Paint Techniques How to make a flat look like a wall in the room of your choice

Color Scheme The director chooses color for many reasons – Many believe color helps convey mood – Color can send a message to the audience Warm colors: best for comedy, farce and lighter drama Cool colors: best for serious drama, mysteries, and classic plays

Color Wheel Cool Colors Warm Colors

Types of Paint Casein Paint – water base paint that can be mixed with almost as many shades as a dry paint. Very thick butter like consistency that is easy to mix to many colors Latex Paint- water based paint much like house paint with a consistency of cake batter. Offers easy clean up. Enamel Paint – Oil based paint that requires mineral spirits or paint thinner to clean up

Brushes Paint Brush Roller Stencil Brush Sponge brush

Spatter Paint Is one of the techniques used to add color and texture to a set. Uses a clean brush, dipped lightly in to the paint and then “Flipped” toward the flat so the paint lands in tiny drops

Spraying Paint Is a quick method to get the same results as spatter paint. Uses paint sprayers or cans Can be costly and time consuming to allow time for clean up

Dry Brushing Can be used to create the look of wood grain. Start with a dry brush then drag it across the surface to be grained. Use a second dry brush to draw over and create the grain effect

Shadowing Used to make flats look three dimensional. Appearance comes from the proper use of highlight and shadow The line of the shadow would follow the natrual line of shadows created on stage by three dimensional scenery or actors

Scumbling Used to make the surface look rough. – Done in two ways One way uses two brushes (one lighter and one darker) one in each hand and painting over the surface in overlapping strokes. The second is to dip a large rad into darker paint then roll it irregularly across the surface

Sponging Creates texture Use a contrast color on top of base coat Use a sponge that is dipped lightly in paint and press it gently in a random pattern

Stippling Uses a special brush with short compact bristles to apply by poking the bristles down onto the surface to be painted. Brush is kept dry and uses very little paint

Rag Rolling A technique used to add texture to the wall. A wet rag is dipped into paint and rolled over the surface in random strokes. (Can also be done using cellophane or plastic bags.)

Cross Hatching Refers to paint strokes in which you draw your brush to form an X pattern Overlap the X pattern to cover the surface

Stenciling Used to create various wall paper patterns – Create a stencil by cutting out patterns from heavy plastic or posterboard – Cut a stencil for each color to be used – Use a stenciling brush to paint each piece

Washing * Paint technique where a light color is watered down to a very thin consistency and applied using brushes, rags or stenciling to create a washed out or faded effect