Then he works from the monitor, with the same grid on his canvas. He paints fast and freakishly accurately, though super realism is not his goal.

# ¿ Oct 26, 2009 01:11

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Wolfgang Pauli posted:

I've been playing around with paint made from chalk pastel lately. If I get the right solvent, how well will this work with oil pastel?

Depends on the solvent and the surface. Probably with the right (rough) surface and a completely dry paint film -- if it's going down first -- you'd be fine. What is your solvent? Linseed oil?

Is there some other way to achieve what you're looking for?

# ¿ Dec 22, 2009 19:19

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

The answer to this is: Is this a business? Do you hope for it to become one? Then start doing it now while you have the time to start it right.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2010 03:11

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

anaaki posted:

Ok, so I am working on a project right now, I'm painting a wooden storage box. I am using acrylic but would like to use oil pastel on top. The thing I am not sure about is sealing it. I have spray polyurethane and a brush on polyurethane. Will it smear the oil pastel?

Also, I hear you shouldn't do acrylic over pastel.

(here is somewhat of an example of what I've done previously, since it is similar).

It's acrylic, then oil pastel, and then the black/white outlines, and dots are done in acrylic.

No, you probably shouldn't do acrylic over pastel. It mayyyyy work with some fixative between two, but I'm less familiar with pastels as a medium. I would probably go with spray sealer, but you could just do a test patch on a spare piece of wood or on the bottom of your project.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2010 21:24

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Quiet Feet posted:

I've only been writing and submitting work for about eight months now, and something just occurred to me.

If a publication rejects your work, should you respond to the rejection letter? I'm not asking if you should defend your stories/poems/essays/nude self portraits, just curious if a note along the lines of "I see. Thanks for taking a look at it." is in order.

No. They don't have time to care.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2010 18:53

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Licensing work for a non-resale situation: What's a fair fee? I was approached by the state arts council to use one of my images on a promotional postcard, and they want to know what I want as a "fair fee". I've looked into royalties/licensing fees some, but they seem to all be based on merchandise - the resale price, how many are made and sold, where they're distributed.

Anyone have ideas/experience/recommendations?

VV Perfect. Very helpful, thanks.

zap actionsdower! fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Sep 16, 2010

# ¿ Sep 15, 2010 16:35

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Beat. posted:

serious question: has anyone who posts in this thread ever met anyone who learned how to draw by reading a book? I cannot think of anyone I know who has, outside of copying plates as homework from a teacher

I went to art school and worked my rear end off in drawing class, but I saw the most improvement when I read and self-directed after college. That's not nearly the same as totally learning to draw just from books, though.

# ¿ Nov 23, 2010 18:06

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# ¿ Apr 28, 2024 18:13

zap actionsdower!: Aug 7, 2004; in favor of festivals

Detetsu posted:

Is there a type of ruler that doesn't smudge graphite drawings or am I just boned for sketchbook work when I want a straight line? Also, should I even care? Probably not but oh well.

Can't give you a reco on rulers, but you could try harder graphite or a different paper that grabs graphite better.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2010 03:08

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > The "stupid little questions that don't deserve their own thread" thread.