Which colours go together?

When you’re designing your house or workspace, finding the right colours to go together can be a very difficult and costly task.

I’ve compiled some colours that I think go well together, as you can see below, but more importantly, I’ve tried to explain why I chose those colours and how you can avoid making mistakes.

So first let’s address what not to do

I personally think that if I was an Olympian and I came 2nd, that would be the worse thing. If I’m first that’s great, if I’m 3rd or forth, well done good effort, but 2nd place, quoting Jerry Seinfeld “ congratulations, you’ve almost made it”!

This is also in my opinion the worst thing you can do when it comes to having 2 similar colours that do not quite match. In door 17 the darker salmon doesn’t quite match the lighter one, but it’s not far enough to create contrast, and it’s the wrong hue (the dark one being colder, meaning less Yellow) however the step is a different family of colour to the light salmon making it an eye sore. You obviously don’t want to paint everything the same colour as if you blasted everything with a paint sprayer in order for the colours to match, but you need to create the right contrast.

You also have to be very aware of your surroundings, and paint or build your decor accordingly. In the example next to it with the 2 doors, it’s almost perfect but again not quite right because the blue in n27 clashes with n1725 from next door. instead if n27 used the same blue as next door, or a dark salmon matching the brick steps, that would have worked better. In the same way, if you have a massive magenta bougainvillaea outside your property and you paint the front door red, it won’t work.

What to look out for?

So something that it very important is to identify the families of colours. What does that mean?? Going back to basics for a minute with the primary colours Magenta (Pink) Cyan (Blue) Yellow, Black and White.

You can add either White, Black or both to any colour and it will go well together as shown below:

However, when mixing more than 30% of Black, White or Grey to your mix, it may alter the colours so much that it jumps to another family and no longer works. So a rule of thumb is: you can mix a medium grey all the way to 95% to any colour to make it a bit dull and without much saturation and it will work. But either Black or White on their own, not more than 30% as an average.

Also trends play a factor in this. Remember the 80’s?…

Some colour matching is timeless, and some works for now then it’s either used too much that everyone is bored of it, or a someone pushed the boat out, it worked for a while then everyone got wise and ditched it, like the mullet 😅

Ok what does actually work?

Now let me show you what I think looks good now and will soon be ditched, what is timeless, and what is about to be the next big thing. These are my own observations, I may be totally wrong, let me know what you think!

Here are some colours that go well together in my opinion:

Let’s fix the doors colour scheme…

These are subtle differences, that make a big difference.

How to hire a mural artist in London?

How to hire a Street artist or Mural artist in London?

How does someone find a Graffiti artist, a Mural artist or a Street artist?

As I browse through the pages of Google looking for new clients, it occurred to me that it wasn’t that straight forward.

As a mural artist, I’m on the receiving end of that question, and I just answer the email of my clients or if I need a fellow artist for a bigger/longer job, I already know who to call.

So…

How should you go about it?

The obvious one would be to go to Google. The problem with that is, you’re going to find agencies, companies and individuals that are great at SEO and who advertise to rank high, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to find the right one for you.

2nd choice would be to endlessly look through the pages of Instagram looking for someone you like the work of, hoping you’ll get an answer and a price.

3rd option would be to go to your local graffiti wall and try out ask the artists there if they’re interested. It can be a great way to see the work beforehand and discuss the price and work there and then. But you will need to go often to find the right artist for you.

Personally, the way I would advise you find a suitable artist for your wall is to ask street art photographers! They have a wealth of knowledge about most artists in their towns, and they know others worldwide, who can help you in your region. We often see them when we’re painting and they are familiar with our styles, the things we paint, the languages we speak and how fast/slow we work.

Here is a list of 5 street art photographers in London who might put you in touch with the right artist for your project. (that is, if I’m not available :-) or simply have a look through their feed to see who’s artist you like best and contact them directly.

Paul Zappa

LDN Calling Blog

Nick Heardy

Street art cities

London street view

Ps: there are many more who have a great gallery of artists but I can’t list everyone.

I hope this helps!

Olivier Roubieu.

How to paint a room from start to finish.

Ok, I’m going to try to walk you through step by step on how to paint a room the correct way. As I’m heading off abroad for a while, I won’t be able to film it yet, but when I can I will film a video to go with this blog post.

There are 3 ways of painting a room

The 3 ways I can think of are: badly, well and properly.

Anybody can paint a room White with Dulux paint. It’s an easy colour and an easy paint to use, very forgiving. Also if you’re painting the ceiling and the walls White, without cutting in, it’s fairly straight forward.

It gets a bit more difficult when you have to do some cutting in, for example a the ceiling is White and the walls are a different colour. If you’re painting an off-White it’s ok but when you paint a deep colour like a red or a dark blue, your lines need to be straight.

And lastly, some paints are difficult to paint as well as some colours. Fluorescent and metallic being the hardest ones by far. One doesn’t cover well and the other is highly reflective. But also, chalky paints like Farrow and Ball demand a good technique in order to achieve a good finish.

Let’s start with the prep

The first step is to have the room ready. You want to fill any holes with wall filler and sand anything that needs sanding. You also want to make sure there is no dust or grease on the walls, for example blue tack, candle wax or damp patches. Before painting, make sure to shake or change the protective sheets, or the dust will go on your paint.

Damp

1. If you see any damps stains on your walls or ceilings, the first thing is to identify where the water is coming from. If it’s a pipe, fix it first then let it dry fully, if it’s from an over flowing drain pipe, clear it. And if it’s coming through the walls, fix the outside walls first then let it dry.

2. Once dry, apply one coat of oil-based paint (undercoat, eggshell, gloss,…) Don’t buy “quick dry” for this, as it will be water-based and won’t work. Let it dry for a day.

3. Apply another coat, then let it dry for a day.

4. Sand it down with 180 or 120 grit sandpaper then wipe with a damp cloth.

5. Apply your paint as normal over the patch as you paint the room.

The painting process

Now that the room is ready, the sheets are down and dust-free we can get started.

If you are painting over new plaster, dilute the paint at a ratio of 50% paint / 50% water. Do the same over the filler patches you may have done. This is so the paint penetrates and doesn’t flake as the temperature changes.

If you’re painting over existing paint you can use your paint directly from the paint tin or add a bit of water if you find it too thick.

The correct way

You need to cut in with your brush and paint with your roller before it drys to avoid marks. This is easily achieved in the UK as it’s not hot here, but if you paint somewhere hot, be mindful of it. Don’t use your brush on all the walls then roll or you will see marks. Do a portion of the wall or ceiling with a brush then cover it with your roller as it’s still wet.

The way to use a roller correctly is to paint 1 or 2 m² in horizontal strokes then without dipping your roller again, painting the same square with vertical strokes when applying the first coat. Then move along until the walls or ceiling are done.

When applying the second coat it’s important to do the same (horizontal, vertical) but finish by rolling up, lifting the roller off the wall, positioning it at the bottom of the wall, then rolling up and so on. On the ceiling you want to paint from the window and away, lift the roller, position it again by the window, then away and so on. It doesn’t matter if you paint from the window or away from it but you have to stick to the one you choose.
This will give you uniform walls and ceiling as opposed to a football pitch look. It’s even more pronounce when painting a bright colour.

For specialty or difficult paints like farrow and Ball with a chalky finish or a metallic or a fluorescent paint, it’s best to have an even surface to work on. So paint the room with 2 coats of Dulux, Valspar or Leyland before applying these paints.

Please note: if the paint is quite transparent, or a metallic paint, it will look different when painted on a White wall or a Black wall. So you might want to try a sample beforehand.

For water-based paints, the re-coat time is about 5 hours in the UK. But it will depend on the paint you’re using, the humidity where you are and the season (Summer,winter)

Masking tape

If you’re confident painting without masking tape (maybe you’ve practiced on a practice wall, or you’re experienced) that’s great. If you want to use masking tape, apply it then paint over the tape with the colour you’re trying to cover. For example, if you’re looking to have a white ceiling and a blue wall, first paint the ceiling 2 coats going a bit onto the walls too. Let it dry, then apply the masking tape as well as you can. Then paint the White on top of the masking tape and let it dry. Once it’s dry, you can paint the blue as normal halfway over the masking tape, this way if some paint will bleed through, it will be the White. And when you remove the masking tape you should have perfect lines. Be careful if you have wallpaper as it might tear it.

Wood work

Now that the walls and ceiling are done, you can finish with the wood work, ie: the doors, windows, skirting boards (base boards) this way you will not splatter small droplets of paint onto the work from the roller, if you were to start with the wood work.

Then remove the plastic floor sheet (get one that’s thick enough so it doesn’t lift as you walk) and let the room dry. Open a window if you can because the airflow is what dries the paint by removing moisture. A heater will not dry it properly, you can have one in the room by all means, but the airflow is what will dry the room. When It’s all done, you can sweep or vacuum, not before it’s dry or it’ll stick to the paint.

I hope this will be useful to you.

Olivier.

Which paint should I use for my house?

I want to paint my house, but I don’t know which paint to use! Can you help me decide?

There is a lot of confusion in the world of paint. I sometimes get questions on my YouTube channel making me realise that it’s not straight forward for most people and in this blog post I’m going to try to shed some light on it all.

There are many labels, but only a few manufacturers. There are also only a few ingredients in paints. A lot of it is marketing, some of it is bad advice from the sales assistant at the local DIY shop, and the rest is people hoping for the best.

The manufacturers

To start with, let’s talk about who makes the paint. Most of paint you can buy is made by PPG. That’s true for Dulux, Johnstone's, Leyland, Wilco and many more. The other brands are either independent like Little Greene or part of different manufacturer’s groups like Sherwin-Williams who makes Valspar amongst other paints. Some brands of course swap hands from time to time, but the recipes aren’t changed, mostly.

So in the UK, you will most likely buy a paint made by the same company.

What is paint made of?

There are 3 products in paint: Pigment, solvent, binder.

1. The pigment is the colour of the paint

2. The solvent is what determines the family (Oil or Water) also turns a paste into a liquid.

3. The binder is the glue. What hold the paint together. For example gouache is just pigment and water, and it can be dissolved when dry.

Sometimes they also add other ingredients in the mix to achieve different results. For example masonry paint has added anti-mould agents to help against the elements. Side note, it should never be used indoors as it’s toxic for us.

Which is the safest to use?

Another misconception is that water-based paints are much better for us to use. The truth is that it depends on the application. Oil-based paints fumes are toxic far more than water-based paints, that’s true. BUT, the moment you use a paint sprayer it’s the opposite. We (humans) are water-based, and when we breath in the paint particles, (either by using water-based spray paint or water-based paints with an airbrush or a paint sprayer) those particles mix inside our bodies, unlike oil-based paints. Also if you use some water-based paints then store it for a year or more, if it’s emulsion you will have a strong mould smell coming from it, where oil-based paints will last for many years even with the lid off, as it will create its own skin.

So always use any types of paints in a well ventilated area, and use the correct protection for the application.

What makes paint different?

Why are some paint expensive, and some cheap? What’s the difference?…

the answer is: Pigment!

The pigment is the expensive part of the paint. Water is abundant, and the glue is also not too expensive in the case of water- based paints (they use some type of plastic glue, either PVA, Latex, acrylic or other polymer) resin however is more expensive, hence the higher price of eggshell, undercoat, gloss,…

So depending on the paint, it will have more or less water, and more or less pigment, and binder.

Sometimes you want a watered-down paint, example if you are painting the first coat over plaster, you either need to dilute the paint 50% with water or buy a paint that’s heavily diluted on purpose so it can penetrate the plaster. Failure to doing that, the paint will flake clean off in time, as your house gets cold, hot, cold, hot.
Some paint is also very diluted and sold cheap, but it’s best to stay away from those as you will need to apply 4 + 1 wet coats instead of 2 + 1 wet coat.

Some pigment is harder to produce, Magenta, red, emerald, and is therefore more expensive. At the art shop you will see the paint is sold as series from 1 to 7 (mostly) Magenta being series 7, and Black and White being series 1. But when it comes to house paints, it’s simpler for the shops like Leyland, B&Q, HomeDepo, Leroy Merlin, to sell the paint at the same price regardless of the colour. They just charge you more for a deep base (more pigment) than a pastel base (more chalk or similar)

So why do I need a lot of pigment in my paint?

In a lot of cases you can get away with a cheaper paint. If you are using a white, a grey or any pastel colour. Because the colour won’t fade, and if it does, it won’t be very noticeable.

If you are looking to use a bright colour or you’re going to have a south-facing wall with a lot of sun on it, you may decide to use a very strong paint like Little Greene that has a lot of pigment in their paint and will last a lot longer that your regular PPG-made mix. This comes at a premium, and it’s up to you to decide if it’s better to re-coat more often, or get a more expensive paint.

JARGON explained

Trade generally contains more pigment.

Tough or Diamond or hard-wearing it has more acrylic polymer or resin.

Emulsion, Vinyl matt, Latex are very similar, and to be used indoor. Though latex and vinyl are not water soluble, emulsion is.

One coat paint: lie. Unless you’re using tar, the mechanical process of painting requires 2 coats minimum.

Matt, gloss? Matt is the least shiny then satin, then semi gloss, then gloss. Please note, regardless of what the tin promises with some water-based paints, it will not be as glossy as oil-based paints. Similarly, an oil-based paint cannot be as as matt as a water-based paint because oil is shiny :-)

Which paints/brands I recommend, which one I don’t.

The paints I use partly depend on my clients and their budgets and needs. Also this is my opinion which has been formulated after years of using many products and brands, by painting for clients and myself in easy and harsh conditions, and by testing the paints in my studio, as well as doing online research. As of now I’m not sponsored by any brand, so this is an unbiased opinion. Should the day come when I’m sponsored by a brand or multiple brands, I will make sure to tell you and make it clear on my website.

My most used paint is Leyland trade. It is a strong paint, with good coverage, good pigments and affordable.
My personal favourite is Little Greene. It has the most amount of pigment, it’s strong and applies well, but very expensive.
My second go-to is Dulux trade. I personally can’t see a difference on the coverage or pigments compared to Leyland trade, but it’s more expensive. However it’s an internationally available paint, so I know what I’ll get wether painting for a client in the UK or New Zealand or Japan.
Valspar is another good quality paint, and their buckets are very user friendly!

We’ve done the good, now let’s do the weird…

I feel like F&B deserve a category of their own.

I have to give credit where credit is due, so I’ll start by saying Farrow and Ball water-based eggshell is very strong. BUT I do not recommend their emulsion at all. I once painted a bedroom 5 coats, and you could still see the filler patches through the paint. They say it has to be painted with 2 coats of their primer paint (similar to Dulux emulsion) before painting their emulsion, but then might as well skip their paint altogether. They are the Prada of paints, you pay for the branding and the R&D in finding good pastel shades. But as I said earlier, if you’re painting a pastel shade you can go cheap.

Then why use it?

So, the reason people like Farrow and Ball is the because of the ultra matt look. Sure you can match their colours with Leyland but it will have more sheen, even with a matt emulsion (not vinyl matt).

And the reason I don’t recommend it is because most contractors don’t know how to use it. It’s not that it’s a difficult paint to use, but it’s an unforgiving paint. unless you use it properly, it will show all the imperfections. Unlike their eggshell which is easy to apply.

What If I want to use it? how do I use it?

I think this blog is long enough, and it’s almost 3pm and I haven’t had lunch, So check in next week Friday for a step by step on how to paint with any paint and get great result.

Thanks for reading,

Olivier.

Which spray can colours do I buy?

“Oli, which colours do you use?” This is one of my most ask question, second to “are you Banksy“ of course…

So in this blog post (that I’m writing only to score better seo and get more jobs) I will shed some lights on why I chose those colours.

MTN 94 is by far my favourite paint, but it’s a really bad paint to store and the reason many artist don’t use it. So to go around that, I keep a low stock and I try to use any open can within 6 months. After that the can is not working smoothly and ends up being used in the background. It’s interesting that it’s downfall as far as longevity in storage is what makes this paint so good. Because it is a little “powdery” it is a high quality paint with good coverage. But once it’s been used, the countdown begins. No spray can is perfect, so you can choose what works best for you.

So for this reason, I’ve been accustomed to keeping a limited stock at any one time. But because I sometimes get asked to paint a mural last minute, I need to have general colours. So I’ll start with the general colours and then explain the portrait colours as a bulk.

Magenta is a nice vibrant Pink, useful for neons and popping text. I mainly use it for girls’ events, or to match a logo.
You have to have a Red, Madrid Red is a very vibrant and deep colour. Light Red is also good, but more orange.
Lava orange is your typical Orange, useful for a variety of murals.
Light Yellow is the best one of this brand. It covers well (better than Eldorado) and it’s also not orange, yet bright enough.
Valley Green is a good all around for medium colour grass, logos, forest and more when mixed with Black and Yellow.
Formentera Blue is a good Turquoise, and covers well. Good all around, though a little on the Green side.
Rain Blue is great for painting the sky as well as a bunch of things. Barcelonet is better for the sky but too light for most things.
Dark Blue is a must for painting logos, like facebook and stuff. It’s the best this brand has. Babylon or Tuareg are other options.
Electra Violet is a good one, though I don’t use it much, but still need one. Sultan is good also but more Lilac.
Tokyo Pink is a great all rounder if you just want one. Though if you want to focus on portraits, Supernova is better.
Rita Grey is the best for sexy concrete, like my website’s background, also more useful than you may think to have a Grey.

And now for the ones people are really interested in, portrait colours:

Black and White are an essential for every mural, so get one of each, better yet two of each for all your murals minimum.
Chocolate Brown is my favourite of this brand, it works so well due to the dark pigment (lighter pigments are often a problem and the ones that are harder to use) and it is great all around. It is a colour that is found a lot in portraits, the holes of the nose, the eyes, corner of the mouth, also great for painting eyebrows before painting some in Black, creating depth.
Bean Brown and Tana brown are great mid colour complexion. I use them together to create fades in the faces of people, then blend some Chocolate Brown for darker complexions or Jaima Brown for Lighter complexions.
Oak brown is the closest colour for lips. Believe me I’ve tried them all! then depending on the person, you can add some other colours to fine tune the shade. It’s also a great colour to add to a person’s face to add a Red hue and mix some White to get a Pink shade (or you can use Tokyo for simplicity, if you want to carry it).
Jaima Brown is one of my favourite. It’s essential in a portrait. I’ve tried to forgo using it, to have one less colour to carry, but the subtle off-White is a must for people of all complexions, then near the end I add a touch of White to create a 3D effect, works great.

I painted people of all colours and I find it interesting that I use exactly the same colours for all. Unless of course the picture has a green or pink filter from a light source. However this is my look, another artist may choose Kraft as a base or Respect Pink, and get a different result.

Even though you can’t mix spray paint (unless you do the cold/hot cans with needle cap thing) you are pretty much stock with the colours you bought. But because the colour is sprayed on, you can spray 2 colours to get a third one or more. This is how I’m able to use a limited amount of spray cans to get an array of of colours. And I just buy other colours when I have to paint flat colours of a specific tone.

You will see that the colours in this post or in charts are not actually close to what you get delivered. What I highly recommend if you are/wanting to do this as a full time mural artist, is to buy a chart made from the actual paint. I paid around £20 and I get to take it to my clients who can choose the colours, with no surprises when the paint arrives. It also has MTN Hardcore colours in it, which is a slightly glossy paint with more vibrant colours, but it has more pressure.

I know also Belton Molotow makes one as well as Montana Gold, if they are your chosen paints, I would recommend getting one.

Thank you for reading. More posts are coming soon to this blog if you want to check it again weekly (I’ll try) and I will also soon do an equivalent video post.

Olivier.

Which brushes should I use?

Like spray cans, it’s a very personal choice. Some like these, some like those. So I guess I’ll tell you about the ones I use and why, maybe it might be useful to someone.

Which types of brushes are there?

There are 2 main types of brushes, Artists’ brushes and decorators’ brushes.

Decorators brushes are great for the background and for effects. I used to use the round one (sash brushes) but now I prefer rectangle brushes as they are easier to control and more versatile. My favourite being a 2” brush (50cm) I find bigger ones are good for effects but they are not efficient enough as you use too much paint and they dry up around the collar. there is little difference between a cheap or expensive brush, as long as they’re smooth and the hair is thin. A brush with corse hair will be better for a difficult (thick) paint like enamel but overall, it won’t give you a very smooth finish. Some cheap brushes may have the hair coming off as you paint, but to be honest so do expensive brushes.

I find Artist brushes have a similar story. When I studied art at college, we used to use brushes made from marten hair (a type of weasel) as they are very bouncy. But nowadays synthetic brushes are the same if not more bouncy and smooth, and obviously far cheaper. As a full time working artist, we need to be very efficient and quick, often once the job is done the clients rush us out the door because the event is about to start or they need to open the restaurant or whatever, and cleaning the brushes isn’t always easy. So a lot of brushes bite the dust. So being able to buy cheap brushes is invaluable. On a side note, I found some folding buckets on amazon that don’t take a lot of space, and allow me to clean the brushes (when possible) at a client’s house without using their bathrooms, then empty the bucket in a bottle.

So in 2023 I can’t recommend natural hair brushes to paint with acrylics, oil, water-colour or emulsion (house paint) however, if you’re looking to paint pinstriping you’ll need a brush made of squirrel hairs and short handle or if you paint Chinese Kanji (characters) you’ll need one made of goat, horse or rabbit hair, as they are not bouncy.

If you’re painting letters or you’d like to paint steady long lines, you’ll need ringer brushes, they look like a normal paint brush but with extra long hairs.

Here are some of my favourite brushes and what I use them for:

1: Flat decorator’s brush, Versatile brush, great for flat areas and effects such as dry brushing
2: Spalter, very wide brush with a narrow profile, allows you to paint large areas without overloading the brush
3: Cheap Amazon brush, great for use with spray paint for details, epoxy or anything that will destroy the brush
4: Daler and Rowney graduate, excellent all around brush for murals. I prefer the flat ones personally.
5: Daler and Rowney System 3, excellent all around brushes, though slightly more expensive but smoother bristles.
6: DaVinci round brush, great for details, I like 1 or 2 for most things or a 000 for very vine details.
7: Ringer brush, my favourite for letters, long lines or controlled curves.
8: Pinstriping brush, Like a ringer brush but steadier due to it’s longer hairs.
9: Pasting wallpaper brush, great for effects and drips, you can load a lot of paint or water then either splash or paint.
10: Cheap brush, last but not least is poundland’s finest! This type of brush is by far the best for painting clouds or any type of fade. If you spend £22 on a spalter from Leyland, you’re not going to bash it against the wall, you’ll be very gentle with it, which is great sometimes, but not when painting fades. Having a cheap brush that you can repeatedly bash against the wall and use from side to side like sand paper is the best way to get great fades and clouds-like patterns. So even though I’m not very good with my brushes, once I have a cheap brush that looks like a mop, I tend to keep them because they’re so useful. In this list I didn’t include round flat brushes, normally used for chalk paint, because I find a damaged cheap brush does a far better job.

Voilà! Here are the brushes I use. Maybe there’s one in there you haven’t use and you’d like to give it a go…

Olivier.

How to design a business card?

Should I get some business cards?

A business card is a great analog piece of information in a digital world. Sure you can tell people what your instagram is, or website, and I do from time to time. But having something smart that represent your business that you can just give someone for them to deal with later, is a great thing to have. A business card also shows a potential client that you are willing to go through the effort of getting some cards made. We as Artist are viewed as a bit of a joke to most people, I can’t tell you how many times people asked me “if I got paid for doing this“ so anything that will make what we do a bit more relatable to people’s idea of a real job, is going to help.

How much should I spend on them?

I get mine made by moo and they cost about 50p per card. It’s a bit pricey but they allow you to have multiple designs on one side, the colours are good and the feel is nice. I got some cards from Solopress once and the red was bleeding on the back of the next card making them a bad first impression, so they got binned. To be original I also made some plastic tokens with my website on them, it made people stop and go, oh cool. Which is always a good thing, you want to make an impression. Unfortunately they didn’t fit in shopping trolleys, which was a mistake on my part. You will see tons of adverts for vistaprints, I would be careful about ordering from them since it’s all in the US and they take a long time to get to the UK, the quality is shocking and also they say they’re free but by the time you’ve paid for the shipping you could have gone to somebody my better like your local printer, moo or also instantprint.

You shouldn’t spend too much money getting some gold relief of multiple layer cards, as they are too thick for people’s wallets and they also put you in a position of superiority, which is never the best way to come across to your clients.

So which cards should I get?

You need your cards to be a nice quality paper, not too thin, so 400gsm or around that is good. Anything original is a great thing! A carpenter having thin plywood cards will be a success, same as an artist with pieces of canvas as a business card (though be minful of the smell that they will gather, so keep them in a pouch).

1. A design that represents what you do

2. Round corners so they keep their shapes

3. QR code for easy access

4. Logo

5. Name and job title

6. Email address

7. Phone number

8. Website

9. social media handle

They are by no means a standard to follow, but I will walk you through why I chose certain options. I like a square design because it’s a bit different to the typical 85cm x 65cm but they don’t fit in regular wallets as easily. The square corners allow them to keep their shape for longer and I often have a few in my back pocket or wallet so that’s handy. The smooth velvety matt look looks premium but doesn’t get dirty like a full matt porous paper. It’s also not gloss, which looks very cheap and often the gloss coatings peel off, so I’d advise against it.

I like to have a design that represents my work without text nor logos on one side.

On the other side, I like to have a White background with Grey or Black writing and my logo. As far as the info you put on it, that’s up to you. In my opinion, these 5 are the most important things to include.

1. Website

2. Social media handle

3. Name

4. Logo

5. Email address

You can have a job title if you want, but your main picture can and should show what you do. Phone number is up to you, I often don’t have it, I went with it this time. The QR code is a nice idea and I thought I’d try it, but I would hand people a card and they would type my instagram or website on their phones as opposed to taking a picture, so I might not use that again as I prefer a clean look with less on it. But that’s part of learning what works and what doesn’t. Some things will work for me, different things will work for others.

So to sum up, have something that doesn’t look cheap, but don’t have something overly premium or you’ll get the wrong outcome. Get something nice, slick, and straight to the point as far as what’s on it.

Which spray cans should I use?

Montana Spanish, German, loop, Belton, Valspar, halfords…

There are so many spray cans to choose from in Europe (well that includes us in the UK) it’s hard to know which paint to buy! In this blog post I will try to shed some light on the different types of paints available and what they are used for. No brand is sponsoring me (yet) so this will be an unbiased opinion.

Ok let’s separate them by shops and uses to start with.

Where to buy spray cans?

If you get a spray can from Halfords or any car body spray shop the paint will be very thin and not suitable for art. The reason it’s thin is to be used as a primer in multiple coats.

Next stop we have the typical home improvement shops like Home depo, B&Q or Leroy Merlin, that will sell a paint that is thick enough in most cases, but the cans are overpriced (2-3 times the price) and often will have some funky cap on them that will get blocked rendering the can unusable, and the spray pattern in medium and limited.

So that leaves 3 places: Art shops, Graff shops and online shops.

Most art shops will have good paints but they tend to be more expensive than most graff shops, though Cowling & Wilcox, Greatart and Jacksons have competitive prices.

Personally I buy my paint at Wildstyle Graffiti or at VIP either online or in the shop if I need it the same day or I need to check the colours.

Which spray cans should I buy and why?

There are 2 types of spray cans for artists: High pressure and low pressure.

High pressure paint are great for covering larger areas quickly, like the backgrounds or if you want to do some effects or simply you like/want to work fast. But it’s harder to control the cans for doing details. So any tall can (600ml and up) like coversall, Montana Ultrawide, Madmax, or any other burner cans will be great for that. They will typically come with a fat cap or ultra fat cap. You can put a skinny on them but it’s harder to control because the can is too tall, there’s too much pressure and also because of the extra pressure some paint will leak through the cap making a mess.

Some other high pressure cans like MTN Hardcore are great for just about anything and they have vibrant glossy colours, but compared to lower pressure cans, they are a bit harder to control.

Most spray cans available now will be low pressure. MTN 94 being my favourite because I’ve used them in very cold and very hot weather and they work well and also the colours stay in time, they don’t fade like other brands. Though as some artists have pointed out, they are not as vibrant as say Montana Gold or MTN Hardcore. Montana Gold and MTN 94 are the best cans when it comes to detailed work. You can also use them for backgrounds and a bit of everything. Molotow Belton is also a top paint, though they had a bad batch of paint lasting a couple of years, I think they are now back to normal and a good paint to use.

So to make it simple, I made a chart with what I think about these paints. I only displayed the ones I used, and this is my personal opinion and some will agree and others will disagree. As I always say, try them all out for yourself and see what you think. Though when trying a new brand, only try the White. Don’t use a can of Black and think it’s good. The White pigment is normally chalk or Titanium Dioxide which is not one that flows well, so it’s always best to use a can of White to determine how good the rest of the paint is. This is also true when using airbrush paints.

Remember this is what I think about these paints after years of use. No spray can is perfect but some come close.

My personal favourites

I mainly use MTN 94 for most of my work because it’s versatile. The can control with a skinny or ultra fat cap is in my opinion the best. The pigment is also of good quality and I can trust it for the commissions I do for my clients to last in time. The biggest drawbacks are that it’s a sticky paint (if you paint a large surface, your shoes will have a crust under them) and also the colours are not the most vibrant. MTN hardcore is probably the all around best, but the pressure is higher, and because I mainly paint details, it makes it a bit harder to use, but overall it’s a really good paint. NBQ is very similar to MTN94 as it’s low pressure, good quality and it’s cheaper, but sometimes cans will not go all the way to the end and get a bit stuck. Montana Black is a good opaque paint with decent details capabilities though it takes a while to get them going sometimes. Montana Gold was the first paint I used and even though this new formula is better, it smells a bit strong for indoor jobs, and it tends to drip when used with a fat cap to do thin lines (fine with a skinny) and I got a customer call back after the Gold shifted colour, and in cold weather, filling in a large area will result in a patchy finish. But both of these 2 paints are not as sticky as MTN94, so you can decide what’s most important to you.

Personally, the best for me is to use emulsion for big areas then 94’s or a mix of 94’s and Hardcore for the background.

Let me know your thoughts on instagram…

Olivier.

The A paper sizes

Ok so on this one, I’m going to be honest I kinda did this post for me. And also because it’s good for online traffic!

I’m always using A sizes and the last guide I was using had an error in it and I didn’t like the colours, so I made my own.

But really, why would I want to use A Sizes as opposed to any other random sizes?

The main reason is ease of use. All the printers are set to A4, it’s a standard size, and I guess we’re all used to it. If you’re doing photography, you might prefer to use 10” by 8” because your photo printer uses that size, and that’s great. But overall, it’s a lot easier to find an A2 or A3 frame than a custom photo size.

It’s also faster

When I’m trying to size up a canvas, It’s easier for me to think in terms of A1 for example, which in my head is a mass, as opposed to measurements, that are to be calculated.

Here are the A Sizes in metric and imperial measurements:

Ok, I’ll keep this one short.

Thanks for reading,
Olivier.

The primary colours explained: CMYK vs RGB

In this blog post I will try to explain as much as I can what the primary colours are, and why it’s important to know them.

Why should I learn them?

As a mural artist knowing the primary colours is fundamental. I have painted a concrete desk for someone and they wanted a nice contrasty black and white background, as opposed to a medium grey that they thought was boring. So I went on location with a tin of white, a tin of black, and my 3 pigments, so I could make the right greys. When mixing black and white together you will often have a blueish grey, but if you know that the opposite of blue is red (Magenta+Yellow) you can easily make a warmer grey.

I use grey as an example but it works for all the colours. I will explain it further down.

I thought they were Red Blue Yellow?

Paint manufacturers and scientists have a better knowledge and understanding of what the primary colours are and how to make them. Years ago, a lot of it was still experimental, famous painters like Vincent Van Gogh would paint with egg yolk or beer mixed with pigments to save money. they were trying stuff out and rolled with it. Now the majority of paints are made in large factories and they have better ways of harnessing the raw materials to create the right pigments. Magenta, is my favourite colours because it’s vibrant but also because it’s the most expensive and the most misunderstood. The biggest reason red was taught to us, is because it was a lot easier to make than Magenta. Red was made by crushing cochineal which produced a chemical reaction creating a vivd red (not actually their blood). Anything to do with greens, emeralds, reds, magentas, are made from refining metal. This is more expensive process than creating yellows, browns and oranges, made by crushing stones. This is why when you buy paint tubes, they will say series 1 to 7 or 8, with magenta at the top of that list. At the beginning of the paint discovery, they only knew how to get blue from a stone called Lapis Lazuli, reserved for painting royalty, as it’s an expensive blue stone with chips of gold.

CMYK or CMYKW?

Cyan Magenta Yellow Key are the colours used in printing where the paper is white and they print tiny dots of colours close together that appear like one colour, but using a magnifying glass, you would see CMYK dots of ink on white paper. When using paint or inks and physically mixing them together, you sometimes need to add white to make for example salmon, beige or emerald.

Ok, with this out of the way, let’s begin!

There are 2 families of primary colours:

. CMYK (W) Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key (Black) and White are SUBTRACTIVE colours (Pints, inks, pigments…)

. RGB Red, Green, Blue are ADDITIVE colours (lights, screens…)

Make sure you get the right ones!

Look inside a newspaper or inside the seem of a packet of crisps to see the 4 colours. Because depending on your browser or screen, the colours may be off.

The drawing above that I made on photoshop was saved as an RGB and CMYK file but once on the internet, neither is true.

How do they work?

So if you mix two primary colours of paint together at a 50/50 ratio, you’ll get one primary colour of light and vice, versa. For example: Magenta+Yellow=Red or in reverse: Red+Green=Yellow.

In theory if you mix the 3 primary colours of paint you’ll get Black and if you mix the 3 primary colours of light you’ll get White.

BUT……

Because the pigments are rarely accurate (unless you’d be willing to pay £100 for a 10mg of pigment) and also when we mix them, we’re not 100% accurate, it’s almost impossible to make Black. White on the other hand is a lot easier to achieve, because all you need to do is add red, blue or green colour gels, or in the case of LED’s, just turn up the voltage to make a brighter green if needed.

I am working on a course that will go through in depth, explaining how to mix them. But for now, I’ll leave you with this drawing that I did on the plane last week :) for you to study.

I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions.

Olivier.