Ever wondered what it is like to paint with a Nib?
Nib painting is an Art form that involves use of special nibs, instead of brush, to paint on canvas. Paintings made with Nibs acquire a unique embroidery like texture and can turn out into beautiful artworks.
This blog post is going to give a quick primer on how you can experiment with your art skills and make your own Nib Painting at home using this simple and inexpensive art technique.
First, select the subject of the painting that you want to paint. The subject of painting should be such that there is scope to highlight some kind of a protruding texture above the canvas surface, e.g. feathers, which is the main idea of the Nib painting.
After you have finalized your painting subject, let's look at the Art material you are going to need to make the painting,
Canvas, stretched or mounted on board
A Palette tray to mix the colors
One basic flat brush
One Round Nib
One Palette knife
Paints of your choice
Note that there are different kinds of nibs that can be used such as Round, Long and Short, each having its own purpose of providing a different kind of texture. However, to keep things simple, we are going to use just the round nib for now. Nibs can be used with either oil paints or acrylics.
Preparing the Background
The first thing to do is to paint the canvas background to provide the right context and contrast for the subject. In the picture shown, varied tones of blue, green and brown have been used to create a full background that provides a dull setting for the subject. Palette knife has been used to give a tint of yellow on the sides to enhance the sense of the direction of light. More about painting the background in another post.
Drawing the Subject
The next step is to draw the outline of the subject with the help of a white pencil like shown.
Painting with Nib
Finally, use the Nib to paint the drawing. The nib is dipped in the desired paint and a stroke is made by gently pressing the nib against the canvas followed by a pull and a lift. Several such nib strokes are made one after the another filling the all the subject areas while switching the colors as required to create the desired effect.
This is the finished look of the nib #painting.
Hope you enjoyed making this beautiful #art at home.
Don't forget to watch the video on youTube showing the complete making of this #NibPainting. Follow us on our official social media channels for our upcoming blogs and use the hash tag #RangSangam so that we will be able to see your creativity and you get a free shout out from us.
Say It with Art!
By Sandhyaa Baskaran
with inputs from,
Manisha Sharma
Artist and Founder, www.rangsangam.com