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A Rat Throws Paint. Ramblings, thoughts and what I've learned. Acrylic paints

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cause the rat:
My approach to art. Touched on this a bit in my other art thread. This would be a good way to practice in any art medium.

i was taught this when I started to play the guitar. First play through the piece. Then practice the parts that are hard for you. One you can play them then play the entire piece again. If you play the entire piece over and over again you'll get better at what your good at. Mediocre at what your not. This is the same for anything you do. Dance, singing, wood working and art. So this is my approach. This is why I started my figure study. First I learned to draw the body out in scale. Then did it with a paint brush. Now I'm learning to put clothing on them. How much detail to add or leave out. What's really needed to get an idea across. Not finished with this exercise. Faces are next. The same idea. What's needed to express a face. Then I'll paint a scene with people in it. Because thee are so many more things to be aware of when painting. Light direction and shadow. Scale, proportion and perspective. Color theory and harmony. If my peeps look like orang globs dressed for the circus the rest wont matter. Even if I was good at the rest.

If your starting out with a new medium and find your having trouble. Practice what's giving you trouble. Get good at it. Then go back and do a piece. Works with digital and traditional mediums.

And speaking of detail. To much detail. This is something most furry artists are guilty of. Learn the technique called Lost and Found Edges.

cause the rat:
This post's word of wisdom.

You don't get good at something by reading and knowing about it.

Paint to canvas. Mouse to pad. That's where the magic starts. Learn as much as you can. Color theory, perspective and all the rest. Then do what you learned. Doesn't have to be a full picture. An item, objet or experiment. Something that will let you know you understand what you just learned. Then take what you learned and put it in a picture. I know it sounds like I'm over emphasizing these things. Just trying to get across how important they are to learn. Because you need your art to stand out in the crowd. And there's no bigger crowd than what we have in the fandom. Especially for badges. By learning these you'll understand the colors of shadow. As well as the color's for light. No matter what the base color is. Get a commission for a solid black fursona? Knowing this you'll be able to sell them a badge with color and depth. Even a solid white fursona will be as easy.

cause the rat:
OK this isn't me preaching the beauty of knowledge. It's me complaining. No matter how much knowledge you have. If not put into practice. Not applied. Knowledge is nothing more than wasted brain space. And apparently I have lots of wasted space.  :)   Learning how to use acrylics isn't an issue. Acrylic, oil and even digital have huge advantages over watercolor.  So much easier. It's so much easier I find myself having to much fun with it. Forgetting what I know. Going for the moment. Unfortunately doesn't work. Ending up with all the mistakes I already know not to do. With a painting that's as flat looking as any bathroom wall out there. The only rejoicing I have is I share this mistake with millions. Misery loves company. I see this mistake in both non and fandom works. Reality doesn't work in art. No getting around this one. You have to use color to create depth in art. Wether it's a full painting or a single object. When I get ahold of a paint brush. Mix a bunch of colors together on my palette. Apparently everything I've learned leaks out my brain. Slides down. Until it's completely out of reach of my mind. Then I start throwing paint. Sit back and take a look. First words out of my mouth. "What Happened?" I know exactly what happened. Knowledge without practice is wasted brain space. Because I can't sit upside down and paint I'm going  to have to take a different approach. Don't start throwing paint until I'm sure the colors mixed will work. Not only for the main subject. But for the entire painting.

cause the rat:
I've been pushing everyone to learn color theory. Because there's so many good sites on line i've never put a link up. One good place to learn after another. Until the youtube channel I found yesterday. This channel isn't just bad. It's horrible. It's connected to an online retailer. So what you get is sales people playing art teacher. The name of the cannel is JerrysArtarama. I know posting negativity isn't a good thing. Especially if your trying to help folks get better at things. There are so many great sites on line. People sharing both personal, collage level and even theory and practices of some of the best known painters in history. To come across the 'all you can eat toilet bowl of knowledge' was a shocker. Figured if you have no clue about color theory it might best to stay away from others who have no clue as well. Because the hardest thing to do is to re learn something. Learn it right the first time.

cause the rat:
Learned something interesting today. When i watch pro artists they all hold their brushes about the same way. I've been holing mine like I do a pencil. But farther back. Found out why the way I'm holding my brush is wrong. It all has to do with our brain and how we have trained ourselves. When you hold something like a pencil  your brain goes into control mode. Writing, math, spelling and so on. It's an automatic connection between your physical body and brain. Just like reality has nothing to do with art control has nothing to do with painting. This is wisdom that's been handed down for hundreds of years. So all those old painting were done this way. Looks like I have to start doing things right.

Not painting as much as I'd like to be for a bit now. Work and music have taken up most of my time.

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