Best Scumbling Painting Technique Tips

 

In this story, Jim Hingst explains the scumbling painting technique, how it differs from glazing and describes tips for proper application of this process.

 

By Jim Hingst

What is Scumbling (Also Called Dry Brushing)

In the scumbling painting technique, a small amount of an opaque or semi-opaque paint is lightly brushed or scrubbed over another layer. In this process, only bits of paint are applied to the exiting layer so that much of it shows through. Generally, but not always, a lighter color is applied over a darker color.

 

How Scumbling Differs from Glazing

In both scumbling and glazing, the existing base layer shows through. In glazing, however, light passes through thin, uniformly-applied coats of transparent paint and reflects off of the base layer.  In scumbling, light reflects off of the bits of paint and the base layer. In both techniques, reflected light is optically mixed in the mixed of the viewer.

 

The Advantages of Scumbling

Scumbling can achieve a number of different visual effects:

● Lighten a darker layer of paint.

● Add texture to your painting.

● Create an atmospheric effect, when painting skies.

● Model a subject, giving it a three-dimensional appearance.

● Soften the base color and create gradations of value between highlight and shadow.

● Used on a solid background color, scumbling can break up a monotonous surface, making it more visually interesting.

● Painting with a different color can allow you to alter the color temperature of your painting.

 

On close inspection, the brush strokes in the scumbling process are usually visible. However, viewed at a distance, the two colors of the base color and the one applied over it are optically blended in the viewer’s experience.

 

Mixing Paint for Scumbling

In the scumbling painting technique, you generally scrub a lighter color over a darker area. That doesn’t mean that you cannot scumble a darker color over a lighter one. Impressionist artists, such as Monet, used both light and dark colors.

 

You need very little paint in this technique. In applying paint from a tube to your palette, just a little dab will do you.  In mixing a lighter shade, add some titanium white to the mixture to make it opaque.

 

To keep your paint from getting runny, make sure that the brush hairs are dry. What’s more, in mixing your paint, do not add any medium, which will lower its viscosity making it more fluid and more difficult to control.

 

How to Scumble

The brushwork used in the scumbling painting technique is different from other painting techniques. It is not a difficult process to master, but it does take some patience, because it can take some time. The results, however, are well worth your efforts.

 

Whether you are glazing or scumbling, make sure that the base coat is dry, before  starting to work. This prevents two wet layers of paint from mixing together.  

 

Unlike using a glaze, in which it is best applied to a painting with a soft hair brush, scumbling mixtures are best painted on the surface with a stiff bristle brush. You can also daub on paint with a sponge or dry cloth.

 

Choice in types of brush used are usually a matter of personal preference.  The best practice is to test and evaluate a variety of brushes and see which produces the visual effect that you attempt to produce.

 

For scumbling, many artists will use old brushes, because the process of scrubbing the surface of paint will distort the bristles of the brush, ruining it for any other use.

In loading your brush, simply dip the tip of your brush in the mixed paint. It is best to load your brush perpendicular to the palette, as shown in the photo below.  Often, your brush will pick up more paint than desired. Offload the excess paint either by brushing the tip against your palette or tapping the tip of the brush on paper toweling.

 

 

One way to control the amount of paint that you load onto your brush, smear a very thin layer of mixed paint with your palette knife on the surface of the palette. Then tap your brush into the paint.

With a limited amount of paint on your brush, hold it perpendicular to the work surface and scrub, daub or stipple the base layer, leaving little bits of paint on it. (See the photo below.)

 

In your brushing, you can either work back and forth or in a circular motion. The scumbled paint will not completely obscure the lower level. Instead it allows much of it to show through.

 

In case you apply too much paint to the base layer, keep a rag handy to wipe off any mishaps. A heavier application can also be blended on the surface with your fingers.

Other Painting Articles

Why Paint Wrinkles
Why Enamels can Dry Slowly
Why Paints and Pigments Degrade
Paint Pigment Basics
Safely Working with Pigment Powders
Physical Properties of Paints and Pigments
Troubleshooting and Preventing Paint Problems
How to Clean Brushes Used for Water-Based Paints
Blending Colors
Painting with a Limited Palette
Making Oil Paint
Oiling Out a Canvas for Oil Painting
Flesh Tone Paint Recipe
Why Yellow Ocher and Naples Yellow are Important in Painting Fleshtones
White Lead Oil Paint
Best White Paint for Oil Painting
Damar Varnish Recipe
Fat Over Lean Rule
Paint Chemistry Terminology

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About Jim Hingst: Sign business authority on vehicle wraps, vinyl graphics, screen printing, marketing, sales, gold leaf, woodcarving and painting. 

After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 190 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 500 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.  Vinyl Sign Techniques is available at sign supply distributors and at Amazon. 

Slides of Jim's Artwork

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