6 ms·

This is great. What would you recommend for someone who wanted to get started painting? (Particular books/videos? Kit? Or better to sit in on a local class?)

by pgayed 5y ago

dsr_ 5y ago
Go watch Bob Ross videos. I'm serious. He's not a great painter, his technique is not amazing -- but he shows you exactly what he is doing and talks about it continuously. For a beginner, that's pretty much perfect. Note that there is nothing special about Bob Ross brand anything; if you've got a local art supply place, you really don't need to buy that brand.
dennisy 5y ago
Check out “paint by numbers”
tartoran 5y ago
There is a lot of helpful content on youtube but it does really depend on what you want to do. Sometimes it's good to start without any help. I personally wanted to explore and learn by myself and took my own approach to that. I'd been jamming guitars/keyboards/other instruments for some years before I took up painting and decided to take the same approach to painting: improvise and learn from the improvisation process, then look up a bit of theory and incorporate some of it, in small bits so. Sometimes the theory comes after you have learned something hands on and it fixates a concept, other times you truly get something later on. Here's the thing magic: At a painting session I fell into a chasm of peace where I felt completely free. I wasn't thinking of the painting itself, my hands were naturally doing what they were supposed to do but my mind was wondering in different places or was observing the whole thing without interfering. When the session was over, let's say the second day I was painting this whole thing didn't repeat and felt that what I was doing was frustrating, forced. I kept at it and in a couple days I fell into that again. Then I backtracked the steps and noted what it takes to get there: you need to warm up, be prepared in advance so you don't have to take main decisions, everything is at your fingertips for you to play with. You also have to not be interrupted. There is a feedback aspect in painting as well, and when you feel that what you do is uninspiring you should quickly move on and come back to it later. My solution for this was simple: work on many works at the same time. I start priming or applying the backgrounds (random colors make for different starting points) then go over with rough shapes switching from a painting to another while the previous ones are drying. Once in a while I spend more time on one that is moving forward but generally the cycling through them gets me quite far. But your experience may vary as this is your own journey so to speak and you are free to do whatever you wish to do.

This is great. What would you recommend for someone who wanted to get started painting? (Particular books/videos? Kit? Or better to sit in on a local class?)

by pgayed 5y ago

This is great. What would you recommend for someone who wanted to get started painting? (Particular books/videos? Kit? Or better to sit in on a local class?)

dsr_ 5y ago

Go watch Bob Ross videos. I'm serious. He's not a great painter, his technique is not amazing -- but he shows you exactly what he is doing and talks about it continuously. For a beginner, that's pretty much perfect. Note that there is nothing special about Bob Ross brand anything; if you've got a local art supply place, you really don't need to buy that brand.

dennisy 5y ago

Check out “paint by numbers”

tartoran 5y ago

There is a lot of helpful content on youtube but it does really depend on what you want to do. Sometimes it's good to start without any help. I personally wanted to explore and learn by myself and took my own approach to that. I'd been jamming guitars/keyboards/other instruments for some years before I took up painting and decided to take the same approach to painting: improvise and learn from the improvisation process, then look up a bit of theory and incorporate some of it, in small bits so. Sometimes the theory comes after you have learned something hands on and it fixates a concept, other times you truly get something later on. Here's the thing magic: At a painting session I fell into a chasm of peace where I felt completely free. I wasn't thinking of the painting itself, my hands were naturally doing what they were supposed to do but my mind was wondering in different places or was observing the whole thing without interfering. When the session was over, let's say the second day I was painting this whole thing didn't repeat and felt that what I was doing was frustrating, forced. I kept at it and in a couple days I fell into that again. Then I backtracked the steps and noted what it takes to get there: you need to warm up, be prepared in advance so you don't have to take main decisions, everything is at your fingertips for you to play with. You also have to not be interrupted. There is a feedback aspect in painting as well, and when you feel that what you do is uninspiring you should quickly move on and come back to it later. My solution for this was simple: work on many works at the same time. I start priming or applying the backgrounds (random colors make for different starting points) then go over with rough shapes switching from a painting to another while the previous ones are drying. Once in a while I spend more time on one that is moving forward but generally the cycling through them gets me quite far. But your experience may vary as this is your own journey so to speak and you are free to do whatever you wish to do.