How do you paint glowing lights?

Question

I've been googling all day and haven't come up with not one thing! What techniques do you use to paint (preferably with acrylics) lights and stars? Such as balls of lights, like in these pictures by Peter Alexander:

http://www.peteralexander.com/pa/paintings-drawings/1988-1991-lax

(They are beautiful, aren't they?)

Please help!

Answer 1

One way is to soften the edges with a small sponge. Dilute the paint and dab the edges so it fades into transparency.



Oh, and the dry brush might work too, with the sponge or maybe without. I use 'soft pastels' mostly, and with that fading is a breeze.

Answer 2

If it was me I would cut circles out of tape and put them on the canvas where I want the lights, Then I would paint the backdrop right on top. When it is dry remove the tape and paint details in the lights to make them realistic but since they are the brightest part of the painting they need to remain the lightest. Hope this gives you some help or at least an idea on how to do it. I love art.

Answer 3

You would like Ross Bleckner's work, also.



I agree with the answer where you put down tape, or some type of resist and paint over that with your darks. Then lift the resist and paint in the details.



You can use stencil paper, artists masking tape, frisket, liquid frisket (if you are working in watercolor) and even white wax crayons(on paper, not canvas) to provide the resist. Probably the most user friendly to work with is artist masking tape. You can get it as thick as 2" wide and make rows with it for bigger areas when needed. If you want a precise edge to your circle (unlike the artist you cited) you would need to seal the edge of the tape with Golden GAC 200 or like. Golden is a very supportive company for artists and even has a hotline you can call for advice.

Answer 4

Damn nice paintings those are!

This is my method so it probably wont work for you but try sketching it with a pencil then using an eraser to gently remove bits and pieces of the painting where you want the lights stars etc then scan it and use photoshop to color it after that print out the completed version if you need it on paper IRL

Answer 5

for stars, you can dip a brush with stiff bristles in white or off-white paint, pull the tip of your brush back with your fingers then let it splatter. if you don't get too much paint on the brush, it'll look like several small spots of light. I'm not really sure how to do larger lights though. but you're right, his painting is beautiful.

Answer 6

Dude, go talk to some real people that are artists. A cousin of mine does the arts stuff and I doubt she would know what you were talking about for an instant. LOL

Answer 7

enlarge a detail of one of his paintings and copy it.



Does he use acrylics or oils? It might be hard to copy in acrylic what was done in oils.



Once you copy him, you can go from there into your own style.