My lines are too thick

Am I using too much pressure? I just don't get it. Am I using the wrong brush? I realize I am still very very very new to this and need much practice, but I just don't understand why on earth they are so darn thick or how you get such thin lines....help!!!!

What size brush are you using? Try a #4 round with a good point.

Are you loading the brush properly? There are some YouTube vids for that to help get you started.

Practice on your arm, just lines and swirls over and over andnover again... You will learn the right pressure after practice and the right anglr to hold your brush... Paint the lines with more gentle pressure on the tip of an upright brush rather than holding the brush more horizontal.

Hope that helps,

Lynne

I have to use a stiffer smaller brush. I've been loving the Wolfe size 3 for my black line work. OtterGirl had some that looked just like it and she said she got them in a package at Michaels.

Avoid using sable. Some people love them but I find them hard to bring back to a point without twisting and I'm not that good yet. Heather suggests the gold grip with synthetic bristles...I just don't like the wooden handles.

I bought a cheap package of brushes made my Royal & Langnickel for kids crafts. They are acrylic with cushioned handles and I'm actually loving them. They probably won't last long but I'm liking the stiffness of the bristles because they bounce back so I can get that flick at the end.

Oh, yeah...I ditto the perpendicular angle too.

Good luck.

D.

Thanks! I practiced tonight with the tracing paper someone had suggested here for line work and let me tell you......I just suck. Blah!

There was a tips and tricks vid on FABA where the artist (can't remember who) said to think of your brush as an upright ballerina on tippy toes lightly gliding on surface. Keep her upright and on her toes and you'll get it in no time! I never realized how a simple lean of the brush would mess up a line til I saw that short video. Hope that helps.

I've tried a #4 but a #3 works so much better. thanks for the tip on vids Lynne and Martha!

I use a small round detail brush when I want very think lines. I use more pressure on the brush when I want the lines thicker. Practice painting w/ a lighter touch & just the tip of your brush. Forget the paper, just practice on your inner arm. Then practice thin to thick lines/thick to thin lines(adding more pressure & less pressure). Mark Reid #2 brush is pretty good for this.

I use both a #4 and a #1 depending on what I"m going for... I used to use a #7, but we all progress. I love golden taklon brushes myself.

I love the Mark Reid brushes! The right lines need proper loading, the right amount of water, and just enough pressure. Practice and take photos along the way. It is a great way to see your progression.

Can you show us what you're talking about? Maybe someone can offer more technique specific advice once a visual is gleamed. I'm a big proponent for mastering whatever tool you have in your arsenal, because they are tools and you are tasked with weilding them. You can paint the same thin line with a #6 brush that you can paint with a #2 with the honing of your technique and vice versa you can paint the same thick tiger strips with a #3 as you can with a #6. It sounds to me that you just need to work of varying your pressure on the brush, but without a picture I can't be sure. Theres a plethora of inforation and tutorials about line strenght and brush control out there, I urge you to seek them out. Most importantly, stop the negative self talk...it's doing more damage to your growth than you know...we can be more effective in tearing outselves to shreds that the most piognant verbal bully...so stop putting your efforts down. Every stroke is stepping stone to a better one...remember that.

Practice with your brush, varying your pressure. Experiment with your brush, learn what your brush can do with varying angles and degrees of pressure, then learn to work with those limitations to make your brush do what YOU want it to do. Good Luck!

When I was at Mark Reids class, he said some things that really made a difference for me. load your brush by swiping it side to side, untill it looks like a lttle spatula, rotate 90 degrees when you put it down, so that the thin side is down. Increase pressure so your line is thicker, then rotate 90 degrees as you release pressure. thin- thick- thin. Airplane coming in for a landing, then landing and then taking off. I use Lowe cornelle 3's and 4's gold, and recently black handle that I found at Michaels. I'm still practicing. Certainly have not mastered it yet.

Barb

I'm still working on getting very fine lines, but I've noticed that the right amount of water helps, too. For finer lines, get the brush pretty wet, just short of drippy. This makes painting with just the "ballerina slipper" tip of your brush technique actually possible.
Keep practicing, and good luck!