Stippling & blend brushes

[Kim Ross]

I'm a pin striper by trade (24 yrs) so forgive my ignorance...but what is stippling --how is it done and why is it done? Also,what is a blend brush ? how is it used and where do you get one ?

[imaSIGNr]

Stippling is the process of creating a background design ( usually ) by the means of making a pattern using various methods, like hammering repetitive designs with solid textured instruments. One example is to take a steel rod and file lines in it , then tap that design into your background . Sometimes you can use things that already have a design in it. It can be very time consuming doing it by hand. Creating a stippled effect with print would be something else, maybe otherwise called a texture...
Someone else may help you with the blend brush, but I believe it's a somewhat stiff brush used dry and it is fanned in a furrel and used to blend one color with another....Dick Blick

[Jillbeans]

I sometimes use a dry Foamie to blend, or pour 1-Shot in two colors on a piece of cardboard and roll it with a regular paint roller to get a nice blend for backgrounds or masked lettering. You can do that with a Foamie as well. Sometimes I'll paint the top of a letter yellow and the bottom of it orange, with the colors nearly touching. Then wet-blend it with a Foamie. You have to work one letter at a time as the paint must stay wet. Clean it up with an outline and there you go.
I have also used a dry lettering quill to knock down/soften edges of a brush blend.

I can stipple with a sponge. You can get a bag of sea sponges at Michael's or Joann Fabrics. They are also good for blending. You can tear them into any shape you like, too. You could also use a dry-brush effect with a fitch, by kind of tapping it against the surface end-first.

One fun way to get a neat effect is to slap pearlescent 1-Shot onto a dark background panel, and then cover with Saran Wrap. Rub it down with your hand and then peel it off quickly. Makes a neat look. You can also ball up the masking from a panel and use it to smudge/stipple/marbelize any paint you've applied (right after painting, don't let it dry) As with the other Saran Wrap thing, let dry overnight before hand-lettering or applying vynull. Yes it will have a texture, but that's what makes it look hand-done.

This is all just trial and error stuff, as well as techniques I've seen at Letterhead meets.
Love....Jill

[imaSIGNr]

Jill, I would call your method "textured". I'd always done stippling and an actual indentation in the substrate, combined with a carved or sandblasted sign.

[Gino]

There are many ways to create a ‘Blend’ effect. The most common is with a fan brush, which is just that…. a brush that looks like a fan. It’s used more in the ‘Fine Arts’ field, but when doing pictorial work many wall dogs and artists will use a fan to blend skin tones, backgrounds and special effects. There are all kinds of sizes for fans, but you can also use a 2” or up to 6” ‘House Painter’s’ brush for fanning also. William Alexander was very famous for doing this. Anyone remember him ??

As for stippling, you can use any hand held device for stippling any effect you desire from waxed paper, to a pig brush, to your finger prints. In ‘Fine Arts’ you generally see people stippling in trees in the distance or flowers, while some people make templates and stipple in effects on wall borders and create neat backgrounds by stippling in the effect and letting it dry before you letter your copy over top.

I believe the technique Jillbeans was talking about…. Butch {SuprFrog] is well know for doing is called the ‘Norwegian Airbrush’ where you work wet on wet with two colors and they gradually blend together creating a nice glossy gradient.

Below.... the brushes in the front are for blending billboards and large signs, while the three smaller fans in the last cup are for small signs and artwork.

[imaSIGNr]

Gino...is William Alexander the guy that died that was on PBS.That always talked like an announcer might talk on a golf tournament ( whisper ) The guy that "SIGN SOLUTIONS" uses as his avatar ?

[Rich]

Gino...is William Alexander the guy that died that was on PBS.That always talked like an announcer might talk on a golf tournament ( whisper ) The guy that "SIGN SOLUTIONS" uses as his avatar ?

Bob Ross is the guy your thinking of.

[Signguyno1]

As a old school signwriter, stippling was done often when lettering a window valance with a dark color over the lettering as a panel or panels or large painted letters on glass from the inside. Painting a panel with lettering colors on glass will leave light and dark areas as well as brush strokes.

Stippling was done while the painted panel is still wet by making a ball out of a clean rag, wrapping it again with a clean, lint free rag. dip rag into paint and blot by tapping on a clean piece of cardboard or paper, when paint covers the surface of the rag proceed to lightly stipple (pat) the painted surface on the window and watch the light and dark areas and brush marks disappear. The finished area will look as if it was sprayed.

[Gino]

That was Bob Ross with his 'happy little brook', happy little tree' or his 'happy little toke' on a ree-----...... anyway, Alexander was that old little fat German guy on TV all the time and always took a good looking painting and at the end fanned his 3" brush over everything and usually messed it up.... lol

Too much Prussian :beer :beer I guess................




Yeah, Bob Ross was a nappy headed brush ho....................