Next Step

[ralph]

I've been practicing on news print for a while now. What would be the next material to move on to? Eventually i want to t's and canvas work.
Thanks Ralph

[brushbyair]

Ralph, get you a roll of good ole paper towel, it accepts paint almost exactly as a t-shirt, very cheap practice material, I mounted a roll holder at the top of my easel and you can just keep pulling a new sheet down in front of ya, so you can practice all night until the roll is gone. This was the method I used to practice lettering, by the time ya get through a couple of rolls you almost feel like you are starting to get the hang of lettering. Canvas is another matter, news print paper is about the same as canvas as far as how the paint goes on it ( you know those crawly little spiders ) if you spray to much too fast.

[ralph]

Thanks Brush i'll give it a try. Maybe a a dumb question is one brand of paper towel better than another or just a cheapo brand?

[Kaiilla]

You can buy real cheap t shirts for as little as $2 at places like Walmart and Walgreens (a drug store) they are seconds but it lets you do pictures on tshirts pretty cheap. And that is more satisfying that practicing on paper. Even if it's not as "professional" as doing real practice.

[brushbyair]

Ralph, Kaiilla is right you can buy some cheap T-shirts for around $2.00 each, but the last I knew a cheapo roll of paper towel was about $1.00 and you can do about 100 practice sheets on a roll, each square is real close to the size you will paint on a t-shirt, so each square equates to a shirt. Cheaper than buying a t-shirt, you can go to your local fabric store and buy t-shirt material, cut it into 14" x 14" squares and paint them, the nice thing with these is you can save them as samples of your work.