Finest artists' water-mixable oil colours for beginners with the NOVA-BLUE brush set series 11660
We offer the da Vinci NOVA BLUE SET as the ideal brushes for the new Schmincke NORMA BLUE water-mixable oil colours.
The set contains a mottler and three artist brushes (flat, round and filbert shape), which is ideal for all beginners in the new medium.
The set comes with a free course via QR code inside the packaging. We have created this blog post for you to go with the course.
You will see that it is great and easy to get started with a new medium
Materials:
Brushes: da Vinci Set Norma Blue Series 11660
Colours: Schmincke Norma Blue water-mixable oil colours in black and white (you can also use another strong colour instead of black, e.g. dark blue or dark red).
Miscellaneous: painting medium blue, painting palette, 2 glasses with water, kitchen roll, pipette, pencil, eraser, canvas or oil paper and brush soap to clean the brush.
Step 1 – Get to know the brush and material:
Before we start with the actual motif, you should first get to know the brush and paint. As this is a completely new medium for many, this step is especially important to achieve great results afterwards.
For this very reason, we make this motif as simple as possible with only 2 colours. This is the best way to get to know the material.
First you should apply the colour on your painting palette.
We start here with a large white dot on the left and make 3 more, getting smaller and smaller, on the right. We do the same with the black paint from the right and over the white dots to the left a black dot that gets smaller and smaller.
Mix the black and white dots well with a brush or paint knife - this way you have different shades and don't have to mix in the colour.
Using a pipette, add 1-2 drops of Blue colouring agent to each of your dots and mix it into the colour.
ATTENTION: Clean your brush after each dot of paint - otherwise you will mix the colours.
In the next step of the preparation, we take a clean canvas or oil paper and get to know and understand our brushes and our new colours.
First we make a few simple strokes with the different brushes and get a feel for how which brush behaves and how the colour changes when you add a little more water.
Tip: Use 2 water containers - one to clean the brushes and one to add water to your painting.
We will now make a colour gradient. Take the small flat brush from the NOVA-BLUE set and apply each of the mixed colours directly next to each other.
Because of the colours you mixed before, you can already see your colour gradient, but the transitions are still hard. For this purpose, we use the cat's tongue brush from the set, as it is best suited for blending fresh colours. With this brush we will now take care of each transition one by one.
1: First, move your filbert shape brush up and down between the two colour segments from the top to the bottom. Slowly you will notice how the colours blend. Clean your brush each time you move to a new colour segment.
2: The edge of the colour segments to be combined is now very soft. Now drag some pigment from the lighter side to the darker side from left to right and viceversa. You can do this either with the small flat brush or with the round brush. As always, make sure you use a clean brush.
3: Take your filbert brush again and go through the colour several times from top to bottom in a slightly larger area between your two colour segments. You will see that the transition between the two colour segments is quite smooth.
4: Now take the large flat brush (mottler) and run it over your colour gradient from top to bottom when it is dry.
When the paint has dried a bit (e.g. one day later) you can also go over your colour gradient from left to right with the dry and clean brush hair. Do not put too much pressure on the brush tip.
After these steps you will have a perfect colour gradient with no hard edges and you will know your materials well enough to start with your first motif.
Step 2 – Preparation:
You already know your mixed colours from the materials lesson.
Now clean all your brushes again with brush soap, so that you have a fresh start to your motif. Prepare enough cloths and fill your two water containers with fresh water.
Use a larger canvas for your motif - the larger the motif, the easier it is for you as a beginner to blend the individual areas, as you do not have to work with small details. We recommend a size of at least 30x30 cm for this motif - the brushes included in the set are also perfect for it.
Now transfer the motif of the balloon dog onto your canvas with a pencil. Remove excess pigment from the pencil with a clean eraser or handkerchief. The excess pencil pigment will otherwise be integrated into your paint and make it look grey - this step is especially important for coloured motifs.
Step 3 – rough colour sheme:
Start with 1-2 sections of your balloon dog and apply the colour (as in the material science) roughly next to each other with your small flat brush. It is best to work from dark to light or from light to dark.
The great thing about this motif is that all the sections of the balloon dog have a similar structure. You will see that you will find it easier and easier to work from section to section.
Schritt 4 – blending:
Now you can start to blend the areas you want to have a soft transition with the help of the filbert brush. Depending on how much pressure you apply to the tip of your brush, the result will change.
Schritt 5 – Details:
With the round brush included in the NOVA-BLUE set, you can add the first details such as light reflexes or reflections. If you need "harder edges" for some details, make sure that your picture is already a little dry and then add the details. You can influence the drying time of your painting with the drying accelerator or retarder from Schmincke, that matches the Norma Blue water-based oil paints.
Step 6 – finish:
After you have finished designing your motif, you can go over it again softly with a clean, dry, wide brush after 1-2 days drying time, as described in the brush tutorial. Make sure not to blend over the edges of the picture.
If you wish, you can add a few dark and light highlights in a second coat after a week.
As with conventional oil paint, varnish is recommended only after about 6 months. You can apply the varnish with the wide brush included in the set.
You can also find a short video to go with these instructions on our social media channels - you can see the full tutorial by scanning the QR code inside the packaging.
You liked this article, but you don't own our NOVA-BLUE brushes yet?
No problem - just click HERE and you will find all the retailers in your area where you can buy your new NOVA-BLUE brush.
The sizes included in the set are not enough for you? Our NOVA series has all the colours and shapes you could want ?
Have fun making your own!