Bob ross paint brushes how to#

While there are times where thinner paints are needed (like when applying highlights, see above) most of the time you’ll get better results with dryer and firmer paints, so paints with less oil. We’re not saying that it is impossible to do Bob-Ross style paintings with acrylics but it’s going to be much harded to follow along with Bob. The Bob-Ross-Wet-On-Wet-Technique was developed for oil paints and if you’re using acrylics you’ll have a hard time getting the desired results. Applying the highlights in this way (along with thinning your paint) makes sure that you won’t pick up the darker layer that’s already on the canvas.įirst of all it is important to use oil paints. Then turn the brush in such a way that this rounded end points up and very gently put the paint on the canvas, almost not touching it.

When putting highlights on trees or bushes drag your brush through the paint a few times to create a sort of rounded end on your brush. Just let the knife (or bird) do the work. And baby birds (just like palette knifes) are very delicate creatues, so very little strength is needed for this. When doing mountains, be sure to hold the knife just as thight as Bob would hold a new born baby bird: Tight enough not to drop it, but not tight enough to hurt it.

If your paint still doesn’t stick, just add a little bit more thinning medium.Įvery time we apply one layer of paint over another layer we have to be very careful not to mix the two layers. You can do this by dipping your brush into your liquid white or even your paint thinner before mixing the color you want to use for the highlights. If you ever had the problem that the paint on the canvas mixes with the paint on your brush when doing highlights for your trees and bushes you probably didn’t thin your paint enough.

Bob ross paint brushes how to#

You can find more tips on how to do mountains here. And just like very wet stuff that sticks to very dry stuff thin paint sticks to thick paint in much the same manner. Oil paints are made of two things: pigments and oil, and the more oil there is in a paint, the thinner it gets. Number 2: Thin Paint Sticks To Thick Paintīob repeast this in almost every episode of ‘The Joy of Painting’, and it is great advice for all of us mud mixers out there that have problems when putting the highlights on their trees and bushes. Painting is fun and relaxing and we should enjoy every second of it. It may also make a difference that Bob Ross painted over 10 000 paintings in his life.īut hey, it’s about the journey and not the destination. You’ll probably spend more time mixing colors, trying new techniques, thinking about where to place that next happy little tree, and cleaning your brushes (we seriously believe that we spend around 50% of our painting time with cleaning brushes before we got our cleaning screen) than Bob does. You can expect a painting to take at least 90 minutes, maybe 60 if you’re going really fast. While Bob Ross only takes 30 minutes for every painting he does, us mere mortals can’t expect to do the same. 2 Number 2: Thin Paint Sticks To Thick Paint.