Painting Tutorial

Alrighty then!

This “tutorial” of sorts has been a long time in the making. It actually only took me a week and ½ to complete once I kicked myself in the arse and forced myself to finish it. The picture on the canvas was sketched out almost three years ago, and has been sitting on my stand-up easel ever since. When I came back from Guatemala I swore that it would be one of those many things I was going to complete. It was originally requested by as a way to give a brief illustration, and a few instructions on the rules and tips of basic painting.

Now, I am certainly not the greatest painter. In fact, I feel that I am as talent-less in the medium as they come, but I do try. I know I'm not really much of realistic painter— My paintings are more like, illusions of paintings... or something. I also don’t have the patience nor the talent for tiny, perfect details that others have. Oy. 'Kay, shutting up.

To begin this tut, I want to say that I know that there are several different kinds of paint out there. Some folks like the gushey, squishy oil paints that get into and onto everything… it takes all kinds of chemicals to clean them up… and most of the time you have to make sure they’re being used in a well ventilated area. Oil paints also take a millennium to dry… which to be blunt, frustrates the hell out of me. SO! I don’t use oil paints. Yuck. Some folks like to use the watercolors… Now those are some people with a lot of patience and a LOT of talent. I’m too much of a “control Nazi” to get the hang of watercolors. Everytime I’ve tried watercolor I ended up with a canvas full of mud. SO! Other than an occasional watercolor pencilon a drawing, I don’t use watercolors either. Tempera paints? No… absolutely not! Again Chako shall be blunt. Temperas suck. Let’s just say that those are the kinds of paints they use in a kindergarten classroom for a reason. Unless you’re purchasing paints for a 5yr old, do not waste your time even looking at tempera paints. Gouache paints are kinda nice. Gouache are like a cross between watercolors and acrylics. They behave like watercolors, but dry uber fast like acrylics… but I personally find them to be too “chalky” in texture and appearance when they dry. I have a set leftover from one of my college classes, but I hardly use them at all… in fact… hmmm… I wonder where they are…. Anywho, SO! You guessed it, this illustration will be focusing on the use of acrylics. Why? Because I like acrylics…


Um… I’ll probably be doing more talking than anything else. My apologies if I get too boring. It’s kinda big/long so I’m switching on the “download” option for a change. Anything else? No, I don’t think so.

Finished result of this tutorial can be found here: [link]

Offspring tutorial "Color Blending Advice" can be found here: [link]