MSM part deux

Alright you doubting doubters!  You nay-saying nellies! You  poo-pooers of painting!  You can do this and I’ll show you another shortcut.  No one is expecting you to be Claude Monet.  Don’t put pressure on yourself to make something “perfect.”  That takes all the fun out of painting!  So, you can’t draw a straight line!  Who can?  That’s why we have rulers and straight edges!  If you doubt your drawing capabilities, trace your shapes.  Here, I’ll show you.  Again, I’m using the Ken Bailey dogs.  The prints are simple shapes and solid colors, which are a great thing to look for if you’re nervous about making custom art.  This is what you’ll need.  (my canvas is a little big, but my plain smaller ones have paint on them, so I couldn’t use those for this purpose. ) You need your canvas, scissors, a pencil and your print of choice.  Now, if you’ve got a nice print, I wouldn’t recommend cutting into that.  Make a copy, or find a high resolution version online and print it out.  Or, trace around it on computer paper.  If your canvas is larger than your print, you can just go to Kinko’s or something and make an enlarged print for a matter of a few cents.

Okiedokie smoky!  Let’s get cutting.  We’ll start with the main part, the dog.  Cut that little sucker out See, easy!  Now then, put your little doggie (or whatever) on your canvas in the place you’d like it to be, and trace around it lightly with your pencil.  (no I am not left handed)There, you’ve drawn a dog.  See, you can draw.  Now then, there’s the little matter of the red stripe along the side.  Cut that out too. Very nice, now just trace along that line like so…(see, now I’m right handed…)Now, just paint inside the lines!  You can change whatever colors you’d like to make it suit your style.  The black dog licorice wouldn’t make as much sense if your dog is blue…but you can use the outline to make blue dog bistro.   Once that’s all dry and good to go, you can take a paint pen and write on the lettering if you want.  See, not so bad once you break it down a little!  No one has to know you traced.  I wouldn’t know the difference unless you told me, and I promise I won’t ask.  Mostly because that’s a weird thing to ask…