Something old: you hand lettering people remember seeing the old timers paletting their brushes on pages of an old catalog or phone book? (When the first page gets covered and sticky, you flip over and use the next page). I just got done lettering a sign for a 1895 theme park that was heavy on copy. I decided to pull every trick out of the hat, 'cuz I was going to need them. Normally, I just palette against the inside of my paint container, but this was a real benefit, a trick I'm glad I revisted. I'll probably be using it much more often.
Something new: OK, not totaly new, but I havn't done it to this extent. There were probaly 10 or more lines of copy, so I did the first one in burnt orange, the next one darkened slightly with a red-brown mix, all the way down to dark brown, then black, then worked it out to a dull blue color. (regular chroma blue would have been too loud, too foreground, etc). It's a nice effect, it's a color blend that starts at the top of the copy and ends at the bottom.
It also made it alot more fun to paint, I actually looked foward to each new line of copy.
Afterwards I tried to figure out how to do a blend from left to right. Maybe not as tricky as it sounds. When I'm doing illustration work, I mix the various shades of a color in 3 or 4 dixie cups, which I hold in my left hand in a piece of cardboard with 4 cup sized holes in it. (Slightly smaller, so the cup goes halfway in). The edge of the cardboard is stiffened with a wooden paint stirrer stick. Anyway, as I was going from one shade to the next, to make the transition even more smooth, (the brush will already be holding some of the previous shade) I would palette on the phone book, seeing how I'm already using that old trick. If I was going so far as burnt orange to blue, I'd probably have to use 3 sets of 4 color deals.
Out of curiosity, how do some of you illustration masters (Dan S.) mix/blend with liquid paint that must be held in containers?
-------------------- James Donahue Donahue Sign Arts 1851 E. Union Valley Rd. Seymour TN. (865) 577-3365 brushman@nxs.net
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch, Benjamin Franklin Posts: 2057 | From: 1033 W. Union Valley Rd. | Registered: Feb 2003
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Aanother really nice way to blend from left (or even top to bottom)to right is to mix two colors (start and finish) and "stipple" a mix of these two colors in the middle going from one to the other til it is blended smoothly.
This works best on wide letters where you can mask along side the letter if need be...or better yet, outline the letter afterward to remove any stippling over the edge of a letter.
Also works great for panels...specially for creating a "third diminsional" visual curve on ribbon panels. Better actually than an air brush because the color is in the paint not on top of it.
"Werks fer me it'll werk for anyone"
[ September 29, 2003, 08:31 AM: Message edited by: Monte Jumper ]
-------------------- "Werks fer me...it'll werk fer you"
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James, I bet the lite-to-dark thing really looked good! No, that's not "totally new"....but it's a lot like a finger print, every one's is a lil' different!
I did a thing similar to that on a 4x8 bulletine board at my church where the copy repeated from dark auqa to really lite, like an echo down the the board, then the kicker word was fire red.
I have palletted on an alum. scrap but it's a drag....(HA! a pun!) to have to hang on to anything other than the brush an' the paint can. Apparently, I am too un-coordinated to do more than letter, pull tape, answer the phone, chat with a walk-in, an' yell at the kid, all at one time....if only that third arm would grow.
Was'nt there a band called "Third-eye blind"? Mabey Letterville could get up a band called "third-arm blind".... or at least write a sign song about it.
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
oneshot on chat
"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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Sheila, the catalog sits on a stool, and I only use it every third letter or so, the rest of the time I palette like rgular, against the seam of the dixie cup. It was really a benefit on a sign like that one, it was two and a half inch tall, upper and lower case Roman, had to be hand painted because of the 1895 theme. Often they don't even use plywood, if so, the edges are boxed in with wood stips so people don't see the laminates.
Now about that third arm... The well known creationist Kent Hovind says that it's just crazy to say we lost our monkey tail in the evolutionary process, BECAUSE WE DIDN'T NEED IT!?! How about opening doors when the arms are full of groceries, or tuning the radio dial while driving the car, or hey, how handy would it be for a wall dog up on the scafolding? Hmmm...
-------------------- James Donahue Donahue Sign Arts 1851 E. Union Valley Rd. Seymour TN. (865) 577-3365 brushman@nxs.net
Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what's for lunch, Benjamin Franklin Posts: 2057 | From: 1033 W. Union Valley Rd. | Registered: Feb 2003
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