Painting In Layers! Secrets & Tips Professional Artists Don't Share!

oh man this video is going to be one banger i  want to ask you a question have you ever sat   down to do your painting and you have a vision  in your mind where you think you're going to   create this beautiful landscape imaginary with  all these beautiful contrasting colors but yet   it kind of ends up something like this or this  or worse this yeah that's happened to me and   i'm sure it's happened to you too and one of the  major reasons this happens is because your colors   don't come out the way that you envision because  they get contaminated they mix wrong with other   colors or what bob ross always says you become a  mud mixer and in this video right here i'm gonna   show you so many different tips and ways that  you're mud mixing and how to correct it so that   way from here on out your paintings are gonna  be more vivid your colors are gonna be true and   your landscape is gonna look natural and beautiful  that's right i'm correcting that all so here we go hey what is up all you awesome painters out there  my name is wild and i'm here to help you become   bigger and better real quick if this is your first  time here we do a lot of tips tricks tutorials   and how to's and sometimes i even take you on a  little bit of an adventure outside to get inspired   for your paintings if that sounds like something  you're interested in you can do me a huge favor   and hit the big red subscribe button down below  and tick that bell so you know when my videos go   live for you all right before we begin gotta tell  you something we're gonna go over to our canvas i   divided it into six sections that i'm gonna jump  back and forth to teach you some awesome lessons   that you can apply to your painting however each  one of these sections and every time i jump back   and forth is a small piece of the puzzle what i  want you to do is watch this video in its entirety   and take all of the tips that i do and apply it  into the element of your painting because these   are just smaller pieces of the puzzle you have to  take all of these i'm just breaking it down so you   know exactly what you're doing wrong with certain  elements i feel like nobody does that out there   but i'm going to go over all of the main common  reasons mud mixing contamination color spill   color bleed all those you know dull colors that  you get that look like poop we're gonna fix that   right here on my canvas right now i got it sectioned  off into six sections and on our left hand side   the first common mistake brand new painters make  and some traditional painters out there do is put   down too much liquid medium at the start if you're  a wet on wet painter that's your liquid white   liquid clear liquid black traditional painters out  there sometimes you're putting on too much of a   wash and what that does is when you have too much  of a base medium or base color on there any color   you apply on top of that is creating that extra  layer of thick medium or thick paint that's not   going to blend properly so when you apply other  elements in your painting on top of it like clouds   you're going to get a lot of contamination and mud  mixing which means your clouds aren't going to be   vibrant and bright and stand out along with other  elements in your painting the simplest thing you   can do is make sure you apply the correct layer  and correct amount of liquid base i like to make   sure that i put down a layer of gray gesso so i  know you don't see it in the example here but i've   talked about it number of times so you know i'm  a fan put down a layer of gray gesso and slowly   apply your liquid base medium so this way you can  see how much you need to spread around across your   entire canvas when you think you've got the  correct amount i like to do the finger touch   tap in all the sections with your four fingers  and see if there is just a little bit of paint   on the end of your fingertips it essentially  should look like a crime scene photo when people   take their finger print and put it down you should  see some ridges that lets you know you put the   correct amount down if you have big blobs or it's  completely covered you don't see any like ripples   in your fingerprints you have too much either take  a paper towel a clean paper towel wipe some off   take your paint brush work some paint off of it  with the bristles get them clean and go back and   take off the excess paint and retouch it again if  you're adding too much liquid base or liquid wash   at the beginning you're going to have a hard time  from here on out for the rest of your painting   you know one thing i get asked all the time when  it comes to mud mixing and contamination of colors   is the age-old question of how do i stop my  blue from getting on my paintbrush when i'm   making clouds i'm looking at you zach yeah i  get asked this question all the time and zach   from the community asked that i'm gonna put zach  right here thank you for asking this question   because this one's for you so how about you do me  a favor become a youtube channel number thanks bro   when you're putting in your sky it's generally  blue the sky is generally blue for most paintings   you're going to do out there or some variation of  blue is one of the most strongest pigment colors   you will come across in your painting's career  so what we need to do is introduce just a little   bit of sky at a time we can always add more  but start with just a little bit of pigment   take your paintbrush pull some color  out on your palette just a little bit   and make sure you tap evenly across your brush  so that way there's a little bit of color   on the tips of your bristles there and you know  what this is all we need to start our painting   start your strokes that you want whether if  you want some swoops or some cross strokes   work from the top towards the bottom so that way  you can pull that gradient of what you want across   and start to shape your sky way too many people  out there take their paintbrush go through their   palette and put so much color into it that  immediately when you apply it to your canvas   you're putting too much paint down and when you  put color on top of that that base coat is just   going to come through on top of that white dulling  out your clouds and contaminating your paint brush   super quick so remember start small start with  just a little bit of color oil paint will go very   far we can always add more and we can always add  more details into certain sections if you want to   dark darken certain spots for me example i always  like to create a little bit of a vignette out on   the corners so that way my focal point is more  towards the center of my canvas we can just add   a little bit more darker color there and then pull  it in to where we need but we don't have to start   that way let's stick with clouds for just a moment  in this next tip you probably are not thinking   about where your clouds are going to appear in  your painting start doing that and when you start   doing that you can shape your sky around it and  what i mean by this is start leaving dry space   around where you want to form clouds you don't  have to put sky across your entire canvas you can   leave certain sections and carve it out so that  way when you apply certain colored clouds or you   know stormy clouds or big beautiful white clouds  you have this nice dry clean space that's going to   stop contaminating your brush and it's going to  stop mud mixing right in your clouds making for   dull clouds that just fade away don't be afraid  to vision where your clouds are going to be   and leave that dry space so when you apply clouds  on top of that dry space they're going to stick   they're going to be beautiful they're going to be  vibrant they're going to be saturated and they're   going to have a beautiful contrast against your  sky so remember basically just leave space one   technique that i love to do all the time that'll  really be a game changer when it comes to stopping   mud mixing within your painting and actually don't  show up that much on this channel here because it   takes a lot of time and it's kind of messy is  don't be afraid to use the wipe off technique   what is the wipe off technique well if you have  paper towels shop towels or a basic you know   junk towel that i get from like goodwill all the  time when you put in an element let's stick with   skye again and you want to put something like a  cloud if you have that deep blue that you know   is going to contaminate your cloud color let's  just say it's white or a nice little pink color   there to make a beautiful cloud don't be afraid  to take your paper towel wad it up into the   shape that you think you can control and literally  wipe off all the excess color that you don't need   around it this is going to do two things for you  not sure if i don't have one finger i meant to   i'm gonna do two things for you one is it's gonna  help you shape where your clouds going to go   so this way you can visualize it huge game changer  especially if you're a brand new paint throughout   there it allows you to kind of play with where  you want things to go i do it all the time   the second thing it's going to do is kind of like  our one of our first steps there is it's going to   help dry out that canvas there so that way when  you apply color to it it doesn't have all these   wet layers on it allowing your paint to mix and  mash and muddy up with them it's going to have   a drier spot where they can stick and be vibrant  using the wipe off technique is super clutch i use   it all the time for sky and clouds mountains trees  far distant bushes water lines i use it for so   much because it helps me visualize and clean up my  canvas so that way i can apply clean and vibrant   layers essentially go get yourself some awesome  paper towels in fact i'll put down in the link   here the ones that i use because i actually think  they're the best and trust me they are because why   would i lie it's not like i need money to sell out  although i love selling out so yeah paper towels   right down here in one of my past videos which is  probably one of my best videos that i recommend   you check out if you're a brand new painter  gonna put it right here in the top right corner   it's all about getting started and a cool way to  stop mud mixing is using a tip from that video   that a lot of people overlook all the time it's  from another youtube artist called Frank Clarke   where he uses an initialism that is essentially  have some more fun you have your horizon your sky   your mid ground and your foreground and the way  that you apply this to you stopping mud mixing   and contamination of colors is literally think  about where your horizon your sky your mid ground   and foreground are and if you can visualize the  lines leaving cleaner spaces there you'll see all   the time when bob ross is painting he'll bring the  elements and assets of his paintings to a certain   section and then fade them out with the canvas  background one of the reasons he does this other   than the fact that it adds natural depth in your  painting is you're leaving layers of your canvas   drier so when you apply colors and layers on top  it it's going to have an easier time sticking i'm   super guilty of doing this all the time and i know  you are too especially with things like skies and   mountains you'll bring your sky super far down  adding extra layers of color you don't need   same thing with your mountains you'll bring  your mountains all the way down to like the   the base of your canvas what that does is you're  adding all this extra layer and color making it   harder for other colors and layers to stick on top  of that so if you can visualize where your horizon   your sky you know your mid ground your foreground  whatever element you're going for in your painting   remember leave those little bit of white gaps  there we can always go back and add color on top   of it but you'll probably be surprised if you  leave that white gap there hey white's a color   by the way it's going to add to your painting  how much easier colors will flow off your brush   stick to your canvas and stop mud mixing because  you won't have to force it as much i've already   given away so much good information this is  probably one of my best videos so i'm glad that   you like it and if you do give me a nice thumbs  up for our next tip here that's gonna really help   you stop mud mixing and this is a problem i still  struggle with and i've been painting for five plus   years or whatever it is is when you add too much  pressure with your paint brush and bristles this   happens all the time and it's going to continue  to happen over your lifetime as a painter because   you're going to always get new paint brushes and  you're going to get new paints and both of those   always act differently so you're probably  wondering it's like WILD well how do i accommodate   or account for things that may change over my  time i got you covered the simplest step is test   your pressure and your bristles in your colors on  your palette bob ross would always say whatever   you do on your palette is almost just as or maybe  more important than what you do on your canvas   and that is really true what i want you to do is  take whatever brush you're using pull your color   out and then tap there should be certain things  like little whipped peaks and little indentations   on your palette and on your brush what this means  is you've got good application across and when   you're pushing that pressure into your pallet  it's letting these little segments coming off   the bristles stick and that means that's going to  translate to your canvas which means you're going   to get those things that look like thousands of  leaves that are forming over your your bushes or   your trees or laying across your land for things  like grass and fields or flowers testing it out on   your palette is the key to knowing if something's  going to stick on your painting it's also going to   let you know if your your paint's too too thin too  fat too thick too hard or even sometimes you might   have the wrong color so you may have to introduce  some other colors to it this is a key one and this   one you're going to struggle with for a long time  i still do like i said but testing on your palette   before you test it on your canvas is a must  i don't know if any professional painters out   there follow me but if you do hey i appreciate the  support and guess what i'm about to piss you off   when it comes to painting there is a cardinal rule  out there that you always apply thick over thin   paint i want you to take this rule right here and  just punch and get rid of it i want you to not do   that rule to start okay we're not here to make  anything archival at the moment i want to build   confidence in you what i want you to do is concern  yourself about how fattier paints and more flowier   paints will stick on top of a firm paint for  example if you take a nice firm paint out of the   tube and make something like a sky if we take  our next paint which would be our cloud color   which would be white paint right out of the tube  we want to make that flow a little bit more and   there's numerous ways to do this like we said  before take some solvent free gel some liquid   some liquid clear or even paint thinner and  introduce something like a 25 mixture into that   white paint and mix it up you have now just made  your paint more flowy by making it fattier okay   that's going to have such an easier time sticking  on top of your firmer paint that you just   applied to your canvas and learning this rule is  way better than struggling with the traditional   laws out there we can get that at another  time way down the road but when you apply this   white nice fattier paint to your canvas oh my gosh  it's going to flow right off and you're going to   be like why did i not learn this lesson why did  it take me so long this is so easy this is so   good i should have followed and subscribed to  Wild Creates and became a youtube channel remember   months ago and you're welcome because this will be  a game changer learning how to apply flowier paint   or fattier paint whatever term you like to use on  top of your fern paint is going to open up your   world for clouds creating waterfalls and water in  general and some of the best almighty highlights   on trees and leaves you've ever done it's a game  changer okay and in fact i want to dive a little   bit more into this for just a moment some of the  mediums out there i've used are some of the things   i've talked about on this channel but if i could  take a moment if you want to experiment with some   the ones that i generally use are the gamblin  solvent free gel use it all the time it's   fantastic it's great and affordable something  that's probably more in your area if you're in a   different country from me is Liquin from Winsor  & Newton fantastic used by so many professional   painters out there it's even hard to name them all  off um i like to also use liquid clear to make my   paint extra fatty if i need to for certain flows  that's from the bob ross company but there's other   manufacturers out there that make something  that's similar like linseed oil walnut oil hemp   oil safflower oil there's a bunch of different  ones and the last one i would use is sometimes   yes i like to use paint thinner or mineral spirits  to really make it inky or watery okay i just want   to bring those if if you forget any of these  i'll put links down below to the ones i use   and recommend it is a game changer trust me if  you're having trouble making paint stick please   buy one of those things down below introduce  a mixture of anywhere from 10 to 50 percent   look at the back of the bottle so you know which  one it recommends using and sometimes you can do   multiple things to have multiple layers stick  on top of each other and then you can come back   watch this video and put a comment down below  and go oh my gosh ryan you changed my life   you're welcome i think one of the reasons i  personally mud mix that i want to share with   you that took me a long time to learn that  i saw other artists ingrain into me is stop   overworking your art piece a lot of the times we  over apply color or over brush or diddle too much   with it when we should just do what we need to  step away and let it be because that's actually   probably better for it if you try to do too much  or add too much you end up screwing your painting   up and you're not going to be happy with it and  the more and more and more you add the more you   actually take away from the panning and the more  issues you're introducing like mud mixing when you   add too many layers too many colors they all mash  together and of course we get our almighty poop   color we don't want that i want you to stop over  working your painting i do this all the time   work in smaller sections and you know what put  that paintbrush down step away and look at it   if it looks good from three six nine feet away  hey that's all you need not too many people are   gonna look at your artwork from six inches away  and if they do hey they should probably be buying   it anyways if you made it this far in the video  first of all thank you very much i appreciate   it but i'm gonna give you a bonus tip here at  the end that i actually realized that i forgot   to put in when i was first making this video  and i only realized now that i was editing it   all together for you out there but i want to say  with all these previous steps like i said these   are all smaller pieces of the puzzle if you can  take all of these tips and lessons i just showed   you and apply them all together into your painting  you're gonna have a beautiful awesome painting i   mean look at my bottom right hand corner here i  put in just a basic sky where i didn't apply too   much color i pulled it down to a nice horizon  point where i left some extra blank space   then i introduced some flowier paint for my clouds  that came easily off my paintbrush and they formed   beautifully against my sky there or to where they  weren't contaminating and i left some extra space   and i even wiped off with my paper towel then when  i have to apply a grass field and i want to apply   what i in my mind i think is some beautiful  golden poppy flowers really quick i just took   again a nice fattier paint tested it on my palette  then slightly pushed with the correct pressures   that i need to have a nice flowery hill and  then everything else flows in its spot and   within just under two three minutes here i made a  nice landscape that has a sky clouds grassy hills   with a little bit of a water scene and that's  all from just learning how to stop mud mixing   with all of these steps that you can combine  together but what about that bonus tip i want   to give you that i just thought of this is perhaps  one of the best ones that i can give you out there   is when you're doing painting and especially for  you wet on wet artists out there you know what   the best mud mixing tip is wait for it to tacky up  or wait for it to dry completely and go back and   add more layers just because you see bob ross  and bill alexander and paint with kevin complete   these paintings in less than 30 minutes less  than an hour and other painters out there   that do time lapses that are less than two or  five hours does it mean you have to do that   enjoy the journey get to a certain spot  and if you know you struggle with something   stop for the day you can always work on another  artwork piece set that other piece to the side   let it tack you up for a couple hours or a couple  days or heck even weeks if you want then go back   and repaint or re-wet the canvas and add what you  need to this is one of my favorite things to do   and one of the reasons i like to do it is yes i  still struggle with trees i still struggle with   bushes i still struggle with envisioning how i  want my land to go because i don't actually use   any reference photos i think of it all freehand  for the most part it's good to step away from   your artwork let it tacky up at times and it's  also going to give you a chance to envision where   you can take that piece this will really help  you out a lot and a lot of painters don't do it   because they feel like they have to that they  keep up with the art joneses if you will if he   does it in an hour and if he does it under an hour i  have to do it in 30 minutes to prove my worth no   this isn't a competition out there okay you work  at your own pace and you go with what you think   is best and if you go with what you think is best  obviously the correct move is to hit the subscribe   button down below become a youtube channel member  and leave me a comment this was a huge video for   me to do and it took a long time to put together  so do me a favor and help me out because i want   to help you out and can continue hard work to  say to help you out i love you all you guys   are amazing and i know this video will stop you  from mud mixing and contaminating your color so   much in fact i'm gonna put a video over here to  the side that you can apply all these rules and   lessons too to make one heck of an art piece wild  wishing the best of luck take care and of course i really could have been an 80s hairband

Channel: Wild Creates

Views: 31,024

Keywords: how to build layers in oil painting, how to build up layers in oil painting, how to layer oil paint, how to stop mud mixing with paint, how to avoid muddy colors in oil painting, how to make oil paint stick, how to make layers stick when painting, oil painting for beginners bob ross, wet on wet oil painting technique, wet on wet oil paintings beginners, bob ross painting tips for new painting, easy bob ross painting for beginners, wild creates, how to paint in layers like bob ross

Id: YNhIQSaECeI

Length: 21min 45sec (1305 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 15 2022