try not to run before you can walk. start cheap, pencils will work on almost any wood. acrylic paint will work on a primed surface pretty well and so will markers. cryface has just started to paint on wood and killer napkins is pretty much a guru on it.

You are going to want to seal the wood first in a special primer, you could find at Michael's before you do anything! When I work on wood I tend to use acrylics and oils.but before I apply anything I sometimes sand the surface, seal it and then depending I might put a clear gesso or matte medium to extra seal the wood and create an interesting surface to work on. I don't really draw on wood, but I know you want to be easy with pens and pencils, because you don't want to create any divets in the wood that will become noticeable so watch the pressure you apply! have fun!

Craig Robson said:try not to run before you can walk. start cheap, pencils will work on almost any wood. acrylic paint will work on a primed surface pretty well and so will markers. cryface has just started to paint on wood and killer napkins is pretty much a guru on it.

Thank you Craig!

Yeah I've really wanted to get into it for a while now and i just wanna be sure I'm doing it right!
I'd really like to work with markers or pens if there's a good way of doing that because that's what I'm comfortable with right now. but if painting is the best way to go I might just have to step out of that comfort zone haha.

I'll definitely need to talk to Cryface or Killer napkins about the best method of going about this.

Victra said:You are going to want to seal the wood first in a special primer, you could find at Michael's before you do anything! When I work on wood I tend to use acrylics and oils.but before I apply anything I sometimes sand the surface, seal it and then depending I might put a clear gesso or matte medium to extra seal the wood and create an interesting surface to work on. I don't really draw on wood, but I know you want to be easy with pens and pencils, because you don't want to create any divets in the wood that will become noticeable so watch the pressure you apply! have fun!

Thank you Victra! Definitely some useful information here as well.
Pens or markers is going to be my supplies of choice as of right now so I'll be very careful!

Looks like I need to go out and get some primer and sand paper! haha

Victra said:You are going to want to seal the wood first in a special primer, you could find at Michael's before you do anything! When I work on wood I tend to use acrylics and oils.but before I apply anything I sometimes sand the surface, seal it and then depending I might put a clear gesso or matte medium to extra seal the wood and create an interesting surface to work on. I don't really draw on wood, but I know you want to be easy with pens and pencils, because you don't want to create any divets in the wood that will become noticeable so watch the pressure you apply! have fun!

I done it once or twice, and i done what Victra said, definitely seal that wood! :)

TomWhite said:

Victra said:You are going to want to seal the wood first in a special primer, you could find at Michael's before you do anything! When I work on wood I tend to use acrylics and oils.but before I apply anything I sometimes sand the surface, seal it and then depending I might put a clear gesso or matte medium to extra seal the wood and create an interesting surface to work on. I don't really draw on wood, but I know you want to be easy with pens and pencils, because you don't want to create any divets in the wood that will become noticeable so watch the pressure you apply! have fun!

I done it once or twice, and i done what Victra said, definitely seal that wood! :)

"ive" or "i did"

Killer Napkins does some wood illustration I believe.

Woods pretty easy to work with, for the most part (especially if you get some nice sanded down wood like they sell at the hoblob or michaels). Acrylic and markers work awesome. Sharpies are great, but tend to be a little shiny.

I also really like inking and coloring something onto paper (I use pens and prismapencils on tracing paper) and decoupaging it onto wood. You can get some cool texture effects doing it like that too, and if you paint the wood first the colors really stand out. Plus the decoupage works as a sealant. Did this one like that:


(crappy picture, but you get the idea)

Grab some wood and do some experiments. Its half the fun of art ;)

speaking of wood...

Decappuccino said:Killer Napkins does some wood illustration I believe.

he inks one of his pieces on wood in his profile video I think, go check it out!

i started a half eaten fish just recently on a pine smoking plank huge fan grillin' food. working with acrylics never tried markers sounds cool might have to try it.

When I was in art school I would paint onto 2ft x 4 ft pieces of plywood cause it was cheaper than a canvas that big. I'd draw something, then project it and outline in pencil then go over it and paint on it. I also liked staining the negative space and having the grains show through.

miles to go said:When I was in art school I would paint onto 2ft x 4 ft pieces of plywood cause it was cheaper than a canvas that big. I'd draw something, then project it and outline in pencil then go over it and paint on it. I also liked staining the negative space and having the grains show through.

Ahhh, gettin me all excited to start this project lol
I've been thinking about playing with some wood stain with my illustrations, not sure how I'll do it but I think some runs or drips would be interesting.

Yeah man.. i use wood pretty much for everything now. I usually just frame all my wood out with nice pine 1"x2"s.. I usually get luan panels since they are lightweight. I used to use MDF and masonite a lot for paintings because they are super smooth. But really all I did for ink drawings or paintings was just give the wood a couple even coats of house paint...
Ive been getting in to pencil drawings on wood lately. Using some acrylic washes for highlights, then coating over top of the pencil with polyurethane.

that is exactly what this is... pencil drawing, acrylic, then poly... It is on poplar wood, and smooth yellowish wood with a nice grain. Works well with pencil in my opinion... I have been thinking about trying some other nice woodworking woods/exotic lumber and whatnot.

Olive Burl would be cool for some awesome grain showing through

check out this video:



couple of my favorite artists that draw on paper then use a polymer coating and whatnot pasted on wood, and in person the pieces look absolutely beautiful even as the presentation. I went to their studio and asked them about it but it kind of went over my head. basically look up different ways to seal the pastes on wood and still maintain the wood texture. I hope i make sense. I should be asleep.

Killer Napkins said:Yeah man.. i use wood pretty much for everything now. I usually just frame all my wood out with nice pine 1"x2"s.. I usually get luan panels since they are lightweight. I used to use MDF and masonite a lot for paintings because they are super smooth. But really all I did for ink drawings or paintings was just give the wood a couple even coats of house paint...
Ive been getting in to pencil drawings on wood lately. Using some acrylic washes for highlights, then coating over top of the pencil with polyurethane.

that is exactly what this is... pencil drawing, acrylic, then poly... It is on poplar wood, and smooth yellowish wood with a nice grain. Works well with pencil in my opinion... I have been thinking about trying some other nice woodworking woods/exotic lumber and whatnot.

Olive Burl would be cool for some awesome grain showing through

Question answered. Not muchpoint using wood unless you take advantage of the grain. I've done some on wood with acrylic and sharpies but that was because the wood was cut to a specific shape which I could get with a canvas.

El Presidente said:speaking of wood...

hahaha

El Presidente said:speaking of wood...

There he is

It's pretty much the funniest gif i've ever ever seen...ever ever.

I airbrush on MDF and pine. MDF is pretty fun to work cut out (scroll saw) and work with.
I base coat the MDF with latex before I start painting.

These are the supplies I have so far....



-Pine wood (best size i could find for what i was doing, everything else was too big)
-"Plastercraft Acrylic Matte spray finish"
-"All-Purpose Sealer by Delta Ceramcoat"

I bought both kinds of sealers (bottles were only 50 cents so hey, might as well) to see which one would be better.

Thoughts?! I was thinking about staining the wood too. Is it best to do that last or first? before I apply the sealer? because i was thinking a dripping/running stain might be neat

try experimenting with the stain.. because that shit will most likely just soak into the wood, and spread out following the wood grain.. not sure if the stain would work with that sealer on there.

Killer Napkins said:try experimenting with the stain.. because that shit will most likely just soak into the wood, and spread out following the wood grain.. not sure if the stain would work with that sealer on there.

Luckily i do have a lot of extra wood so I will experiment with that once I pick out a stain.

hmmm, so if i wanted to use stain I'd better use it before i apply the sealer?!
I'll post some pictures after I experiment on my extra wood.

I would think so.. the point of stain is to actually soak into the wood and color the grain.. if you slap sealer on it first, i would assume it would just sit on top looking like brown watercolor or something ha.. im not sure though.. is the sealer clear? i used to do ink and brush straight on wood, and would also soak in real good and sometimes bleed into the grains as well

Killer Napkins said:I would think so.. the point of stain is to actually soak into the wood and color the grain.. if you slap sealer on it first, i would assume it would just sit on top looking like brown watercolor or something ha.. im not sure though.. is the sealer clear? i used to do ink and brush straight on wood, and would also soak in real good and sometimes bleed into the grains as well

haha ewww brown watercolor, I'll be sure to do any staining first then.
and yeah both sealers are clear Matte.
I tried using permanent marker on wood that wasn't sealed and it bleeds quite a bit.
So I'm hoping this sealer will reduce the bleeding since my illustrations will be pretty small.

There's plenty of great wisdom here, so instead of repeat (I might repeat, sorry, haven't read it all yet) I'll just share my process.

I sand it smooth, whatever wood I have handy, usually a maple/birch surface. I use 400 grit sandpaper or finer (600, 800). Then, if I want tooth for paint to stick to and get some texture, I wipe it down with a -thin- coat of Liquitex Clear Gesso, and i use a brush or sponge to apply it. Let that dry overnight, and then hit it in the morning with another thin coat.

If I want someting glass smooth to paint/draw on, I sand and repeat with the gesso. making sure to wipe out or blow out the gesso dust with compressed air.

And If I'm going really rough, and covering the woodgrain all over in a solid color, i use this "surface prep medium" from chromacryl. I thin it down with water to it's not sticky, and seal that, then blast a couple coats of gesso onto the panel.

Personally, I'm weary of not brushing or sponge brushing on my sealer/gesso coats because I SUCK with spray cans and even coats. And also the first coat on the wood, depending on the grain, just gets SUUCCCKKKKED in like crazy, there's been some really loose grained "throwaway" wood I've sealed that took almost a whole can of primer like it was a little snack.

Best of luck dude! It's fun once you get a process down that works for you! Go for it!

deadoctopi said:There's plenty of great wisdom here, so instead of repeat (I might repeat, sorry, haven't read it all yet) I'll just share my process.

I sand it smooth, whatever wood I have handy, usually a maple/birch surface. I use 400 grit sandpaper or finer (600, 800). Then, if I want tooth for paint to stick to and get some texture, I wipe it down with a -thin- coat of Liquitex Clear Gesso, and i use a brush or sponge to apply it. Let that dry overnight, and then hit it in the morning with another thin coat.

If I want someting glass smooth to paint/draw on, I sand and repeat with the gesso. making sure to wipe out or blow out the gesso dust with compressed air.

And If I'm going really rough, and covering the woodgrain all over in a solid color, i use this "surface prep medium" from chromacryl. I thin it down with water to it's not sticky, and seal that, then blast a couple coats of gesso onto the panel.

Personally, I'm weary of not brushing or sponge brushing on my sealer/gesso coats because I SUCK with spray cans and even coats. And also the first coat on the wood, depending on the grain, just gets SUUCCCKKKKED in like crazy, there's been some really loose grained "throwaway" wood I've sealed that took almost a whole can of primer like it was a little snack.

Best of luck dude! It's fun once you get a process down that works for you! Go for it!

I'll have to try this process on my next projects!!!

I couldn't wait to give this a try, and I SHOULD have waited longer for everything to dry and added more coats of stain etc... but here is my test of everything so far. The matte finishing REALLY helps with not making the markers bleed at all! with more coats of it and giving it time to dry, it will be easier to draw over it. I think my 2 thin coats wasn't enough, it was hard to draw at first.




This is gonna be fun learning how to draw on wood more! and using different wood stains to my advantage. I used 2 kinds on this one

Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

Looks beautiful :) Keep at it.

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

Dude is not kidding.

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

yeah you should think about switching to traditional inking

xul1349 said:

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

yeah you should think about switching to traditional inking

I agree, your traditional lines have a lot more 'life' to them, for sure. Keep at it!

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

Decappuccino said:

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

Looks beautiful :) Keep at it.

Joshua Jordan said:

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

Dude is not kidding.

xul1349 said:

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

yeah you should think about switching to traditional inking

deadoctopi said:

xul1349 said:

DanielAndHisArt said:Not saying this to be rude at all (seriously)

The drawing you did on wood looks 1000 times better than anything you have done digitally. Honestly looks like a whole different artist. I like it a lot dude. Looking awesome so far!

yeah you should think about switching to traditional inking

I agree, your traditional lines have a lot more 'life' to them, for sure. Keep at it!

AHHH thank you guys! It's been a lot of fun so far and drawing on wood is probably going to be one of my favorite things to do now! I must say, drawing traditionally is something I'm starting to get better at, but the weird thing is drawing a lot digitally helped me get better at drawing traditionally, idk why LOL

agree with everyone else that this is a good start. also, you can try things like not staining areas or using different shades of stain for shadows, highlights, etc. its not as easy since the stain will soak in and not keep really clean lines, but with practice it can be done. something trapped like that could have looked good if the inside of the triangle was the bare wood.

i used to buy those little cheap foam brushes for my stains and devote one to each color of stain and i'd just write the name of the color on the handle. with the pointed edge it has, you can get good at controlling it. i was also working on 2ft x 4ft panels and sometimes combing a few of them to make big pieces.

miles to go said:agree with everyone else that this is a good start. also, you can try things like not staining areas or using different shades of stain for shadows, highlights, etc. its not as easy since the stain will soak in and not keep really clean lines, but with practice it can be done. something trapped like that could have looked good if the inside of the triangle was the bare wood.

thank you!
yeah, I plan on experimenting with the stain a lot!! and I've been thinking about trying that effect out (showing the bare wood just where the illustration is) with some of my next drawings. I also want to try radial gradients and other neat things like taping off patterns for the background and stuff for the stain. I'll keep posting what I come up with haha

MattisGentle said:

miles to go said:agree with everyone else that this is a good start. also, you can try things like not staining areas or using different shades of stain for shadows, highlights, etc. its not as easy since the stain will soak in and not keep really clean lines, but with practice it can be done. something trapped like that could have looked good if the inside of the triangle was the bare wood.

thank you!
yeah, I plan on experimenting with the stain a lot!! and I've been thinking about trying that effect out (showing the bare wood just where the illustration is) with some of my next drawings. I also want to try radial gradients and other neat things like taping off patterns for the background and stuff for the stain. I'll keep posting what I come up with haha

it was my favorite medium to work on and i need to get back to it. i was never much of a canvas painter.

miles to go said:

MattisGentle said:

miles to go said:agree with everyone else that this is a good start. also, you can try things like not staining areas or using different shades of stain for shadows, highlights, etc. its not as easy since the stain will soak in and not keep really clean lines, but with practice it can be done. something trapped like that could have looked good if the inside of the triangle was the bare wood.

thank you!
yeah, I plan on experimenting with the stain a lot!! and I've been thinking about trying that effect out (showing the bare wood just where the illustration is) with some of my next drawings. I also want to try radial gradients and other neat things like taping off patterns for the background and stuff for the stain. I'll keep posting what I come up with haha

it was my favorite medium to work on and i need to get back to it. i was never much of a canvas painter.

YESS! Get back to it! wood is much cheaper then canvas (at least i would assume so, depending on the wood) and there's just something about drawing on wood that I really enjoy, not too sure what it is, but it's fun! haha

I really like what your doing as far as changing things up a bit but I just wish you would put more thought into the artwork other than just a triangle eye. Explore all areas of art and don't fall into the cliche category

GNARZILLA said:I really like what your doing as far as changing things up a bit but I just wish you would put more thought into the artwork other than just a triangle eye. Explore all areas of art and don't fall into the cliche category

Agreed. Can't wait to see your sketches put to good use!

GNARZILLA said:I really like what your doing as far as changing things up a bit but I just wish you would put more thought into the artwork other than just a triangle eye. Explore all areas of art and don't fall into the cliche category

I see what you mean and I understand completely, this first drawing was just a quick test of my materials to make sure everything worked, my illustrations I'm going to be doing on the rest of the wood will be a series of heads for a contest I'm doing :]

OptimisticDesigns said:

GNARZILLA said:I really like what your doing as far as changing things up a bit but I just wish you would put more thought into the artwork other than just a triangle eye. Explore all areas of art and don't fall into the cliche category

Agreed. Can't wait to see your sketches put to good use!

haha i know, I can't wait to draw them again!