straying the hand

I

ian groves

Guest
Hi people
The last few days I have been looking at straying my hand when painting I have tried putting my finger on the paper to already and it does help a bit bit I still gr8 the wobbles etc.
Anyway normally I have a small paint brush in my handy that I use to clean my stip with water on it. So What I ended up doing was turning it round and using it like sign writers do with a padded end on to steady my hand when close up.I found it worked the best of everything I have tried but what I don't want it to get in a habit will end up holding me back in the future because I'm ding this or is there no harm in it? ???
 
I hold my gun hand with the other hand and many times I use the pinky from my second hand to stabilize the gun hand against the surface. You can also try and move faster to get rid of the shakiness.
 
Hi people
The last few days I have been looking at straying my hand when painting I have tried putting my finger on the paper to already and it does help a bit bit I still gr8 the wobbles etc.
Anyway normally I have a small paint brush in my handy that I use to clean my stip with water on it. So What I ended up doing was turning it round and using it like sign writers do with a padded end on to steady my hand when close up.I found it worked the best of everything I have tried but what I don't want it to get in a habit will end up holding me back in the future because I'm ding this or is there no harm in it? ???


having done some sign writing in the past I still have my maul stick which I use now and again for doing larger curves and such and give me a little speed while doing so, for the rest I do just Andre describes as well as for real close up fine detail I will rest the whole back my supporting hand against the the surface I'm painting on.

There are no specific rules as to how you should do it, do what whatever you feel comfortable with but whatever method you choose you may noticed yourself getting cramp in your finger, wrist or even whole arm, if you do it's obviously time to change your approach, you will develop little tricks that suit you as you go and anything at all that's around you that could be used to steady yourself is perfectly acceptable.

You do good to ask how others do it, everyone has their own little methods and you can simply choose those which work for you as well as combining these with your own.

You can make your own purpose made maul stick (same idea as your paintbrush trick) using just a piece dowelling rod form the DIY shop, I generally make a ball out J-cloth glued or taped to end of the rod and then cover that with a piece of chamois leather with some thin string around it to keep it all together, this is done in such a way that I can easily replace the leather when it gets dirty, not normally needed too often when sign writing but for doing paintings you obviously don't want smudges on it, you'll only want to do this if you find that your brush trick works for you, the length is up to yourself, mine 70 cm long and is sufficient for A2 size paintings although as I said I only use for larger curves and lines and stuff, a necessity in my case thanks to years of alcohol abuse, lol
 
All said before and better as i could have done. What works for you is good. There are no bad habits when the result counts. Just think about this: what does not feel right, maybe IS not right (for you).
 
When I go in close for single pass lines I rest my knuckle just against the surface to Guage my distance and steady my hand. Being a former sign writer and a pinstriper, my brush stabilization carries over into airbrushing subconsciously sometimes. There is no problem with it as long as it's not damaging the surface or if painting on metal or something that has to be cleared, wear a glove or have extremely clean hands as the oils from your skin will contaminate the paint.
 
When I go in close for single pass lines I rest my knuckle just against the surface to Guage my distance and steady my hand. Being a former sign writer and a pinstriper, my brush stabilization carries over into airbrushing subconsciously sometimes. There is no problem with it as long as it's not damaging the surface or if painting on metal or something that has to be cleared, wear a glove or have extremely clean hands as the oils from your skin will contaminate the paint.
As Justin says, the contamination from the oils in your hand can cause problems so the less you touch the surface the better and make sure if you use your pinky finger as a distance gauge that the nail is short and smooth (learned that the hard way!) :(
having done some sign writing in the past I still have my maul stick which I use now and again for doing larger curves and such and give me a little speed while doing so, for the rest I do just Andre describes as well as for real close up fine detail I will rest the whole back my supporting hand against the the surface I'm painting on.

There are no specific rules as to how you should do it, do what whatever you feel comfortable with but whatever method you choose you may noticed yourself getting cramp in your finger, wrist or even whole arm, if you do it's obviously time to change your approach, you will develop little tricks that suit you as you go and anything at all that's around you that could be used to steady yourself is perfectly acceptable.

You do good to ask how others do it, everyone has their own little methods and you can simply choose those which work for you as well as combining these with your own.

You can make your own purpose made maul stick (same idea as your paintbrush trick) using just a piece dowelling rod form the DIY shop, I generally make a ball out J-cloth glued or taped to end of the rod and then cover that with a piece of chamois leather with some thin string around it to keep it all together, this is done in such a way that I can easily replace the leather when it gets dirty, not normally needed too often when sign writing but for doing paintings you obviously don't want smudges on it, you'll only want to do this if you find that your brush trick works for you, the length is up to yourself, mine 70 cm long and is sufficient for A2 size paintings although as I said I only use for larger curves and lines and stuff, a necessity in my case thanks to years of alcohol abuse, lol
As MB says, there are no "Rules" you will find that what is comfortable is right for you, hell, you might even start a craze with something revolutionary! ;)
 
As Justin says, the contamination from the oils in your hand can cause problems so the less you touch the surface the better and make sure if you use your pinky finger as a distance gauge that the nail is short and smooth (learned that the hard way!) :(

As MB says, there are no "Rules" you will find that what is comfortable is right for you, hell, you might even start a craze with something revolutionary! ;)
Wow never seen my self as a trial blazer but come on people jump on board for the ride
 
some of my lines are still shaky and i usually try and overlay multiple passes to even it out , ive not had time to practice much lately but i use 2 hands - my right hand to hold the gun (im right handed) and i rest the front end of the gun in my other hand and use my pinky on the surface to steady it , to me airbrush work is like arc welding - you dont look much at the tip - you look where you are going (im not sure if this is the correct way, but its helping me :) )
 
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