Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!
Here’s your weekly dose of inspiration to build a creative habit
One drawing at a time Brought to you by sketchbook Skool
Hi, Welcome to Draw Tip Tuesday!
In Sketchbook Skool’s Kourse ‘Watercolor Rules’, I learned how to work with Masking
Fluid.
I knew of the existence, but always thought it was kind of tedious to use.
However, it can be really fun to use!
So today I’ll show you how to use masking fluid when watercoloring.
We’ll use watercolors, water, a small brush and a larger one, your sketchbook, the masking
fluid, and a waterproof pen.
By the way, some brands also sell masking fluid markers - so you don’t need to apply
it with a brush.
First, I’ll make a drawing using my waterproof pen - but of course you can also just use
paint.
It’s up to you!
I’ll draw a very simple scene with string lighting across the sky.
Now before painting, I will use the masking fluid, to mask the lights.
Eventually, I want those lights to pop from the background.
With the masking fluid applied, I can paint a wash for the sky, without needing to carefully
work around the lights to keep them white.
The masking fluid dries up as a kind of rubbery substance that will seal off those parts of
the paper that you don’t want to paint.
This brand of masking fluid is blue, and I think the reason is just so it’s easy to
spot where you’ve used it once it has dried.
Once you’ve masked all areas you don’t want your paint to get, make sure to clean
your brush well - the rubbery substance otherwise will glue the hairs of your brush together
and ruin the brush.
Make sure the masking fluid dries completely before you touch it or apply any paint on
top.
Now, using a larger brush, I will apply a wash for
the sky.
And let’s also color that shape of the building, and the greens.
Now the paint needs to dry completely.
Once the paint is dry, you can carefully rub the mask off.
Make sure your hands are clean before you do - otherwise, you will smudge the bright
white that you’ve been protecting from the paint so carefully!
I could leave it like this, so the lamps will be just pops of white, but I want to add bright
yellow.
I could also choose a different color on each light bulb.
See?
It’s pretty fun!
And it can be real useful too.
If you’re drawing a building, or a car for example, you could use the masking fluid to
seal off the areas where the light is reflected in the windows.
Or when painting water, it can be useful for the reflections in the water.
Or when you’re making an illustration, you can mask off a pattern…
Well, there are many ways to experiment with this!
So if you happen to have some masking fluid in your stash of art supplies, play around
with it!
And if you care to share what you make, I’d love to see it!
Please share it on any social media channel you like, using the hashtag #DTTInAction,
so we can see what you make!
So if you happen to have some masking fluid in your stash of art supplies, play around
with it!
And if you want to make more use of all that’s in your art supply stash, make sure to subscribe
to the weekly Draw Tip Tuesday email list.
Then every week, I’ll email you a brand new Draw Tip Tuesday video!
I’ll see you next week