How to use Masking Fluid (10 Fantastic Tips, Tricks and Tools)

now this video is all about masking fluid and how to use it i'll show you how to apply it the different effects you can get from it and also how to remove it hello my name is paul hopkinson i'm an online art tutor for painting realistic wildlife both animals and plants in watercolor oh don't click on that subscribe button down below and then that bell icon next to it when you click on the bell icon youtube will let you know when i put a brand new video on here for you to watch now what i'm going to do today is go through all these different tools you can use for masking fluid and you can use even more than this for different ideas designs and techniques okay so stay with me i'll go through every one of these throughout this video now with all masking fluid there's a new one not that's the one i'm currently using you tend to find especially when i call the masking fluid it's not mixed properly it's quite blue at the bottom there look and because that's quite blue you need to gently mix that in and all i do is gently roll it like that so we've got to do a lot very simple just rolling roll just like that look that's what you got to do or you can take the top off reveal that masking fluid and you can see quite blue and also quite stinky it's a very latexy smell i get an old brush like this one here and just gently very gently very gently just kind of mix it within the pot like that that's what you got to do and then put it away don't shake it because if you shake it your air bubbles inside and when you try to come and use that you finally get end up with loads of air bubbles all over the painting so just gently mix it before you start but as i mentioned there's other masking fluid types out there as well just remember to test it versus some scrap paper before you go to your main painting one last thing to mention before we get stuck into this okay is that you've got to make sure that your masking fluid if you've had it a while doesn't go off because it they do go off they've got a bit of a shelf life to them also one last trick as well when you use masking fluid don't leave the lid off for a long period of time because it will start to go off in there it will start to harden as well and go all sticky so what i do get a plastic pallet it's going to stretch and all one like this one here will do and just pour a little bit into the palette before you start i'll show you what i mean very shortly now one of my masking fluid tools is my old watercolor brushes so when you look at all this lot here these are my old detail brushes my size double zeros which i use so i don't throw them away i save them for masking fluid specifically because you find masking food will ruin a brush um right on a minute got an odd black one there for some reason so it will ruin the brush and because it ruins a brush um you don't mind using the old ones for that reason and i'll give you another tip later in this video on another reason why you want to save your brushes even when you've used it for masking fluid and it's caked in this stuff and you can't get it out but keep it i'll show you why one little tip you can use is getting all bar soap like this one here then just lightly drag it through just a damp brush first though not dry to get a little bit within the bristles there's give it a twirl as you do so and then you can just tap on some kitchen roll and load it with some masking fluid and then start applying the masking fluid that will help preserve these bristles a little bit more but to be honest with you i always find eventually they go anyway now one of the masking fluid tools i use within my arsenal masking fluid tools tends to be not just that size double zero old brush but also cocktail sticks i'll show you what i mean so if we just move the paints out the way a minute and bring in the masking fluid just there what we'll do we'll load the brush up and we'll start to apply this i'm going to pull i'll put it over there so you can see even easier we'll start to apply this um let's have a quick look i'm going to go just inside the line first of all but make sure you put it on fairly thick as you can see here look so fairly thick right to the edge there and just bring it down just like that to the edge of where all the hairs come out we don't want to put too much on in one go i'll show you what i mean so then you get your cocktail stick and then flick out some fine hairs you see the effect of this one out of the background very shortly overlapping different angles little criss crosses all the way through just once it's wet because you'll find masking fluid dries very very quickly indeed so you have to do a little area like that come back in and then apply some more you'll also find masking fluid will tend to take off a lot of the pencil underneath so it's well worth just kind of making notes where some of the marks are so you've got to reapply your little reference marks in pencil thereafter you can do just bearing that in mind okay now you can see because this is starting to draw look how it's starting to cause little ripples of balls of masking fluid there so that's why you need to do this straight away when start adding this outline on and this is how i tend to work if i'm working with a background for an animal that i'm painting and you know if it's a pale animal very often i'll add a background to it um and by doing it this way around also for birds or anything like that it's ideal really for that then it's perfect for adding these little kind of fine lines just the edge of the animal's face in this case this fox now i need this to dry and it could be dry within probably about 10 minutes or so and because of that i can then start thinking about adding the background just around the outside edge of this for now just give it an idea how it looks and then to remove the masking fluid thereafter oh and also a little tip as well don't dry it with a hair dryer so don't get something like this and give it a try because when the masking fluid is wet that will cause it sometimes to seep into the kind of texture of the paper and if it seeps into the paper you may find that when you try to remove the masking fluid later on that could tear that paper now that's nice and dry or is it basically what you find with masking fluid if you've never used it before is that when it's dry it's actually tacky you hear that so it's very tacky but it doesn't come off on your finger and you know then it's ready to kind of use and go over the top of now one thing i do like to use masking fluid for is wetting wet backgrounds because i can reserve the outline of an image but also once that's dry i can then paint in the wetting wet coloured background with watercolors and just kind of make it stand out then once it's dry obviously after that you can gradually peel this off i'll show you all about that right now so as you know masking fluid will preserve the white of the paper some masking fluids can tint the paper as well again something you need to be wary of when you're working with masking fluid uh some do some don't and it all can also depend on the type of paper that you use so try again before you you know go for the main painting just kind of test it out on some scrap paper first of all before you actually make a start on the painting itself now don't click on like share subscribe and comment because all these interactions encourage youtube to show my content to even more people and in turn this will allow my channel to grow and i'll be able to teach even more budding artists like yourself here on youtube i'm gonna go straight in with some color oh look how bright that is lovely lovely i'm gonna wet that down i'm gonna apply this color over the top of the edge not all the way over just the top of the edge of this masking fluid like so a little bit of color now check out the card to the top right hand side of the screen for painting watercolor backgrounds just to warm it slightly now around the area and to vary it in places make it stronger and weaker in different places as well now i've left this for good half an hour or so now well it's dry now removing the masking fluid there are different ways of doing this i tend to use a finger okay so nice dry dry dry clean finger on preferably some you know clean kitchen roll but there you go and you can use a finger to remove i'll show you a method a bit later on as well removing masking fluid and if you roll the masking fluid in towards a subject when you're doing this like so then if the masking fluid does tear that paper it can only tear towards the inside and the inside of a fox for example we can cover that up with detail but when you've got a nice kind of gentle wetting wet blended background like this one you don't want that background being you know marked in any way you don't want the um the masking fluid to leave a long tear mark through it as i say you can easily disguise it when you're working within an animal for example i can see a little hint of blue in there as well a bit more masking fluid in there as well there you go and all the way down just the nose you can also see the way that the masking fluid has to say has left a little bit of a blue tint in this case but also the way that the cocktail stick has pulled out these little fine lines see that all the way through and that's the method we can use just get those really fine hairs by using masking fluid so very handy technique to use by using the cocktail stick as simple as that i know i know now another tool that i use occasionally as well is one of these things and all that is a silicon blending tool it's the kind of thing you'd use in pastel painting pastel drawing that kind of thing and this one's got a point on one end and a chiseled edge on the other so what i suggest you do have a look at this little part of the video and then you can decide if it's ideal for you and i'll tell you all about using one of these silicone blending tools when you load this with masking fluid and it dries you can just literally do wipe it top afterwards so it's not going to ruin the bristles on the brush or anything like that but it's really useful to be able to do that with okay so the first thing we're going to do is add a little bit of masking fluid just to the inside edge of this branch so again let's go back to our masking fluid which is that one there look okay and we can start adding this in using the silicone blending tool there you go and i'll just use a pointed end for now and as before we can add a background to the edge of this if need be and you can see how easy it is kind of apply this a little bit less fluid than using a brush but as i mentioned it's so easy to clean it really is and if you wanted to get some little fine lines see that so you can get some very fine lines with the tip of this as well and they're not expensive to buy they're quite cheap kind of brushes you can buy from art shops or obviously online as well so apply this on you probably have to put it on a little bit thicker than you would do by using a cocktail stick or something like that now one of the techniques i like to do which is really good fun as well if you haven't done it try it okay this is splattering and all it is lot is an old brush like that that's what i tend to use and you load it with paint probably tap it off a couple of times afterwards and then holding your finger down you let it go slowly over the paper but you can direct it in different areas as well so let me just show you what that's all about in this next video clip what i can do now just very lightly load this it's a little bit like so okay and i'm going to lightly flick just around this branch and you see what i mean when this is nice and dry i'll show you what i can do by adding a bit of a background to it and create these little tiny dots of light showing through the background just by flicking it with an old brush like this so a stiff bristled brush like this one as you can see here look by doing that it's all i'm doing very gently is ideal there you go okay there he goes loads and you can obviously do this with paints as well there we go right let this dry and i'll be back to you in a minute and then we'll add a little bit of paint around the edge and see the kind of effects that we get okay so we'll pull back to this one later on when we remove that masking fluid so now i'm going to use that wetting wet technique we did with the fox earlier on i'm going to let it dry and then we can finally remove the masking fluid there's also one other item i've got here which i have been known to use on the odd occasion okay and this is one of the masking fluid removers there's different names to these as well one that i do know of is called mask away so let me just demonstrate this for you and give you some idea how it works it's like um it's always made of actually it's like a rubbery kind of plastic you feel it really is i tend not to use them too often because i prefer to use my finger more than anything but it's what this works for you can just use it solely removing the masking fluid remember from the outside in as i've shown you my using my finger so if you don't want to get your fingers all kind of mucked up by using um when you're removing the masking fluid this is very sticky using this then you can use one of these mask away sorter erasers there are different names as i mentioned on the internet so it's worth looking on the internet and finding out what they are and to other art shops supply but it's just to me it's it's handy it does work quite well as you can see there look at that straight away and then we can use the same method again just to take off any of these kind of little splats which are made look at the effect we've got from that that's lovely so that's what i mean just by doing that and now that's all ready for me to apply all the detail to paint this branch so that will give us some ideas and how to use the masking fluid for a branch around the outside of a branch to kind of add these tiny tiny little kind of starburst dots in the background which you very often see as you know on a summer's day but also you can add that to the branch so once you've got the background on and everything's nice and bone dry all the masking fluid removed you can re-flick some masking fluid just solely for the background on the branch so you can do it that way as well and then you can simply paint your branch in remove the masking fluid thereafter and create those extra texture effects okay that's one method now i know people have laughed at these before okay but i've made my own masculine fluid tools and these are very sticky as you can see and these are my own kind of handmade masking fluid applicators all it simply is is an old brush so i think what i'll do i'm going to a little video clip for you and show you how i put one of these together and also how they work look at these i know understand these lovely okay all brushes which i've stabbed into my masking fluid pots all the basically done get an old brush i've got one ready to go for you i've got something like this one here look so you load it with masking fluid like that and you stab it seriously it's got to be very old brush you want to throw away again okay and what that will do as you roll it onto the paper it create like a texture onto the paper eventually so i'll show you what i mean by getting one of these if i load that a little bit of paint and tap it i can use that to create texture onto the paper see what i mean though just a little bit of texture and you can tap it you can stab it and this is really handy for painting things like rocks and very rough kind of ground and that's what this one's for as well so using an old brush for this you know go into these really cheap shops i'm going to cheap shops and bought brushes like this on purpose we're doing this sort of method with and because it's so well different it's nothing's the same okay as you can tell it creates a lovely kind of textured background when you add that paint over the top so when i'm painting rocks like this one here then you can work with that same method just solely for the rocks initially probably less so but a little bit on there to kind of create that texture to reserve the white of the paper before you actually start adding the color over the top now there's many ways of getting those fine lines with masking fluid you can use a size double zero brush you can use a cocktail stick if you want to kind of draw those very fine hairs on the edge of a fox or the feathers on a bird we can also use what's called a ruling pen and it's one of these little gadgets here so i'll just show you in the next part of the video on the way i tend to use this but the good thing about a ruling pen is that you can use this little twittery dial on the top there to widen so you're getting wider there or make it a little bit smaller in size there you go something like that and that will allow different amounts of muscle fluid to pour through they can start to add the fine lines and i do like to use this for probably something like whiskers um fine hairs on animals in general so i've used it for that again like we did with the fox earlier on to get those little extra details in the background so another method you can use is by using one of these ruling pens there's no architects pen isn't it something like that which you can use now you have to bear in mind when you're doing this is that sometimes you end up pulling the blades off that are already there that's better though so practice this first of all before you ever go on the main painting to give us some ideas how to create grass by using a ruling pen but then again you could always go back in again with a cocktail stick and add some even finer lines by using that as well just by loading it and just adding those into the details now this will reserve the white of the paper again so when we add the color over the top and remove this afterwards you find you've got all these lovely kind of lines and marks in there which then you can add even more detail with watercolor over the top of those now i don't mention splattering before by using an old brush and just pulling up the tip of the brush after loading it with paint there's another way which you can use as well and that is the good old toothbrush that's all it is and it is the old good old toothbrush because don't use your current one you put in the bathroom cabinet use this one use an old one don't throw it in the bin just save one because you can lightly load this with masking fluid and then lightly splatter that across the surface of the paper okay you've got to cover up certain areas of the paper with scrap pieces of paper as well so i'll just show you how i use it you can load the toothbrush up like so just a little bit on the tip like that so it's actually quite fine using the toothbrush it really is and i like that for those really fine splatter marks you know if you're painting like um i don't know like a shingle on the beach or footpath or something like that i mentioned about the rocks as well so as i said i use the ruling pen and the cocktail stick and the splattering technique to create all these effects on here now i've not removed the masking fluid yet so let's just take that off so i'm going to use a dry finger again look at this oh look at that lovely and the effects that you get just by thinking beforehand bit of pre-planning before you do this obviously let's move that rot there now when you remove that masking fluid obviously you've got the white of the paper which is brilliant exactly what we're looking for but it can be too white can't it really can so i tend to add a little hint of color in places just kind of break up that whiteness but by adding some pale colours especially with grass blades i'll show you that one next and then that'll kind of bring it to life a little bit more as well so let's go into that video so remove the masking fluid brush it away try to make a mess in your room though if you can help it and you can see how that's reserved the white of the paper for those areas there then all i need to do is get my detail brush again and then start to paint in some more details over the top to sort of blend them in or you could just simply tint them in with a little bit of color because you preserved the white of the paper there you go a little bit of color over the top let's go some really bright green in there as well just in places and you can see the effect that you can get there's just very little bit of burnt sienna and then we can simply paint in another rock which i've observed the whites of the paper for down the bottom i do like this effect it works really really well as you can see just by you know using a variety of tools to preserve the white of the paper and there you go okay so now that i've introduced you to a variety of tools to applying the masking fluid i'm going to show you some actual examples where i've used masking fluid within my wildlife paintings now working on these dandelion seed heads i'm going to add some water droplets but to do that i'm going to reserve the white of the paper using masking fluid okay so then once the painting is done i can just add those little water droplets right at the very end of the main tutorial then we've got all these on all you need to then do i'm going to carry on in a minute to a little bit of music but just put some little tiny taps here and there as well little circles little taps if you just tap it too much you probably end up with a line you want little tiny circles so little dots like that and some larger than others not too many i'm not going to go mad with this but every now and then just put a little on there a bit larger there's one that should be there anyway i think make them nice and round and also when you come around the side of the seed head here you can just see some very tiny ones just making a little appearance here and there now let's quickly return back to that dandelion seed head where i can remove the masking fluid to reveal the white of the paper ready for when i add the watercolor droplets just remember to remove that natural oil of your fingertip before you make a start and then very lightly start to gently rub the surface of your watercolor paper make sure everything's nice and dry underneath by the way first and this will reveal the white of the paper that were reserved earlier on right at the very beginning i love it i'm going to make sure that there's no extra little bits in there so very light the same finger rub obviously there's one there and a little bit more there just feel you feel the bump as you go over just very gently i think without the that should do now here's another video clip using different masking fluid techniques and this time what we're going to do is just show you the finishing off of removing the masking fluid for painting a bird's nest very interesting as well so if you use a bit of a burnt umber the burnt symbol on black mix a little bit of the burnt sienna and you can add some little details in there over the top of the damp paper yeah still damp at the stage but i don't care that's fine once it's dry remove the masking fluid and do this very lightly with a clean finger okay by rolling it off and then we can start adding some more details over the top there's a short video from one of my main videos on my website using the same technique but in this case i'm actually painting feathers instead of fur so all the way down you can see by the way let me just do this side here a lot now you can see the benefit by using the cocktail stick and the overall effect that you get with the feathers on the back of the head there this is what i mean so i mean that's ideal as well if you're working on a cat portrait or a dope portrait anything with fur or feathers then it's really good a little technique kind of pull out a few little lines just very lightly brush these off okay just about it to one side not on the floor okay paul thank you very much and just go over with your dry finger again make sure there's no oil or grease on your fingers let's make sure there's no residual masking fluid on there you should be able to see it but i think we're just about there now this is one of the later kind of editions where i just fill in the white of the paper which has been reserved by masking fluid of course just so i can fill in the detail for that last little droplet coming off the tip of the beak very lightly touching the paper down to about three quarters of the way down and then you've got a bit of a pale area down there where the the reflection is to the water even a little tiny touch around there as well so just to recap when you apply the masking fluid as you know you can use a blending brush you can use cocktails to use an old double zero sized brush but do this very finely try not to overload that brush too much obviously depending on what you're using to apply the masking fluid with and then you've got to think about any finer lines you want to put in there so then you can use the cocktail stick again and just load that up carefully and add those little fine lines and details in remember that when you remove the masking fluid do so with a very very clean finger don't pull it just remember to roll it from the outside in towards the subject so don't pull the masking fluid just remember to roll it gently using the tip of the dryer finger just to carefully remove it from the paper now let me know in the comments down below if you've got any ideas of your own on how to apply masking fluid because i'm always interested in new ideas and new ways of doing things now don't get a look in the description down below for the materials i use my watercolor paintings and there's also some freebies there for you to have a go as well as in video tutorials just for you to get your brushes wet for now check out my next video and that's going to show you how i use masking fluid to protect a woodpecker chick as it emerges from a hole in a tree see you there

Channel: Wildlife in Watercolour

Views: 111,956

Keywords: how to use masking fluid, masking fluid tools, tools for masking fluid, best tools for masking fluid, masking fluid, masking fluid watercolor, watercolor masking fluid techniques, watercolor masking fluid, watercolor supplies, watercolor tools, art supplies, beginning watercolor, watercolor beginner, watercolor supplies for beginners, watercolor brushes for beginners, beginner watercolor supplies, watercolor brushes, watercolor tutorial, watercolor, saa, watercolour

Id: ajpxy8OYRjM

Length: 26min 56sec (1616 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 25 2020