ah it's so hot i'm sweating my clothes are clinging to me however
that may help me out with the viewership from the ladies out there i don't know we'll check
the analytics in this video right here i'm gonna show you the proper and correct way to
prep for any bob ross tutorial you want to follow along to here on youtube this is a must see the
biggest problem with most new artists that want to paint like bob ross is you're not building off
the correct and strong foundations of where you need to start before you really move into painting
this video right here is going to correct that it's going to give you the strong foundation by
showing you the correct way to set up your canvas your painting supplies so that way when you start
your bob ross tutorial everything is just going to be so much better from here on out so here we go
hey hey hey my name is wild and i'm here to make you bigger and better real quick we unlocked
channel memberships where you can help support this channel monetarily for as low as one dollar a
month you help support this channel which makes me continue to pump out awesome content to make you
a bigger and better creative artisan i love doing that thank you to all the people that have joined
and thank you to the people that will join now let's get on to our video also this video is going
to be interesting because it's 95 degrees and i'm pretty sure i'm gonna get a lot of glisten on my
face ladies love it i hope like i said prep is one of the most important steps that gets overlooked
in a bob ross tutorial and we're not going to do that here we're going to start strong with it and
the first prep step i want you to take is find any bob ross youtube tutorial that you like they're
all fantastic but do something that really excites you when you find the video that you like i want
you to go pretty much all the way to the end of the timeline of the video till you see the final
result and then i want you to screen grab it or print screen it so that way you have a reference
photo too many times when you're painting along with bob you don't understand where he's taken the
painting or why he's doing a certain step when you have a reference photo it really fills in the gap
and you understand where he's taking you through the actual step-by-step of the painting trust me
having a reference photo is awesome and real quick when it comes to a reference photo you can
put it on your ipad so it's close to your easel or on your computer screen or if you don't have
anything like that i recommend you can actually print it out on a piece of paper even if it's
low res it'll help you out because it's going to give you the basic shape and design and elements
to really help you with the painting prep step number two is i want you to start using gesso
on your canvas but more specifically i want you to start using gray gesso take your white gesso
and literally just add a drop or two of black to make a very light gray and all i do is just mix it
on a paper plate and apply it to my canvas with a sponge brush you want a nice layer of gesso
on your canvas for two reasons reason number one is when you apply your liquid white on top of it
after it's done drying by the way it's gonna show you a lot of places that you have missed or that
are too sparse and don't have any liquid white on it which means your color is not going to blend
properly we don't want that we want a nice smooth coat that's thin across your entire canvas
it's also going to show you if you have too many big blobs in one spot so it really helps
on the two sparse side and on the two thick side we want a nice even coating across the entire thing
reason number two is you're probably going to go with the cheapest canvases you can find at
the beginning trust me that's perfectly fine anything that fits your wallet and budget is
a-okay with me in fact look at the canvas i'm using right here it's dirty it's got marks on
it it even has dents i don't care but when you use a cheaper canvas it generally acts like a sponge
and soaks in all the oil and color not allowing you to create beautiful gradients and mix colors
naturally on the canvas the gesso is going to help seal that canvas material allowing your colors
to blend naturally which is what we want now i know what you're thinking what if you don't have
gesso can you use acrylic yeah you can white acrylic with a drop or two of black acrylic will
work fantastic on your canvas i do prefer you use gesso because it actually has a little bit of grit
material in it that's going to help when you have to do things like paint breaks or you want paint
to come off your paintbrush if you want to learn more about it you can check out this video right
in the top corner when it comes to making sure you have the correct amount of liquid white on
your canvas you need to finger your canvas i know total adults thing to say take your four fingers
and just touch in the four zones and at the end of your fingertips should represent fingerprints just
like on a crime show that you see if you have just a little bit on there that is perfect and exactly
what you want if you have big blobs on the end of your fingertips take a paper towel and rub some
off or just work it in even harder with your paint brush ah fingering i'm so mature on this channel
a prep step that's really gonna help you out is indicating where your horizon line is
use that reference photo and use painters tape or masking tape what i really like to do is i
just take a little piece of tape here and i will just figure out where my horizon line should be
and i will just mark it off here so i have a visual indicator now my mountain should go no
lower than this imaginary line here and the reason that's important is when you start painting you
kind of forget everything about the painting when you're following a Bob you're going to bring your
sky way too far down and more importantly you're probably gonna bring your mountains way too far
down which means everything's gonna get scrunched up and we don't want that using this little
indicator line is really gonna help you visualize where that background element should stop
since we're talking about the horizon line and background i want to talk to you about something
that i got from another fantastic youtube artist named frank clarke gonna put his information down
below give him a nice follow but he likes to talk about having some more fun and what that means is
have is the horizon some is the sky more is the mid-ground and fun is the foreground he
wants you to think about these elements before you even start painting look at that reference photo
and think about where your horizon line should be hey we indicated it with this nice piece of tape
where your sky should start and stop where your middle ground should start and stop and where
your foreground should start and stop if you can think about these elements before your paintbrush
even hits the canvas you're really going to have a better balanced picture the problem a lot of
people have when they do a youtube tutorial with bob ross is they make everything too big like we
said earlier the sky is going to be too big then your mountains are going to be too big and then
you have this little itty-bitty sliver of canvas for your mid-ground and foreground which means
it's not going to be balanced and you're going to be upset so think about the elements even
before your paint and paint brush touch this canvas if you really want to have a successful
artwork when you're following along with bob ross you really need to stay focused which means
you need to be organized before you even start you want to make sure you have your colors your
paintbrushes and your paint tools all well organized and within arms reach of your canvas
don't forget about your cleaning supplies as well paper towels paint thinner and your beater rack
are things that you should also have within arm's reach the point i want to make here is if you can
take out all of the distractions which means not getting up and walking away from your painting
station you're really going to stay more focused you're going to be in the zone and you're going
to be more motivated if you get up a lot to get things that you misplaced or they're way over
there or way over there you're really breaking your creative process get organized get your
drink open up a bottle of wine crank up a little bit of music feel the flow and work your soul
into the canvas when you do that it's going to be a much more enjoyable experience and trust me the
results will show on the canvas now when it comes to your paints and your painting bob ross always
goes over the colors that you're going to need for that tutorial which is nice but i don't recommend
you squirt out your colors on your mixing palette or whatever you're using to mix your colors what i
recommend is wait till you actually need them when you're starting off with your painting tutorials
you know oil paint costs a lot of money i don't have money growing on trees youtube
isn't really bringing in the big bucks just yet we'll get there would love to be a sellout
love to be a sellout anywho oil costs a lot of money art in general does so what i recommend is
when you get to the color that is recommended or needed then squirt it out onto your mixing palette
because that way you can judge if you're gonna need it or not a lot of new painters don't know
how to save or store the excess paint that they have on their mixing palette and it's it's not fun
so use as much as you need as you go and wait to the color is necessary before you squirt it
out of the tube since we're talking about colors really quick if you're brand new to
painting you've never really squirted anything out of tubes i really recommend taking a look
at a video up here that shows you how the proper way shows you how the proper way shows you the
proper way to knead your tube because you get all the pigment and oil mixed up so that way
you don't have this big old oil bloop coming out which is not going to work well on your painting
bloop was the perfect word for that and i wish i would have thought of that sooner
man i'm starting to get really hot up in here but we will sally fourth because it's important
the next prep step is all about safety i want to rant here and talk to you uh in full honesty for
a moment i want you to be as safe as possible during your creative adventures because i want
you doing it for the long haul which means you got to take precautions wear gloves every artist
out there should wear gloves get yourself a cheap box of nitrile or latex gloves that you can get at
your local drugstore or on amazon for fairly cheap the reason this is important is as art
has evolved so has art products and some things are less toxic but some products are still toxic
that you may be using and at the very least they may irritate your your skin your mouth your nose
or your eyes so let's take as many precautions as we can now let's come back to this in just a
second because i also want you to protect your clothing and your possessions i cannot begin to
tell you how many shirts and pair of pants i have ruined many on these very youtube tutorials here
now if you're an artist out there that loves to use a mixing palette if you're a man or woman
that has loose clothing you'd be surprised at how many times that falls into your mixing palette
with your sleeves or the bottom of your shirt if you're a well-endowed lady out there first
of all congratulations be cautious of when you mix paint and then hold it close to your chest
i've had many friends have a boob push right into the color and ruin their shirt i mean it makes
some very advent guard art on the mixing palette but still not worth the loss of that shirt if
you're a man out there that's got a long beard be careful of how close to get to your canvas because
that sucker can shoot right out and touch it and you won't even know you got long hair for a man or
woman recommend putting in a ponytail and tucking it down into your shirt so again it doesn't fall
into your canvas or down onto your mixing palette i want you to be as safe as possible
let's go back to the safety really quick about things that can irritate your skin
most painting mediums out there require some type of thinner or mediums a lot of these
aren't as safe as you may think a lot of them have gotten safer but still breathing them in
and all the vapors are bad for you when you're not using them please seal them or at the very
least what i like to do is i like to throw a towel on top of them and put a rubber band
on one side so i can flip it up and then flip down for when i have to get quick and easy access you
know try to take every precaution you can because i want you to be safe and it's very important that
you think about this because you're probably going to do tons and tons of paintings because doing a
creative outlet is addicting trust me i know look at all the art and all the supplies behind me
rant done moving on while safety is probably the utmost important step through the prepping process
of you getting started for your follow along tutorial with bob ross another one that i think
even outweighs that a little bit is have some fun smile laugh pop open a bottle of wine or get a
little shot of whiskey and drink along laugh paint with your friends you'd be so surprised how much
fun it is when you paint with a partner or a group of people you laugh it gets addicting
you play along with everybody and you see what they're doing and it's so much more fun if you
can learn to relax and unwind and just cut out all of the **** in your life from your work life or your
personal life and just zone into this beautiful artwork that you're going to create for the next
couple of hours you are going to have such a good time trust me creative outlets can save your life
and really de-stress your life and that's what i want for you so laugh enjoy make some happy
accidents it's okay to make happy accidents now if you want to know how to actually follow along and
paint with bob ross hey guess what that's going to be one of our next videos coming up because
it's really going to fill in a lot of the gaps and things that may not make sense to you that
me will take you through and hold your hand and lead you to an awesome artwork but until then you
can work yourself onto these painting tutorials right here which are simple and easy just like
me on a second date trust me they're gonna be fantastic hey again just like me on a second date
i can't wait to see you guys in our next video take care miss you already and of course peace