I didn’t paint many pictures growing up. For most of my childhood, I lived with my grandmother, who HATED messes. She’d be proud to know I’ve been using these Crayola spill-proof paints.
What she doesn’t need to know is I’ve been making magnificent messes with them!
They’re perfect for when you want to just PLAY and forget about a paint brush or plan. It’s so much fun to dig in with your fingers and smear a colorful mess across a blank page.
Paint Pros
They're affordable - The basic set is $10 and full set is $15. You can REALLY play without worrying about wasting fancy art supplies.
They sit nicely on printer paper - Out of all the paper I've used, cheap printer paper has worked best.
Work well with others - I loved mixing them with graphite, gouache, and Inktense pencils.
Paint Cons
Slow drying - Use loose paper, so you can come back later, versus a sketchbook that you'll close.
Weak color - These are for kids, so they're not created with the finest pigments like our fancy grown-up art supplies. That said, they're fun to layer and you still can still learn tons from them!
Not lightfast - If you make something with these alone, there's a good chance it'll fade in year or so. Use them as a starting point, then cover them with artist-grade paint to avoid these.
Now that I'm a "grown-up," playing with these paints has felt like a tiny act of rebellion. They've given me a chance to make art I never got to create as a child. For a professional artist, that's powerful.
In the video, I share my painting process for the grid of animal faces, along with a bunch of other work I've made with them.
Prompt:
Forget a paintbrush or plan and paint with your fingers!
💞Shoutout to my nephew, Atticus, and niece, Alexandria, who introduced me to these paints and taught me how to use them.
