Author Topic: SCENERY: Paint technique  (Read 4514 times)

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supershorty

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SCENERY: Paint technique
« on: Oct 01, 2005, 12:59 pm »
For my current show, I'm helping out with various aspects (scenic design/painting, lighting design, properties, costuming and special effects) in addition to putting together my book and calling the show.  I have a large wooden cart that is currently painted black, but the director would like it to appear wood-grained.  I vaguely remember there being a multi-layer technique for this, but I'm not entirely sure how to go about it.  So, does anyone know specifics?  Any help (descriptions, links, etc.) would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks!
« Last Edit: Jun 08, 2009, 10:30 pm by PSMKay »
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Paint technique
« Reply #1 on: Oct 01, 2005, 11:10 pm »
Sand back to wood, paint with lighter colour, allow to dry. Paint on darker colour, and drag a special implement (or a rag will sometimes work) back along the wood, removing some of the darker colour.

justsmiles

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Paint technique
« Reply #2 on: Oct 02, 2005, 12:42 am »
I dont know what kind of wood grain effect you want, but this looks good from far away, but its not a classic wood stain/ grain, its more cartoonish and is better for larger surfaces (ie. flats). Take an applicator sponge (flat rectangle ones) put dip one end in green the other end in brown then in the same direction make stripes, blending the ones above with the ones below. Keep a spray bottle handy to wet the sponge.

giabow

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Paint technique
« Reply #3 on: Oct 02, 2005, 09:02 am »
This may be needlessly complicated for you, but its what I found ....

http://www.edta.org/rehearsal_hall/design_3.asp[/url]

centaura

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how much time & money do you have?
« Reply #4 on: Oct 02, 2005, 11:31 pm »
My question is how much time and money did you have.  One idea is to heavily dry-brush a medium brown over your black, letting little bits of the black show through, and then very lightly dry-brush a lighter brown over the top.  This is the opposite of how I would paint it if painting from scratch, but it depends if you have time to start with a total repaint of brown.

If time and money are not a concern, then I'd repaint it a medium/light brown, and use a wood-grainer to put darker brown grain lines on it.  A wood grainer is a rounded plastic hand-held item that has a series of concentric circles in it.  As you drag it across wet paint, it leaves a very good wood grain line.

Again, quick and dirty (and lower budget) is the brown dry-brush with maybe a fine spatter of a light and a dark.  Also depends how realistic at how close a range it needs to be.  Hope this helps,

-Centaura