Practicing under glass

[Boomer]

This may not be "speedball" approved but it is a start until I get the speedball book.I have been practicing,scraping,practicing,scraping. I knew it wouldn't be easy but I don't want to throw in the towel. If I don't make it professionally I will at least make it for personal reasons. Thanks for all the help from this site.

 

[JR's]

Boomer, worst comes to worst you could always become a glass cleaner. ;-}

JR

 

[Boomer]

I can't let my wife see that reply! She will have me doin just that...

 

[JR's]

I her that.
you should practice on old walloper or butcher paper to. the glass is good but its very slick. and when you go to letter something besides glass it will seem like your brush is tuck in the mud.

Brown squirrel hair for glass.
gray squirrel hair for other stuff.
red sable for show cards.

Good luck

JR

 

[Boomer]

Thanks,tips like that are always welcome.

 

[Jillbeans]

I think the shapes you are working with will not lend themselves well to stroke practicing, only the slashy ones and the ampersand.
Try making a pounce pattern and practicing on an old fridge, a toolbox, even a junk fender from the salvage yard.
I never did the slash/shape/speedball thing.
Started out drawing my letters and then filling them in, eventually I just had to draw the simplest ghosts of letters or even the uprights. If you learn how to build a basic letter, as an A, B, K, M, O, R, S, V, you can use that to build any other letter right in your head as you go.
Use a ruler for the top and bottom lines, remember the center line is usually a bit higher than center. Round letters are bigger than the top and bottom lines.
I started with thick and thin, like a roman or an optima/percepta, then worked my way to straight sans serif stuff.
Love....Jill

 

[Boomer]

Thanks Jill,
I am mostly for now trying to get the feel for the brushes and the flow of the paint.I want to be able to know how to hold the brush and get consistant with strokes for a while before I try letters.The amprasand has been the one I have worked on most,with some improvement. Time for more practice...

 

[Tony Q's Kidd]

You've built yourself a nice study guide there when i was young my father made me do the exact same thing.
i would also suggest the fridge and toolbox as practice and also get a cheap sketchbook with rough papper (brown recycled) and use it to practice with. i have about 30 of those books full of left and right hand strokes.
post some pix of your practice stuff hope it is coming along nicely.
keep your hand elevated and guide your brush with your eyes.

 

[RebeckaR]

As has been stated above, practice on different surfaces like a fridge or old car door or paper. Glass is one of the more difficult surfaces - at least for me - because it has no tooth. The brush slides around a whole lot more than if you are working on a metal, wood or paper surface.
Work on something that will have more drag on the brush and see how that feels to you.

 

[Tony Q's Kidd]

As has been stated above, practice on different surfaces like a fridge or old car door or paper. Glass is one of the more difficult surfaces - at least for me - because it has no tooth. The brush slides around a whole lot more than if you are working on a metal, wood or paper surface.
Work on something that will have more drag on the brush and see how that feels to you.

well said