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There is no such thing as a mistake when it comes to art but you can learn techniques, ways of seeing, the science of your materials & more.
In this video I’m sharing the tips that I would go back & tell myself at the beginning of my career as well as thinking about the habits that are common with newer artists.
If you’re educated about the potential outcome that come from a particular habit (aka. black paint lacks depth) & choose to still use it it is an educated choice not a mistake, there’ a big digference. As Pintere It’important to absorb as much as possible from other artists so we have as many tools for expression at our desposal.
Learn the rules so you can break them like an artist.
🖤🤍Using pure black/white. Even the brightest lights & darkest darks have some colour so keep a colour wheel nearby & use it to make chromatic shadows using complementaries or adjusting highlights (often with a bit of yellow to mimic natural light).
🌈 Using straight-out-the-tube colour. Nature is rarely intensely colourful. vibrant colour can be a stylistic choice but if you’re going for realism learn the beauty of using grey, brown, or complementaries to tone down colour, creating a sense of atmosphere & depth.
👩‍🎨 Using a small brush. Switch up your brushes, use the biggest one possible for the area you’re painting. It’s more efficient & leads to more dynamic brushwork.
😤 Over-blending. This is how you get muddy paintings. Instead mix transitional mid tones & ‘put colour down’ in the right spot. You’ll be surprised how natural this looks.
⛸️ Ignoring Edges. Treat everything - including negative space - as a jigsaw-like arrangement of 2d shapes & try to observe the how they interact. Blurry edges recede & sharp edges come forward in space.
👁️👄👁️ starting with the details. Start with the basic shapes & values & add detail later. Think about how rare it is to see museum portraits that include individual eyelashes or strands of hair - suggesting detail can be just as powerful.
👀 Not using strategies for looking. Art is how you see - not just what. our brains trick us into seeing more dramatic differences in value & colour than are there so use eye tricks like squinting to see overall values & looking out the corner of your eye to see colour.
✍️ Being impatient at the drawing stage. Take the time to make an accurate underdrawing or you’ll have problems throughout your painting. Don’t worry about detail just make sure you have an accurate map of the basic shapes. Use measuring tools like holding up sticks to your subject, grids, projectors, or image transfers all used in some form since the old masters if you want help to orient your subject on the canvas. Drawing is the most important painting skill. Keep a sketchbook, sketch from life, & always be practicing your drawing technique as it will aid every step of your painting & help you resolve issues.
🧐 Trying to exactly match a colour. Relax. No one will see your reference - colours only have to make sense within the context of the painting. Focus on form instead. Looking up exact colour recipes like for portraiture or landscapes is overrated, instead learn the munsell colour system & you’ll be set to mix anything. The munsell system breaks colour down into 3 fundamentals: hue, value, & chroma.
🍎 Learning through very specific tutorials. You’l learn by following tutorials like how to paint a tree, face, or cloud but it’s time consuming to learn to paint each individual thing. Painting ateliers & schools all build on the fundamentals of value, colour, shape & light so that you can apply the same skills no matter what you paint.
👗Trying to immediately find your style. Look at the early work of Picasso, it was realistic. Start with an open mind for techniques & just paint - your style will ultimately find you.
🫤Comparing yourself to other artists. It’s always helped me to think about improving on myself from yeasterday & growing with each painting.
💃🏻Painting for other people. It sounds self-centred but it’s so important to make the art that you want to see. Don’t worry about how it fits into today’s art market. I don’t care if other people don’t like my work If I made it for me & that’s a powerful confidence to find as an artist.