Comments on: The Painting Lessons You Didn’t Know About

By: Karsen Slater

Karsen Slater — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:20:48 +0000

Thank you for this. These tips are so true, and they make all the difference when a client is looking at your work. I personally got lucky- I’ve been taught this all through college- but I wish more schools and teachers told their students about these things.

By: Dani

Dani — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:59:45 +0000

RobertJr, I use a variety of media, and the tape tip would apply to all of them. True, you should probably be more careful around acrylics, but you should be okay most of the time. If you find you are having trouble a lot with your paint peeling, I would suggest carefully scoring around the masking tape with an xacto knife before peeling it off.

By: RobertJr

RobertJr — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 23:21:21 +0000

I appreciate clean edges on a piece as well, paint over the sides may look sloppy if it is unintentional or doesn’t
work with the image. However you don’t mention what type of medium you’re using here, a variety of watercolor? acrylics?
I’m aware that acrylics has a tendency to peel when it dries. However, I’m not sure which other medium has that kind of pliability.

By: Chris Perardi

Chris Perardi — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 04:09:40 +0000

Hey, great site. I've just started out doing serious work with traditional materials for my graphic design education, and a lot of what you've said rings totally true. Two things, though: 1. It's easier to cut things, and mat them, with a dedicated mat cutter, instead of an X-Acto knife. They're relatively cheap, they're sturdy, and you can make nice beveled cuts. 2. If you do need to do tracings (I do, as I have a thing for geometric designs, and I often plot stuff out in Illustrator on the computer and print them out to trace), light tables are great. I don't know if they'll shine through canvas, but I know they work great on pretty thick bristol board. Unfortunately, they're not cheap. Unless you build your own.