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Published: 2006-07-01 02:42:03 +0000 UTC; Views: 73896; Favourites: 1186; Downloads: 903
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No-Sign-of-Sanity’sPalette Tutorial Extravaganza!!!
For all 3 of you who may actually give a shit, this is how I set up my palette to paint in acrylics. By following these steps you can get your acrylics to last on your palette for weeks instead of minutes. What sort of magic is this? Witchcraft you say? Nah it’s just one of the few useful things I actually picked up in art school so I’d thought I’d save you all some big tuition cash, and just post it here.
Step #1. Stop! Palette Time! Get yourself a nice 11”x15” ceramic palette like this one. These things are made of metal and have a super durable ceramic shell. I’ve beaten the hell out of this thing and it’s still no worse for wear. Do you REALLY need one of these to proceed with this tutorial? Hell no. Just get yourself some type of flat container with a decent lip of about a one inch deep. Tupperware, cookie sheets, hell even a lasagna dish will work just as well.
Step #2. Build the foundation. Fill the base of your palette with paper towels. I use about 6 or so overlapping paper towels and that works well for me. Try to keep the surface fairly flat so if you’re building too much thickness in the center of your palette from the towels overlapping, fold a few more paper towels in half and put them on the ends to even it out.
Step #3. Drown it! Fill the palette with water until the towels are soaking wet. Hold the towels in place and drain the palette of any excess water. We want the towels to hold as much water as they possibly can but we’re not making a bowl of soup here. If your palette is too wet, it’ll backfire on you later and your paints will end up getting all soupy from absorbing too much water. Keep reading, it will all make sense it a minute…
Step #4. All air bubbles must die!!! Place your hands in the center of the palette, and working outwards, smooth out the paper towels and try to force any air bubbles that may be in there out to the sides of the palette. It may take a few passes, but you want to end up with a nice flat base of wet paper towels.
Step #5. My pad or yours? Get yourself a nice pad a tracing paper that’s close in size to the palette you’ve selected. Unless you work purely digitally (in which case you probably ain't reading this tutorial), you should have some tracing paper in your art arsenal at all times. It has a plethora (yes jefe, I said “plethora”) of uses. For my palette-making purposes I use Clearprint Vellum. It’s not cheap, but it’s thick and durable so it’s well worth the extra dough.
Step #.6 Tracing paper is not just for tracing. Take a sheet of tracing paper and lay it down over your bed of wet paper towels. . This tracing paper is going to be the actual usable surface our palette. You’ll notice that the paper starts to wrinkle as it soaks up some of the water from the towels. This is normal. Just like in step #4, use your hands to smooth out the tracing paper and rid your self of any air bubbles.
Step #7. Isn’t she lovely? This is our completed and ready to use acrylic-friendly palette. The bed of wet towels underneath the surface will actually re-hydrate the paint as it loses its moisture from being out in the air. Ain’t science cool? Every few days or so you may have to add some more water to the towels underneath to keep them wet and keep the palette going. Just pull up a corner of the tracing paper and pour in the water as needed.
Step #8. Now go paint bitches!!! Since I’m such a detail driven psycho, I find that it helps to do all of my color mixing on the palette before I ever start painting. So here’s an example of the simple grayscale palette I set up to make the Two-Face painting in my gallery. I started with a middle gray tone and I mixed up towards white, and down towards black.
When you’re not using your paints I’d suggest covering the palette with plastic wrap and throwing it the refrigerator. Just because your paints won’t dry out for months doesn’t mean that having a bunch of wet paper towels hanging out in your room forever won’t still grow mold.
I hope that helped!
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Comments: 331
LadyAndTardis [2016-05-14 01:05:45 +0000 UTC]
Thanks, this has actually been a real problem for me.
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HelenKuhn [2015-09-11 16:19:44 +0000 UTC]
That is an awesome tip! Thanks for sharing. I'm going to try it 😁
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sbocaj [2015-09-04 07:00:54 +0000 UTC]
I used parchment paper (for baking) instead cause I couldn't seem to find my tracing paper, and that seems to work as well.
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dracostarhome [2015-01-01 22:45:29 +0000 UTC]
This is a pretty neat tutorial! I've not reaaaaaly dabbled in paints too often, but I liek this trick, thank you for saving me the big bucks!
THis si quite clear, and I know I appreciate the heck out of it!
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affrina [2014-11-21 05:44:35 +0000 UTC]
I'm rediscovering my love for art again, this is amazing! Thank you!
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KaseySnowArt [2014-07-14 13:28:58 +0000 UTC]
This is super useful, thanks so much for sharing!
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lest1981 [2014-07-01 23:07:36 +0000 UTC]
Excellent tip, i also went to art college and learned exactly nothing, waste of time, amazing skills you have by the way.
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Lamorien [2014-02-13 00:11:50 +0000 UTC]
this is brilliant. I used to have a "wet palette" in college that was basically the same concept, it came with a sponge and palette paper. I of COURSE got rid of it because I just like torturing myself, so this is a sweet, simple alternative. Thanks for sharing!
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PinUpPaintings [2014-01-17 21:24:10 +0000 UTC]
Nice Tutorial, and any time you can work in a Three Amigos reference in is a good time!
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MissTransmission [2014-01-11 21:32:51 +0000 UTC]
This is going to be insanely useful as a beginner in acrylics, thank you!
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Isla-Negra [2013-12-10 12:21:48 +0000 UTC]
Yep! Very helpful, thank you! With no trace of sanity, I myself have decided , as a New Year's plan, to start painting... contradicting my art teachers at High School!!!
They said I would not be able to do it... the time has come to show to myself they were wrong!
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jenneilicious [2013-04-11 05:20:25 +0000 UTC]
Finally! Someone else who uses the word, 'plethora'!
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Miki-chii12 [2013-01-15 02:48:07 +0000 UTC]
You sir are the most godliest god I have ever had the pleasure of coming across. BLESS YOUR SOUL FOR THIS TUTORIAL
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PinkisPractical [2013-01-02 19:50:24 +0000 UTC]
This looks amazing! Totally trying it! Thanks so much!
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ravenlachrimae [2013-01-01 02:13:41 +0000 UTC]
YOU'RE A FUCKING LIFE SAVER BRAH!!!!! thanks for the tutorial!
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TheMidwestJess [2012-12-23 01:50:51 +0000 UTC]
Wow. I tried this for the first time today. Why did I not try this sooner?! I absolutely love it. Thanks for the tutorial!
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Penny-Dragon [2012-11-18 01:46:57 +0000 UTC]
OMG I tested this out, I'm never using anything else ever again.
Thank you!
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Sparr0wlicious [2012-09-16 07:31:36 +0000 UTC]
Thank your for this!
I was actually thinking about trying out acrylics for a while now but I was kind of too lazy to figure out how to keep the paint wet (so I never really started doing anything, lol).
xD
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aNNaMaL97 [2012-08-21 13:20:42 +0000 UTC]
this will be really helpful during my art controlled assessment of 10 hours... erm how long does it take to go mouldy when outside a fridge?
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No-Sign-of-Sanity In reply to aNNaMaL97 [2012-08-21 17:08:06 +0000 UTC]
You'll start to smell it after a few days, but your paint will still be usable long after that.
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Calamity9 [2012-06-27 18:05:34 +0000 UTC]
That's really smart! Thanks for sharing this with the world ^^
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CottonConfection [2012-06-27 10:49:33 +0000 UTC]
I love you thank you so much for this! Im new to acrylic so all this handy information is gold to me. thank you, thank you
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No-Sign-of-Sanity In reply to CottonConfection [2012-06-27 17:39:13 +0000 UTC]
You're very welcome!
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shaynahall [2012-06-26 15:11:56 +0000 UTC]
Slightly unrelated comment-
I've been keeping my paints(oils, specifically) in a Ferrero Rocher container that seals tightly.
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No-Sign-of-Sanity In reply to shaynahall [2012-06-27 17:38:44 +0000 UTC]
Not a bad idea at all! thanks for the tip!
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shaynahall In reply to No-Sign-of-Sanity [2012-06-27 17:57:59 +0000 UTC]
Oh, I forgot to mention- place some saran wrap down first, and you can just wad it up and throw it away when you are finished. That will cut down on your clean up time significantly.
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PoEvil [2012-03-24 04:37:29 +0000 UTC]
btw forget to say thank for the tut it is really detailed & love the way you explain stuff humorously XD
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PoEvil [2012-03-24 04:36:05 +0000 UTC]
this is an awesome tut XD thank you so much. I always agony about how my acrylic dry so fast and all the trouble mixing it again ( plus the expensive money for it ) T^T gotta try it now
Btw i definitely try to raise the mold acrylic & taste the exclusive stinky smells that only an artist could experience, or so you say XD
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Novvaik [2012-03-23 18:58:09 +0000 UTC]
THNX for the great advise!!! Never would have thought of that!!!
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Danier [2012-03-12 02:56:49 +0000 UTC]
Nearly 6 years later after you submitted it and I run across this now. Where have you been the whole time I was in high school?!
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Merewina [2012-02-05 04:52:06 +0000 UTC]
I love you. Actually.
After dropping $100 dollars on tiny tubes of paint for school, I've despaired at the amount I've used in just three weeks. Seriously considered buying a wet palette but it isn't in the budget. This is fantastic.
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ChristopherCharlie [2012-02-04 18:42:36 +0000 UTC]
Thanks for taking the time to share this! It was very helpful.
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A-Falcon-Velazquez [2011-12-21 19:46:13 +0000 UTC]
Thank you so much for this tutotial. It helped me a lot! It actually helped me to get a Daily Deviation! Weather here is sometimes really hot, I painted using this palette while in the rainy days, I just hope I can figure out how to keep the acrylics wet enough to be able to paint when spring comes.
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Leovagirl [2011-10-23 23:29:19 +0000 UTC]
Whooa, thanks for this! I haven't used acrylic before but I wanted to give it a go. And this'll deff be help!
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