"How to improve brush control?" Topic

Particularly straight lines. I hate painting a strap and suddenly – swerve! – there is a white line across my nice uniform. :(

One thing I've found that really helps me is to focus on where I want the brush to go and not where the tip of the brush is. Once you've established that the tip of the brush is on the line you want to paint, shift your focus to the end point and make the brush stroke. Sure, it takes practice but I find it is very effective.

Practice and experiment.

If may be that you are too tense as you think you can't paint straight lines and that is making you worse. Have a drink, just one, then paint.

Is your lighting good enough?

Are you totally happy with the brushes and paint you are using? You may find a brush that has longer fibres that hold more paint easier to use, or the converse may be true and that you get better results with a brush with shorter hairs and less spring in the tip.

Are you thinning your paint so it is fluid enough?

I find that I'm happier with a larger brush with a long tip, I find my painting gets 'scratchy' if I'm working with too small a brush that won't hold enough paint for fluid strokes.

A stave helps.

Practice. Practice. Practice. Also, do not bear down too hard on the figure with the brush. Several light strokes with minimal amount of paint on the tip makes for better results. In other words, do not try to cover the strap, etc. in one pass of a brush filled with a lot of paint, just put a small amount on the tip of the brush and lightly go over the strap.

It all starts with being relaxed and breathing.a deep steady breath in, and a smooth slow breath out as you paint the small straps and fine details. At least it works for me.

Find some figs in the next smaller size (any subject because you don't care about that size) and do stripes and buttons, eyes, ect. Strip and do again. Now go back to your real project the stripes will be easy. Worked for me.

I'll tell you what doesn't work – quitting drinking. My hands have never shook so bad.

I paint with my hands (palm near the wrist) braced against each other so that there is minimal ability to have uncontrolled movement from anywhere other than my fingers.

I feel that there is a small bubble which is the 'sweet spot' of control where all your joints are not too extended/contracted/twisted and your sight lines are good. It's pretty small, so get used to painting a shorter line, then moving the mini to bring the next part to be painted into the bubble of control (i.e. a long line is built of a series of short ones).

I can imagine painting a long straight line that tracks too far out will result in a joint reaching it's limit and suddenly all the joints are accommodating it. This could easily explain the 'swerve' you mentioned.

One big thing, don't obsess about it. If you overpaint a little bit, especially on a strap, simply go back with the color you overpainted and paint up to the strap. You'll get a nice sharp line.

Supplementary to Midgetmanifesto's sage advice, you might try resting both elbows on your painting table, or alternatively, sitting with your back braced firmly against your chair's back. Either way you're reducing the risk of unwanted movement.

Painting is actually lot like shooting: brace your position, breathe, relax, visualize, squeeze and don't pull .. OK, not so much the last one, but relax and let the brush stroke happen.

The more you do it, the easier it gets. The more you do it mindfully and on your own terms, the faster it will get easier. Huh, shooting is like that, too.

It may seem counter intuitive, but I've seen reports of people actually using very long tipped brushes for this type of application, since the longer tail (brush bristles) bends, and follows the direction of your drawn pressure, applying the paint in a more even, straight line.

Seems to work for at least some painters.

I use liners a lot. They also keep a good charge of paint in the brush.

Thanks everyone! i will start over again today, fortified by this sage advice (and a whiskey sour).

Just the one whisky sour, though!

Save the Jackson Pollack / Vincent van Gogh / Mark Rothko / et al. level of intoxication for working on your table cloths.

I always have both hands/wrists resting on the table.

I keep a second brush nearby, and anytime I go off, immediately "unpaint" mistakes. Realizing I can clean off mistakes has made it easier on my mind.

As above, I keep my hands in contact, reducing relative movement by a lot.

I'm also not that picky. :)

andy

Easiest, way to paint raised straps, and any raised detail, don't try to paint them clean the first time, get the paint on, let it dry, then go back with the base color, reduce the viscosity so it flows easily, then paint up to the raised strap or detail. The liquid paint will flow into the low areas and up to the raised surfaces and stop, leaving a nice sharp line. Voila!!!!

Easiest, way to paint raised straps, and any raised detail, don't try to paint them clean the first time. Get the paint on, let it dry thoroughly, then go back with the base color, reduce the viscosity so it flows easily, then let the paint flow naturally up to the raised strap or detail. The liquid paint will flow into the low areas and up to the raised surfaces and stop, leaving a nice sharp line. Voila!!!!