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Tips

Preparing Your Square

Materials: tempera paint, paint roller, and masking tape
**Please, use only tempera paints**

Tempera Paint: Water based paint, which provides a great background for chalking. Tempera paint MUST be diluted with WATER.

Paint Roller: A quick way to cover your background with tempera

Masking Tape: A great way to quickly separate colors while painting the background. (Example: Horizon line i.e. Blue-Sky vs. Green-Grass.

Techniques for Chalking

Crosshatching:

Strokes of different directions, one over the other in opposite directions to create the illusion of shadows.

Blending with your finger or aa wet brush:

Used for shading and combining two colors or more, experiment with using your finger, a brush or rag and see which works best for you.


Broad Strokes:

Use the side of the chalk to fill large areas quickly. Blending together the midtones and some highlights Layering the midtones to create deep rich colors.

Layering:

1. Chalk midtones then apply hairspray (fixative) ** It might be a good idea to use tempera and a paint roller for midtones for faster results
2. Chalk shadows then apply hairspray (fixative)
3. Chalk highlights then apply hairspray (fixative)

Using a Grid

Materials:
Chalk Line, measuring tape, ruler
If you are working with several people it might be a good idea to decide ahead of time who will create what or you might decide to grid or section off your square. (Read more about gridding below)

Why use a Grid?

• To divide the square up equally to stop Artistic Napoleons from taking over the square.
• To create a more realistic image
• To help Balance you abstract creation

How do I use a grid?

1. Draw grid of equal units over your artistic sketch or photograph
2. Mark across the top of the grid with letters and down the side of the grid with numbers
3. Next scale the units to transfer to the larger square (i.e. 1 inch = 6 inches)
4. Measure off and create your grid (We suggest using a chalk line, available at your local hardware store)
5. Mark across top of the square the with letters and down the side with numbers
6. Use the original gridded image and focus on drawing one section of the grid at a time. This will create a surprisingly more realistic image.