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How To: Paint the human body

Painting the human body can be difficult and takes a lot of practice. Our art expert is here to teach you all about figure painting, including tips on mixing paint colors for skin tone, lighting, depth and even backgrounds, in this free video art lesson.

How To: Mount your Chinese painting or sumi-e ink drawing

Since sumi-e ink paintings or any sort of painting on rice paper warp the surface and create waves, they can be quite complicated to frame. The fragility of the paper is also something to take into consideration, and requires a special technique that won't tear the painting. Learn how to mount a Chinese painting or sumi-e ink drawing by watching this video framing tutorial.

How To: Paint on ceramic dinner plates

In this how-to video, you will learn how to paint on your ceramic dinner plates. You will need a ceramic paint kit, a soft pencil, masking tape, a porcelain painter pen, scrap paper, scissors, scrap paper, tracing paper, Celtic patterns, and a jar of water. Place the tracing paper over the copy of the Celtic patterns. Tape both down to the surface with the tape. Trace the pattern onto the tracing paper using the pencil. Clean the plate and stick tracing paper over the plate. Trace over the pa...

How To: Paint sand in your composition

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to paint sand. Users will need a palette knife and paint brush. The colors needed for the sand are: iron oxide, pure white, burnt umber and burnt salmon. Collect all 4 colors on the palette knife and apply it lightly onto the canvas. If it is too dark, add some more white paint. Then use a paint brush to smooth out the edges and blend the sand together. This video will benefit those viewers who are interested in art and painting, and would like to lea...

How To: Paint the texture of water

Watch this instructional painting video to create a water like effect on the surface of canvas, wood or paper. Use acrylic paint and a spray bottle with some paint thinner. Spray the turpentine onto wet paint and watch the paint separate into shapes that look like the surface of water, splashes and wave patterns.

How To: Paint an avacado

This is a silent video by artist Dan P. Carr. It is filmed in fast action, the video is approximately 3 minutes long but in real time the painting took 50 minutes to complete. It is done on a small canvas with oil paints. It shows the development of the avocado from a simple outline drawing to the final product that is 3 dimensional and uses light and shadow to give a sense of depth to the painting. According to the artist he paints a simple object like the avocado daily as a practice exercis...

How To: Do Acrylic Painting on Feathers

In this video series, watch as artist Carolyn Travisano teaches how to d acrylic painting on feathers. Learn how to choose the feathers, choose brushes, choose paint, how to get inspiration, how to prepare the paint pallet, how to design a layout, how to fill in colors, how to do stage comparisons, how to work the feathers, how to add detail, how to do shadowing, how to do the finishing spray, and how to mount the feathers.

How To: Paint believable rocks

Wilson Bickford teaches us how to paint believable rocks in this tutorial. To begin, you will first start with an easel and several paints. Wet your small paint brush with a mixture of brown and black and paint a rock shape on the paper. You will do this by drawing many lumps and bumps to make it look like a natural rock. Use white paint on the side of the rock to give it a light glare where the sun would naturally hit it. To finish the rock, paint on browns to it, to add a dirt color and mak...

How To: Paint on plexiglass

Watch this instructional painting video to begin painting on plexiglass. Create some cool effects using spray paint, paint thinner, acrylic paint. Make marks and unique textures using your finger, scratching tools and stencils.

How To: Paint a Fender Telecaster electric guitar

This video will show you the steps to wire in a humbucker and coil into a Fender Telecaster electric guitar. And you'll get to learn how to paint it as well! What's humbucker? Well, it's a type of electric guitar pickup, that'll help you improve your rocking out. What are you waiting for? Get some sandpaper, paint, wires, and get started!

How To: Paint in a Norwegian folk style called "rosemaling"

In this video, Linnea Rose teaches us how to paint in a Norwegian folk style called "rosemaling". With this, you will double load your brush and do the strokes in the correct way. To double load your brush, first dip one corner into a color, then dip another color into the other color. After this, stroke again in between the two colors. Next, go to your canvas and simply stroke a looped shake on the paper. Firmly press down with your brush and as your curve around you lift it up to the chisel...

How To: Collage and paint aluminum foil

This video demonstrates how to create an artwork using ordinary aluminum foil from your kitchen. This technique is good for those people who have no inspiration of what to paint but want to be creative. This collage technique is a fun way for beginners to experiment with textures, composition and color. Materials used in this video are aluminum foil, a glue stick, Bitumen (a material used as primer for painting on metal without rusting), collage or textured paper, spray paint, acrylic paint, ...

How To: Spray paint with a layering technique

Try out a layering technique using spray paint. Always wear a mask when painting with spray paint indoors. Create interesting compositions on old shopping bags. Add depth and tone to stencils by building up layers of material texture, drawing and spray paint. Dry your work with a heat gun if you have one.

How To: Design and carve a Chinese name chop seal stamp

Any artist who excels enough in his profession will create some sort of signature on his painting to notify other it's his work. Some painters, like Jan van Eyck, are cryptic with their inscriptions, putting it in almost impossible to see areas in the painting, while others, like Chinese painters, put their literal stamp on paintings with a carved seal stamp.

How To: Use a Buddha Board and waterbrush pens for calligraphy

Whether you are just starting out doing Chinese calligraphy and painting or a have been doing it your whole life, practice is crucial. Rather than wasting ink, paint, and paper on practice pieces that you are going to discard or throw away afterwards, now you can use a Buddha Board! These devices allow you to use a waterbrush pen and water, no paper, ink, or paint, to create images that will disappear after the water dries! No mess, no waste, just an effective way to practice your art and sav...

How To: Easily paint an orchid

In this art tutorial, you will learn how to draw and then paint an orchid. You will need a Chinese paintbrush, a plate for the paint, water and paper. For paint colors, you should make sure you have red, yellow, black, green, blue and purple. First, dip your brush into the water and then mix yellow, red and black, dabbing some of each color onto the brush. When doing this, do not actually mix the colors on the brush. You want the red on one part of the brush, the yellow on another part, and t...

How To: Make handmade ink from an ink stone & ink stick

You can create handmade love letters and personal paper gifts by using your very own homemade ink. This video goes in depth on how you can make your own ink at home using an ink stick and ink stone. This is the traditional way that the Chinese make their ink to use in Calligraphy and brush painting. The ink stick is made of soot from burning oil. There are different grades of ink sticks according to the Chinese standard so watch for that when you are purchasing these supplies. The ink stone i...

How To: Paint a cabbage rose using the one stroke technique

In this tutorial, we learn how to paint a cabbage rose using the one stroke technique. Start out by mixing together white and red with your paint brush. After this, add yellow to the tip of the brush and paint it onto the paper using your hand to move the brush gently up and down. Do this in a circle to make several petals into one single flower. Then, paint on petals around the inside petals to create a larger flower. Add in additional color to the center of the flower to make it pop out mor...

How To: Use watercolor pencil techniques

In this video, we learn how to use watercolor pencil techniques. The rendering process is similar to those with graphite. You will use strokes, giving them different lengths and colors to create texture. You can do crosshatching on the paper so everything is darker and you are hiding the white. Burnishing is when you lay down dark colors to the surface of the paper and work more colors in, the white will work as a blender. The end result will be a very smooth finish with a slightly waxy feel....

How To: Draw the back view of a horse

In this tutorial, we learn how to draw the back view of a horse. Start by drawing the tail. Use a horse main brush made out of real horse main hair. Change to another brush to use a darker color for the rest of the body of the horse. Paint around the tail that you made to create the rear end and the legs that are on the horse. Also create the feet and make sure to just use one stroke as you are creating these. Next, creating a neck and then the head along with the main on the top of the horse...

How To: Use opaque watercolors in Chinese watercolor painting

The esteemed tradition of Chinese watercolor goes back thousands of years and hasn't changed much in terms of composition, subject matter, and materials used. So back then as much as today sky dieties and kings would sip green tea outside pagodas perched high above the clouds, surrounded by monumental mountains and far removed from mortal space.

How To: Build a simple float frame for your painting

Building a frame for your paintings can save you money and provide one more creation of which to be proud. Normally recommended for abstract paintings, basic float frames offer a professional feel to your art. This video demonstrates how to build a very simple float frame, which compliments a modern, contemporary, abstract painting rather nicely.

How To: Pour acrylic paint

Demonstration of Helen's unique acrylic pouring technique. This technique comes to life when the acrylic paint is mixed with water and, literally, poured onto the canvas, creating free-flowing shapes and forms.

How To: Use Bitumen and glue to add texture to paint

This instructional painting video demonstrates how to create texture and layers to a mixed media painting using Bitumen and glue. You will also need acrylic paint, contact glue, a spray paint, rust protector, and some type of thinner. Experiment with these materials to generate unique texture to a collage or painting.

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